“Atlas, I really hope you’re sleeping off whatever hangover you’re nursing. This is serious. You need to get in touch so that we can get damage control underway.”
I hung up, scowling at the phone, my stomach a riot of anxiety. Navigating to the text app, my fingers flew over the screen.
Henry: Are you asleep? If not, you need to call me ASAP. And get yourself on a plane back to Australia, we need to regroup and work out how we manage this colossal screw up.
I set my phone down and found my knees, breathing in through my nose and squeezing. I couldn’t afford to break down over this. We already had one Tickle founder having a public meltdown; I needed to keep myself together, to keep our business on track. And then there was Ri. I couldn’t let her down. Not in our little visa scheme, and not in our fledgling relationship.
It felt like a vice was slowly tightening in my chest. Not squeezing me enough to rob me of breath just yet, but a constant reminder that I couldn’t control everything and everyone around me. I’d let whatever was simmering with Atlas go on for too long, and it was backfiring in the most spectacularly catastrophic way.
And I was alone on this grounded jet with nothing to do but wait. Wait for Ri to return. Wait for Atlas to call me back.
At least I had my vape. I rummaged through our bag until my fingers closed around it. Three long pulls, and the edges of my anxiety blurred enough for the wait to not feel quite so insurmountable.
CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
The Full Truth
IRINA
Pizda, the bruises on Kat’s neck. I had to swallow back hot tears when I saw them, force the vivacious Ri front and centre to cover up how much seeing them affected me.
“That fucking piece of shit!” I growled instead, and when Kat’s eyes found mine across the room and lit up happily, the lump in my throat only expanded. Striding across the room with a confident air that was all fake, I plonked myself down on the bed beside her. “I hope the little arsewipe gets what he deserves!”
“Dom broke his cheek,” Kat replied, her voice hoarse. My chest tightened, but I forced out words that the Ri that Kat knew and loved, the Ri who was a bundle of fun, would say.
“Should have broken his dick too.”
Kat’s laugh turned into a wince, her hand fluttering to her throat. Outside, Lucian chuckled too, and Kat raised a questioning brow.
“The lumberjack,” I explained with a shrug, then launched into a believable lie about the media hounding me as the wife of a reclusive billionaire.
“Your life feels like a complete mystery to me now, Ri,” she told me, eyes wide. Guilt riddled me; it was a mystery only because I kept secretsfrom her. But how unfair would it be, to lay all my problems on her right now, after everything she had just been through?
One day, I’d tell her everything. But not today. Not until it was all behind me.
I mumbled some words about wanting to punch my own tit for saying something as ridiculous as ‘my husband owns a private island’ and quickly turned the conversation back to her.
“Jesus! Let me in, you giant brute, I’m Katarina’s aunty!” Sophia’s shrill voice echoed outside the door. A scowl formed on my lips as I jumped up and marched through the door.
Outside, Lucian stood, an immovable mountain of muscle, while Kat’s tiny, aggressive aunty glared up at him with an expression so cold I had to suppress a shiver.
“De dragul dracului!” I hissed up at him. “She’s not here to report me, yougogoman!”
Sophia muffled a snort under her hand as Lucian turned his glower in my direction.
“You’re here to visit with your friend. I’m here to ensure you don’t come to any harm. Do you see me climbing on the bed with Katarina and making jokes about penile violence?”
I rolled my eyes. “Of course I don’t, that would?—”
“Then don’t come out here and try to do my job for me!” he interrupted, turning back to Sophia. “If you can show me photo ID that proves you’re a relative, I?—”
“I’m telling you she’s a relative, you idiot! I’ve known Kat for years. This is her Aunt Sophia! Let her in, for fuck’s sake!”
With a long-suffering sigh, Lucian stepped aside. “Please. Go visit with your niece. And be grateful she’s not a raging lunatic like this one.”
“All the best women are raging lunatics,” Sophia told him curtly, throwing a wicked smile in my direction as she pushed past him and opened the door.
Lucian massaged his temple. “Are you sure she’s notyourrelative?”
