Lila lifts her chin despite the tremor running through her breath. “I’ll challenge you every time you forget who you’re dealing with.”
Something dark passes through his expression, gone almost as quickly as it appears.
“You don’t get to rewrite the plan,” he says, flat and final.
Lila goes still.
Then he turns, unlocks the door, and leaves. The lock glides into place behind him.
“What plan?” I ask.
“It’s nothing,” she says too quickly.
She drags both hands down her face and exhales unevenly. “I didn’t think it would go this far.”
“What did you do?”
Her shoulders rise and fall once.
“Lila, answer me.”
She closes her eyes briefly, then opens them. “I planted the notes,” she says, the words controlled but strained. “I sent the anonymous text messages.”
I remain quiet, my heart beating faster now.
“I gave him your schedule,” she continues. “Access points. Rotations. I thought it would force a conversation. I didn’t know?—”
The rest of the sentence falls apart before she can finish it.
I feel eerily still. “You told him where I would be,” I say, stunned.
Her eyes fill with tears, but she doesn’t look away.
“I didn’t think he would?—”
“You told him where I would be,” I repeat, because that’s the part that won’t rearrange itself into something that doesn’t sound like complete betrayal.
The room tilts slightly, not enough to knock me off balance, just enough to remind me I’m on the edge of something unstable.
“You knew I was pregnant,” I murmur.
“I know,” she whispers.
“You knew.” My throat tightens, and I pause until I can manage the words again. “I trusted you.”
She looks like I’ve struck her.
“I didn’t know Arkady was involved,” she says, hugging herself. “I didn’t know it would escalate to this.”
“Why Ivan?” I ask.
That’s when something in her expression changes. It’s not panic. It’s resignation.
“He’s not my boyfriend.” She drops her arms, twisting her fingers together in front of her as she admits it.
For a moment, I think I misheard her. My stomach drops so fast it feels like I’ve missed a step.
“What?”
