Page 263 of Sexting His Assistant

The way he said danger follows him, Nina.

At the time, I thought he was scared because of Luka’s world.

Now another possibility slides into place, ugly and sharp.

Maybe he saw Luka as the danger because he thought Luka had betrayed him too.

Maybe, after seeing Alina with Luka at Maison, some possessive, wounded part of his brain decided Luka had taken the woman carrying his child.

Alina looks at me.

“That night,” I say. “You came as Luka’s date.”

She nods slowly. “Yes.”

“Misha saw you with him.”

Her face crumples. “Yes,” Alina says. “He saw us.”

I remember that evening with horrible clarity.

Luka beside me. Alina arriving polished and beautiful. The jealousy I tried to swallow. The feeling that I had become invisible.

And somewhere in that same night, Misha saw Alina with Luka.

No wonder he lost his mind.

Alina says, “He confronted me after. He was livid. He thought I had gone back to Luka. He thought I had slept with him to get closer to Luka, and then kept seeing Luka anyway. He thought Luka knew about me and still brought me there like it meant nothing.”

My throat tightens. “That’s why he wanted me away from Luka,” I say.

Alina looks confused for a second.

I say, “Misha kept pushing me to resign. He kept warning me. I thought it was only because Luka was dangerous. But if he thought Luka had betrayed him with you…”

Alina wipes at her face. “He was angry at both of us. But even then, he didn’t give Luka up.”

“What does that mean?”

“He could have gone to Luka and told him everything in a way that protected himself,” Alina says. “He could have told him I was hired by Oleg, that I had passed information, that I had lied about the pregnancy. He could have handed me over.”

“But he didn’t.”

“No,” she whispers. “He gave me a chance to confess.”

My heart twists.

That sounds like Misha too.

Furious, hurt, betrayed, still trying to do the decent thing the hard way.

Alina covers her mouth for a second, but a sob gets through anyway. “I didn’t confess,” she says. “I was scared. Oleg was already threatening me. He knew about the baby by then. He told me if I went to Luka, no one would believe me, and Misha would go down with me.”

I stare at her. “What did you do?”

She looks up at me, crying openly now. “I told Oleg about Misha,” Alina says.

The room goes cold.