Page 113 of Emerald Malice

Katya flips her short, blonde bob. “Which are…?”

“You’re assuming I knew that he had a steady girlfriend and that I pursued him anyway. I assure you, I didn’t. Nor did Viktor rush to tell me about your existence when he cornered me the day we… er… got involved.”

Katya studies her with narrowed eyes. “He really didn’t mention me?”

“No, and I’m sure he doesn’t mention me to even a fraction of the women he brings home. I promise you, all of his latest conquests look very surprised when I walk into the room and catch them in the act.”

Katya is speechless, and I want to applaud Mila. Give her some kind of award for accomplishing a task I believed to be impossible.

Finally, Katya picks her jaw up off the floor. “He cheats on you?”

“Constantly. Since the moment we got married. Probably even while we were engaged.” She shrugs. “Viktor is a born cheater, Katya. That’s never going to change.”

“And you don’t care? He’s your husband.”

Mila waves the title away like it’s meaningless. I notice the way her eyes flicker to the corner of the pool where Leonty is rounding the corner with Olaf. “As long as he’s occupied with his skanks, that leaves me free to live my life and fuck whomever I damn well please.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mila,” Katya says, a small smile appearing at the corners of her mouth. “Call me Kat.”

“I think the first meeting of the I Hate Viktor Club has been a smashing success, don’t you?”

“Oh, indeed,” I concur in my best (read as: worst) British accent.

“Rousing, truly.” Mila dusts the cake crumbs off her chic, fawn-colored dress—clothes being another topic over which Mila and Katya had bonded—and gets to her feet. I haven’t missed how her eyes shift over to Leonty every few minutes.

Five minutes after Mila says goodbye and dips back into the main house, Leonty claims he needs to look into something in the garage and takes off in the same direction.

Katya’s eyes are trained on him as he walks away. “Well, that answers that question. Those two are getting it on, aren’t they?”

Since there’s no point in denying it, I nod.

“Get it, girl! Not that I can blame her.” Her gaze veers towards Shura, who’s skulking in the corner of the gardens with Remi and Misha. “You do have extremely hot bodyguards.”

I expect this from Katya. What I don’t expect is the searching looks Shura keeps throwing her way when he thinks no one is looking.

“Well, I should be going, too.” Katya sighs and heaves herself to her feet. “The picnic was a great idea, hon. We should do it again soon.”

But she’s not really focused on me when she says it because Shura is striding across the lawn directly towards us. “There’s no need to get up, Ms. Natalia,” he offers when he’s close enough to be heard. “I’ll walk Ms. Katya to the door. I have to… check on something in the garage myself.”

“Busy day in the garage,” I mumble under my breath.

He doesn’t hear me, and Katya is too busy blushing to pay me any attention. The only goodbye I get is a last-minute wave over her shoulder after Shura has already led her halfway across the lawn.

I can’t even bring myself to be annoyed. My friends are in love. Or, in Kat’s case, in lust. I’m happy for them. Even if it means I end up sitting on a picnic blanket surrounded by half-eaten food, utterly alone.

It’s been a wonderful evening. I’ve been surrounded by people—people I actually like—for hours now. And yet it takes all of five seconds by myself to feel loneliness settle on my chest like a boulder.

Pathetic, Natalia. Really pathetic.

I consider walking over to talk with Misha and play with Remi, but they seem content to play together in their own little corner of the garden.

Everyone has coupled up right under my nose.

“That just leaves you and me, little peanut,” I whisper to my stomach with only the slightest hint of bitterness.

It’s actually sad how quickly I perk up when I see Yelena’s stocky silhouette bobbing in my direction. “Finished with your picnic?” she asks as she approaches.

“Yes, it was delicious. Thank you so much.”

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