Page 59 of Pregnant By the Russian Pakhan

She had specifically asked Sarah to wait in her room to help her out of her evening dress at the end of tonight’s event, but the flighty girl seemed to have run off with her gaggle of friends, Mira thought with affectionate exasperation.

She sighed as she started to reach for her zipper to struggle out of her dress herself.

“I wouldn’t take that off just yet if I were you,” Alena said coldly from behind her.

Mira froze and then spun around, unwilling to believe her ears. Sure enough, Alena was sitting in an armchair in the far left corner of the bedroom. She was dressed in a pair of leather pants topped by a leather jacket, and she held a gun in her hand.

“Alena,” Mira said. Belatedly, she saw Sarah’s slumped form in the corner with a deep gash on the girl’s forehead. Rivulets of blood trickled from the wound.

Alena rose to her feet. “Happy to see me?” she asked with a grin.

Mira’s widened eyes flew to the door, hoping that Mikhail would materialize. No such luck; the doorway stayed empty.

“He’s not going to come,” Alena assured her with a purr.

Mira looked at her, “What gives you the idea that you know what I was thinking about?”

Alena chuckled. “Oh, honey, I know enough things about you to give you gray hair.

Mira glared at her. “You’re not going to kill me. If you wanted to kill me, I would already be dead.”

Alena gave her a delighted smile, like a parent who was pleased to discover their kid had become intelligent. “Wow, Mira. Being around Mikhail has started to rub off on you. Very smart.”

Mira subsided into angry silence, choosing to think of an escape plan instead. Her room was upstairs and far removed from the ball room. Even if she screamed, no one would hear her over the earnest conversation and laughter of the remaining guests coupled with the soft music playing. She was too far away.

Alena lifted cold eyes to Mira’s face. “Well? Aren’t you going to beg for your life?”

“Where’s Sarah?” she demanded.

Alena scowled. “Who the fuck’s Sarah?”

“My maid. The one you probably clobbered in my room and left bleeding,” Mira said nodding towards a small patch of blood she could see on the floor near the mantelpiece.

Alena sighed. “Oh, that little brat. Be thankful I didn’t kill her for trying to bite my hand. She came at me like a rabid dog,” Alena continued with a shiver. “Had to take her out.”

Mira hid a grin. Sarah had always been a puzzle to most people. Good girl. Perhaps she had alerted Mikhail by now.

“You can wipe that silly little smile off your lips, Mira. She isn’t going to be much use to you now.”

Mira blanched. “Did you kill her?”

Alena gave her a grin that was pure evil and could be easily interpreted. Then she turned away and began to busy herself with something Mira couldn’t see on the mantel. “The cats in the alley will have eaten up what’s left of her remains by now. No body, no crime, see?”

Not for the first time since she’d discovered she was pregnant, Mira felt sick to her stomach.

She turned her face to the side, hoping for some fresh air to keep her from vomiting, and that was when she spied a shadow of movement in the hallway. It was so silent and swift she almost missed it, but even in that brief sighting, she recognized Mikhail. Suddenly her world righted itself.

He was here. She was safe. He would see to it that nothing happened to her, she knew.

“What do you want, Alena? You cheated on him and your relationship ended thanks to that. So why are you here now?”

“I want Mikhail back and you’re in my way. You and your pregnancy bump,” Alena cried.

Mira stared. “That can’t be right. You don’t love him.”

Alena threw back her head and began to laugh. As she watched the other woman, Mira felt as if she was watching someone who had become unhinged.

“Alright, you got me. I don’t love him anymore. I despise him. He stole my Dmitri from me, and isn’t the saying an eye for an eye?” Alena said, whipping around with a crowbar in her hand.

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