Page 93 of Sinful Wrath

She smiles. “How do you feel?”

“Like a princess,”

“Then it’s definitely the dress.”

I turn back around to stare at my reflection inthe mirror.

I’ve dreamed of choosing my wedding dress ever since I was a little girl and now, it’s really happening.

Despite the reality of the world I grew up in, I never stopped wishing that one day I would marry for love.

And it seems that my wish might finally be coming true after all.

22

MIKHAIL

Less than twenty-fourhours after visiting Katya Petrova, I receive a call from an unknown number, and I can’t help but wonder if she’s changed her mind after all.

I sit across from Anton in the Russian Tea Rooms, staring at the screen as it rings.

Anton takes a sip of his drink. “Fucking answer it.”

I down the rest of my drink before sliding my thumb across the screen and put the phone on speaker.

“Hello?”

“Is this Mikhail?” a female voice asks. “Mikhail Koslov?”

“Who’s calling?” I ask even though I recognize the slight tremble in her voice.

“I-it’s Katya.”

Anton curses under his breath, and I shoot him a warning glare.

“What can I do for you, Katya?” I keep my tone light.

“I-I’m willing to t-talk.”

Even over the phone she seems nothing short ofterrified by the prospect of speaking to me, and it only makes me more anxious to find out what information she’s been keeping all this time.

“I appreciate that.”

“But…” She pauses, and I glance at Anton who looks just as wary. “It needs to be said in p-person.”

I get up and take my wallet out. “I can be at your place in thirty minutes.”

Katya hangs up the phone without another word, and I stare at the screen for a second.

I frown as I throw some money on the table. “Why has she suddenly changed her mind?”

“I don’t know, but we should get a move on before she decides to change it again.”

The entire drive back over to Cobble Hill, I fight the urge to call Alexei. Part of me can’t seem to shake the feeling that he would be better suited to talk to Katya. I lack his level of charisma that puts people at ease and makes them much more willing to talk.

We might only have one chance to talk with her, and I don’t want to mess it up.

As I pull up outside Katya’s house, a chill runs through my body, and I wonder if that chance has been and gone. “Something’s wrong.”

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