Page 78 of Cruel Honor

I’m starting to feel like I don’t belong anywhere.

“And it’s ok if you never love him,” Katya says. “Because my brother is a kind of an asshole.”

That gets a laugh out of the whole group of women, including myself.

My laughter quickly dies when I see Tatiana. She’s standing at the entrance to the room, talking with other women.

Katya notices, too, and takes my hand underneath the table. “I’m here with you,” she says quietly.

Vera notices me looking at Tatiana and rolls her eyes. “That girl is trouble, I swear. When I was her age, I was a good girl. I was never involved in drama.”

“Now, we all know that’s a lie,” Inessa says. “Vera, you were the naughtiest of all of us.”

Vera mock gasps and clutches at her necklace. “Never. I was the demurest.”

“Demure, my ass,” Inessa mutters to me.

These women are nice and entertaining. I could see myself spending more time with them, but then I remind myself—Dimitri and I are not together anymore.

If we were ever together in the first place.

Tatiana spots me and storms right over to our table. “What are you doing here?” She looks at Vera. “What is she doing here?”

“She has a right to be here,” Katya says, and Vera nods her agreement.

Tatiana whips around to glare daggers at Katya. “I wasn’t talking to you. Everyone knows you’re trouble, Katya. You’ll ruin my reputation.”

Katya scoffs. “I think you’ve done that enough for yourself. Now, walk away, Tatiana. Before you drug my friend again.”

The whole table goes quiet.

I take it no one knew about what Tatiana did to me. How would they?

“I never did such a thing,” Tatiana exclaims in outrage. “Your friend is a fatty little liar.”

Katya stands up, her chair screeching on the floor as she does so. “Do you want to get into a fight, Tatiana? Because I’ll gladly get into a fight with you.”

“You’re just bitter, Katya, because Dimitri doesn’t allow you to do anything. You don’t have any marriage prospects. You’re going to become an old spinster sooner rather than later.”

Anger flares through me. “Don’t talk to her like that. Katya is more of a woman than you’ll ever be.”

Katya gives me a grateful smile while Tatiana rolls her eyes.

“Just leave,” Vera says to Tatiana. “Before you embarrass yourself even more.”

With a scowl, Tatiana storms away.

“I need to use the restroom,” Katya mutters, and I follow her into the bathroom. “That bitch. Who does she think she is to say those things to me? Me! I’m an Ivanov for god’s sake. Show some respect.”

“I don’t think Tatiana respects anyone,” I say, leaning against the counter. “She doesn’t even respect herself.”

“I don’t care. She can go die in a ditch; I swear.” She pulls lipstick out of her purse and dabs at her lips.

“You don’t mean that.”

“No. I do.” She caps the lipstick and roughly shoves it back into the purse. “She’s hurt you, Evie. She almost got you killed multiple times. Hell, she almost got me killed, too!”

“But we need to be better than her.”

---