Page 79 of Mile High Daddy

My stomach drops.

That’s not her.

I try to hang up, but a voice stops me cold.

“Hello, Lila.”

The phone slips from my fingers, hitting the floor with a dullthud.

I scramble backward off the couch, my breath shattering in my chest.

That voice.

That voice.

Mikhail.

My entire body goes numb.

I don’t move. I don’t even breathe.

I can still hear him through the speaker, his voice smooth, controlled. Waiting.

Slowly, shakily, I reach down and lift the phone to my ear, my fingers trembling.

“…How?” My voice barely comes out.

A soft, humorless chuckle.

“You called me,kiska.”

A choked sound escapes me.

No. No, no, no.

I was careful.I changed everything. I left no trace.

And now, because of one stupid, desperate mistake, I’ve given myself away.

I walked straight into his hands.

My pulse pounds wildly in my ears as his voice turns low, dark, deadly.

“You didn’t think I’d stop looking for you, did you?”

I press a hand over my mouth, panic clawing at my throat.

Mikhail has my mother’s phone.

Which means?—

I squeeze my eyes shut, horror sinking in like a blade.

He has her.

“Oh, don’t go silent on me now,” he murmurs, voice like velvet wrapped around steel. “It took me a long time to hear your voice again.”

My heart slams against my ribs.

---