Page 54 of Scarlet Sins

“I’m on it,” he says, picking up the phone and getting to work.

I do the same. I’m texting one of the businesses I deal with about a payment pickup when my phone pings.

An appointment notification?

I open it, surprised to see the doctor, an OB-GYN Alina saw years ago when she wanted to go on birth control but was too afraid to ask our father. She asked me instead, and while I didn’t ask why—I didn’t want to hear about my seventeen-year-old sister having sex with her seventeen-year-old idiotic boyfriend… and I knew girls took the pill for reasons other than sex—I agreed to take her and act as her guardian.

I never took the doctor or her appointments off my phone. She hadn’t used the doctor in years, or if she had, she’d added it to Max’s phone. Though why not her own?

Maybe it’s one of those lady checkups they have. Or maybe… what if she’s pregnant?

“Something wrong?” Ilya looks at me.

“No, I’ll be back tomorrow. Pavel will drop off your computer, but don’t overdo it.”

“Yes. Sir.”

“Asshole.”

On the way to my car, I call Alina.

“Demyan?”

“I just got an alert on my phone about a checkup with your OB-GYN. Is everything okay?”

There’s a telling beat of silence, then she stutters and finally pushes out what’s clearly a bullshit excuse. “Oh. Did it come to your phone?” She utters a forced laugh. “It’s just a routine checkup, that’s all.”

Thing is, Alina can’t fucking lie to save her own life, especially to me. She’s like glass, completely see-through.

I don’t doubt she’s going in for a visit, I wouldn’t have gotten the alert, but there’s nothing routine. Nothing at all.

But I don’t call her out. “Okay, just thought I’d check.”

I hang up.

No, I’m not going to push it.

I’m going to follow her to the appointment in the morning, instead.

If I thoughtour talk the other night had changed things with Erin, it hasn’t.

She’s still distant, perhaps more so than usual. Worse, she’s doing her best to avoid me.

An easy job in this mansion. And with our son as an excuse.

I push Stefina off into the afternoon and tell her I have a business trip coming up. Then, sitting at my desk, I call in Alina.

She’s jittery, too. I bite back a sigh. “I’m thinking of doing something for Erin.”

That catches her attention. “Yes?”

“Would you mind watching Sasha for a weekend? I was thinking of taking her away for a surprise weekend away. Somewhere romantic.”

“Yes!” She claps her hands, then shakes a finger at me. “Don’t screw it up.”

“I won’t,” I say with more hope than assurance.

When she goes, I find the perfect spot and book it.

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