Page 47 of In Her Blood
Kat blinked at her, barely paying attention to her own actions as she zipped her bag back up and hiked it over her shoulder. “Of course.” She offered a sheepish smile. “The truth is, I was a little embarrassed about how things started between me and him, so I didn’t tell you right away.” Her hand curved over her belly. “But if you’re worried it’s that ex from a couple months ago, don’t be. He’s definitely out.”
She didn’t bite.Evelina had really wanted her to take the bait and save them both. But Kat hadn’t even faltered. It was hard to find her smile again. “Okay. Good. I just, you know, wouldn’t be doing my job as your best friend if I didn’t say anything.”
“You would not,” Kat agreed. Her own smile was short-lived, and she reached out as if to take Evelina’s arm, her mouth opening again.
In the next moment, the door beside them swung open, another customer striding in.
Both women jumped, startled, and Kat’s arm fell back to her side.
Get out.
Kat hadn’t taken the chance, while they were entirely alone and eavesdropper-free. She’d made her choice. Evelina didn’t know how to handle the situation exactly, but she wasn’t going to stand by and let herself die for it. So, in the moment where the older woman blinked at them as if they had done something to offend her, Evelina pulled her purse close and moved forward.
Her fake smile came a little easier. “Sorry, ma’am,” she said on reflex.
“It’s all yours,” Kat said behind her. Her steps assured she had followed Evelina out the door.
The store the bathroom connected to wasn’t large, so it was easy to spot Otto making a presence of himself only a handful of feet away. Within sight of the bathroom door, of course. He stood out like a sore thumb, looking exactly like what he was—danger wrapped in sex-appeal. Any other day, Evelina would have been amazed he hadn’t been thrown out. Or, more accurately, forced to hurt someone who’d tried. That feeling never rose, however, as she strode straight to him.
His gaze locked with hers. “Ready?”
No.“I think so.” She couldn’t make a scene here, but she also didn’t want to get back into the SUV with Kat. She had no idea what method Kat had planned. If Kat waited until the vehicle was on the interstate and trapped in traffic, there might be nothing Otto could do to intervene. Her heart lurched at the thought. The only thing worse than everything she already knew to be true was the idea of Kat killing her, for Pyotr, in a way that forced Otto to stand helplessly by and watch it happen.
“Just gotta get this packed away,” Kat said helpfully, indicating her bag. She glanced around. “Think I should get something with electrolytes or whatever?”
Evelina held tighter to her purse straps for lack of a better recourse. “I think you’re the only one who can answer that right now.” She hoped she managed a teasing tone.
Kat laughed and made a dismissive motion. “Nah. Nothing really sounds good.”
So much for that option.Though it might have still been too obvious if Evelina had tried separating herself with Otto under that guise. So, she did her best to maintain a smile and walked beside the woman who was supposed to be her friend as they stepped out into the parking lot.
Otto had parked their SUV off to the side, where the store’s visible cameras weren’t as likely to have a good angle. It was a habit he’d learned before Evelina had even met him and one she’d never questioned. Nor had she spent a lot of time thinking about it until she found herself scrambling for options and rapidly trying to think through each scenario as they popped into her head.
Merely planting her feet and screaming like a mad-woman was definitely not going to help. For very similar reasons, neither would spinning around and voicing her accusations in a straightforward manner. She wanted to avoid anything that would most likely result in bloodshed. Not because Kat herself deserved the sympathy, but because Evelina couldn’t overlook the innocent life beginning to grow in Kat’s womb.
She was not going to be the kind of underworld boss who lived by the motto of ‘sins of the father.’ That was some outdated bullshit.
But in the moment, that belief was putting her in a very difficult spot. It would be very much easier to write off Kat and cargo as Pyotr’s collateral and her own enemies and be done. Easier, but not better. Abandonment really was the way to go, for her own safety. But how?
Otto’s voice suddenly whispered through her mind from a memory, as if rising up in answer.“If you ever find yourselfin a situation you can’t safely or easily escape from on your own, all you need to do is say that word so I can hear it. Trust in me to do the rest.”
Of course. The stupid codeword.
“I can’t wait to model my new clothes for my baby daddy,” Kat said with a laugh as she angled toward the rear of the SUV. “I’ve heard pregnancy makes the sex more intense or whatever. Do you think it’s too soon for that to be a thing?”
The tears she’d been fighting burned behind her eyes as Evelina stopped walking and said the first coherent phrase that popped into her mind. “I think … you’re both misfits.”
Kat snorted a laugh. “What does that even mean?”
But Otto was in motion before the question hit the air. If he had a problem striking Kat, he didn’t show it, because in the next instant he’d wrenched her arms behind her back. Before she could do more than let out a startled yelp, he kicked her legs out from under her and ripped both her small purse and her toiletry bag from her shoulders. The items were tossed aside, toward the row of scraggly bushes that served as the parking lot’s border. Then he took hold of her shirt collar and practically snarled, “It means you’re a fucking traitor.”
He was right. He was right, and Evelina was glad he had so quickly understood, but still she couldn’t stop the first tear rolling down her cheek as Otto dropped the side of his hand firmly against the back of Kat’s neck. Something in Evelina’s chest constricted, her stomach rolling with misplaced guilt, as the woman she’d thought to be her best friend went limp.
She didn’t know exactly what Pyotr had done, but it didn’t matter. She was going to fucking kill him.
Chapter sixteen
Rough Day
