Page 67 of Sapphire Tears

I blink and Milana comes back into focus.

“Where’d you go?” she asks.

“To the day I killed my father.”

She nods like that’s precisely what she expected. “It’s the same thing, you know.”

“That’s what I’m trying to tell myself.”

“I’m with you no matter what. You know that, right?” She smiles and reaches out to touch the back of my hand once, just briefly. “June will come around. You’ll see.”

“The woman is stubborn.”

“You both have that in common.”

I can’t help but smile darkly. “Keep digging into Adrian’s movements over the last couple of years. If he visited one sex club, then he visited them all.”

“I have contacts in a few other places. I’ll try to get in touch. Figure out what they know.”

I nod. “We’ll need something solid. Something he can’t twist or explain away.”

Milana looks surprised. “She’s in doubt?”

I swallow my anger. “She’s carrying his baby,” I say. “I think she wants—needs—to believe that he’s a better man than he really is.”

“You both have that in common, too,” she murmurs.

I don’t bother with a response.

28

JUNE

When the door clicks open, I bounce onto the balls of my feet and stand.

I’ve been gearing up for a fight since the moment he locked me in here. Four hours later, I’ve worked myself up into a state of downright belligerence.

But when I’m faced instead with Sara’s mild smile and her subtle blueberry scent, I feel all that anger wither away. The adrenaline rinses clean out of my system and I’m left with nothing but a limp, wilting disappointment.

Sure, he locked me in here. But I still want to see him.

Pathetic.

“Hey there,” Sara says, shutting the door behind her. “How’re you doing?”

She’s wearing faded blue mom jeans and an oversized pale gray shirt. Her auburn hair has been tied into a messy braid. She looks so much younger without her doctor’s coat.

“What are you doing here?” I gulp.

“Kolya wanted me to come down and give you a check-up.”

I roll my eyes and turn away from her. “Oh, right. Figures. When Kolya snaps his fingers, everyone jumps.”

I expect her to protest, but she just sighs. “He’s paying me to jump when he tells me to, June,” she says reasonably. “It would be poor form for me to go back on my word now. Especially considering you’re my patient. I have an obligation to keep you safe.”

I cross my arms, feeling pouty and petulant even though she’s making plenty of sense. “You act as though we have some kind of relationship.”

Her eyebrows raise just a little. “Well, I’d like to think we’re friends, too.”

---