Page 71 of Cruel Demands

“Why?” Mikhail asks.

“Because international donors like believing their money is helping people, not buildings.”

One of the advisers makes a quiet sound of disapproval. Mikhail’s mouth curves. “There. More human.”

The discussion continues. Near the end, he gets a text message and when he reads it, it isn’t on the phone he normally uses. His face doesn’t change, but something inside him does. The air around him seems to harden.

Olga notices. I know she notices because her eyes move from Mikhail to his phone and stay there for longer than necessary. They follow his scarred knuckles as he slips it back into his pocket.

Then Mikhail returns his attention to the meeting as though nothing happened. At the end, as everyone stands, he asks me for my notes. When I hand them to him, his fingers graze mine. I know it’s on purpose, and it still makes my stomach jolt.

Olga walks past us without speaking. The look she gives me is brief. It is not unkind. But it is knowing.

On Thursday, Olga brings me another folder.

This one is sealed. Actually sealed. A red tab stretches across the front beneath a typed label I only understand half of. She places it on my desk and keeps one hand resting on it.

“Governor Korolev asked that you review the English-language portions.”

I look from the folder to her. “Why didn’t he bring it himself?”

Her gaze remains on my face a second too long. “Perhaps he thought that would attract attention.” Behind her, Viktoriya suddenly becomes very interested in reorganizing her pens.

“No,” I say.

Olga pauses. “No?”

“I don’t know what this is, but no.”

The corner of her mouth moves. Not quite a smile. “You should tell him.”

I hate everyone.

Mikhail’s office door is open when I reach it. He’s behind his desk, jacket off, sleeves rolled to his forearms, speaking low into the phone. When he sees me, he gestures for me to come inside and close the door.

I stay in the doorway.

He finishes the call without taking his eyes off me. “You are blocking the hall, Miss Hayes.”

“Good. Witnesses.”

His mouth almost moves. Almost.

I hold up the folder. “What is this?”

“A briefing packet.”

“For whom?”

“For me.”

“Then why do I have it?”

“Because I want your notes on the English-language portions before Monday. Olga was supposed to relay that message. Did she not? I will have to talk to her about that.”

“She did.”

“Then why are you making me repeat myself?”