Page 185 of Mile High Ruin

I’ve seen that look before. On my own face, probably.

That realization makes me uncomfortable.

“You fell in love in a few weeks?” I mean for it to sound skeptical, but it mostly sounds surprised.

Mila looks at Daniel before she answers, and the way he looks back at her tells me the answer before she gives it.

“Yes.”

There’s no embarrassment in it. No attempt to make it sound more reasonable than it is.

Daniel rubs his thumb slowly across her knuckles. “It wasn’t planned.”

“That seems to be a theme lately.”

Neither of them laughs.

Mila glances at me. “I know it sounds ridiculous.”

It does.

A few weeks. A man she met because her brother was effectively holding him at the estate. And now they’re sitting across from me holding hands as though letting go is not an option.

It should feel impossible. Unfortunately, I have very little room to judge anyone for becoming attached to the wrong person too quickly.

Vadim enters my mind before I can stop him.

A few weeks shouldn’t have been enough for him either. Yet somehow it was.

I lower my gaze to the coffee between my hands, watching the faint steam disappear above the cup while I try not to think about where Vadim is right now, whether he’s hurt, whether he has realized I’m gone, whether he’s tearing that house apart looking for me.

The worst part is that I know the answer to at least one of those questions.

He will be looking.

I know him well enough now to be certain of that.

Daniel clears his throat. “We weren’t going to bring you.”

I look up. “That is strangely reassuring.”

“I mean it wasn’t part of the plan. Mila and I were leaving alone.”

“Then why am I here?”

His expression changes, becoming more serious. “Because I overheard two of Vadim’s men talking before everything started.”

Mila goes still beside him.

Daniel notices, but continues. “They were discussing you.”

A small knot forms in my stomach. “What about me?”

“One of them said someone had confirmed you’d been seen with Petrov.”

For a second, I honestly think I’ve misheard him. Across from me, Mila’s face darkens at the name, though she says nothing immediately.

I stare at Daniel. “Seen with him where?”