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“It sounds as if you know them very well.”
“Of course I do. Kristoff is the guy I live with, and—” My breath hitched. Crap.
Lily did a double-take. “The same Kristoff Romanov Baran works for?” She cast me a look of betrayal. “You lied to me.”
I sat back up. “It’s not what you think.”
“You knew him all along,” Lily said. “You just pretended that he was a stranger to you. Oh my God. Is he the reason we’re roomies?”
I flushed. “Look, I—”
Lily jumped out of the chair. “If you dare breathe a word to this to Baran, I will never speak to you again. In fact, it’s debatable if I will ever speak to you again anyway!”
My chest tightened as her words cut through me. I deserved each and every bullet she aimed at me.
“Look, I get why you’re mad at me. I know I should have told you.”
“You lied to me!”
I winced. “I know, and I’m sor—”
“Don’t.” Lily held up a hand. “Right now, Baran spying on me is the last thing on my mind.” She sat on her bed. The dull look in her eyes hurt me.
“Why don’t you want Baran to know?”
Lily pinned me with a stare. “Since you know Baran, do you also know about…us?”
I looked at the ceiling. “Whatever do you mean?”
“Don’t give me that innocent look. Do you know we’re married, and why and how?”
“I’ve heard about it,” I admitted. “You have to understand, he’s like a brother to me.”
“Then you know why I can’t tell him about Charles. Your preciousbrotherhas vowed to pay me back for what I did. I’m not going to show him my weakness by adding Charles into the mix.”
There was a tiger inside this girl that hadn’t roared to the surface before. I wondered if Baran knew that he’d lucked out on the marriage front.
“That doesn’t make any sense. I thought you were giving it a try.”
“Just save it.”
“I’m really sorry, Lily.”
“You broke the girl code. Big time.”
I slumped back into the bed of thorns of my own making.
“I was trying to find a way to tell you. Really. That’s why I invited you to girls night. Somewhere in between all of it, I was going to come clean. But I also wanted you to have a good time. And because the rest of the gang was eager to meet the girl who had managed to tame Baran.”
She recoiled. “Wait. They knew? You were going to introduce me to a bunch of his friends who knew about our shotgun wedding but not tell me?”
My mouth opened, but I really had no way to defend myself.
Lily’s lips tightened. “And the knives in my back just keep on coming.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“No.I'msorry. For you.” She grabbed her bag off her desk. “I don’t think you know the meaning of friendship. And honestly, that just makes me feel sad for you.”
