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She wastes no time in shoving past me into the room.. “Can I come in? We need to talk.”
I step aside and let her through, purely on ceremony. I’m too curious and elated and perplexed to see her here to nitpick over being shouldered aside.
This is it. She’s pregnant, and she’s come back to tell me.
Piper leaves her suitcase by the door and turns to me suddenly. “Has anyone come here to see you?”
“I just dropped you off at the airport. I’ve only been back for half an hour.”
“But are you expecting anyone?”
I stare at her, waiting for the line of questioning to make sense.
She winces in frustration. “Do you have plans to meet up with anyone? Is anyone supposed to be here in Mexico to see you?”
“Are you asking if I have a woman coming to see me?” I finally ask.
“No! That’s not what I—Do you?” She shakes her head. “No. Never mind. Don’t tell me. That’s not what I meant.”
Her cheeks and chest are flushed red, and she can’t look me in the eyes.
“I don’t have a woman coming to see me. I don’t have anyone coming to see me. Except you, apparently.”
She exhales in obvious relief. Then her brows pinch together. “That’s what I figured. I knew that guy in the airport was weird. That’s why I’m here, actually.”
“What guy in the airport?”
“There was a… a guy.” She shakes her head. “It probably sounds stupid, but I got this weird feeling from him. It was like I knew him. He ran into me.”
Possessiveness flares in my chest. “He ran into you? Did someone attack you?”
“No. I’m fine.” She holds out her arms to show me that fact. I can see exactly how fine she is. The tight fit of her jeans is not helping my comprehension of this conversation.
I grab her shoulder and steer her towards the sofa. She lets me, dropping down onto the cushions at the slightest push.
“Start at the beginning.”
She takes a deep breath and launches into the story, leaving nothing out. She describes the man running into her ankle, the eerie feeling he gave her, and the strange comments he made as she left.
“I said, ‘It could’ve been worse.’ And he gave me this weird smile and said, ‘Yeah, it could’ve been your head.’ Who the hell says that? I don’t know, Timofey. Maybe I should have just called you. But the way he was asking about where you were staying… I just felt like he was up to something weird.” She slouches forward, looking exhausted. “I’m sorry. I tried to call, but you weren’t picking up.”
“I didn’t get your calls.”
I don’t know why it’s important for her to know I wasn’t ignoring her, but it is. I had my phone on “Do Not Disturb.” Stupid in hindsight, but I needed the quiet.
Because of it, Piper is standing in front of me. Is that failure or fate?
She nods. “I didn’t want to leave without you knowing that something is going on. Do you know who he is?”
Piper recalled the story quickly, but she didn’t skimp on details. She noticed everything from the streak of white in the man’s hair to the freckle that isn’t quite hidden by the stubble of his gray beard.
It’s how I know Piper just brushed shoulders with Kreshnik Xhuvani, the leader of the Albanians.
A man who wants me dead.
20
TIMOFEY
