AllFreeNovel
Share Us
It’s bright in here. I had them rip out the curtains when I first made this place my home away from home. I hate dark spaces. Always have. Mila does, too. It’s the reason she still sleeps with a light on.
Makes it easier to spot when there’s a monster coming.
I take a seat on the brown leather sofa. Mila bypasses the seating area and goes right to the bar. She doesn’t have to ask what I’m drinking—she just pours two vodkas and brings them back over.
I toy with it for a long, quiet spell, dragging my finger in slow circles through the condensation. She finishes most of her drink before I’ve even taken a sip of mine.
“Heard anything from Dima yet?” I ask when she sets the glass down.
“Still undercover,” she explains. “I got a text from him a few hours ago, but nothing since. Said he’s got a lead. He’s following it as we speak.”
I nod. “I’ll need you to keep an eye on Taylor for me.”
Mila sighs. “I thought you might. What do you want me to extract?”
“I don’t want you to extract anything,” I tell her. “I just need you to look after her.”
She frowns. “Look after her?”
“She lost her mother tonight.”
“Oh.” Her voice falls flat.
Mother. As far as Mila is concerned, it’s a dirty word.
“We’re going to have to help her bury Fiona, and I don’t think Celine or Archie are going to be around to support her through the process.”
“SoIhave to?” She snorts. “Ilarion, you know I’m not good with that type of thing. You’re setting me up for failure here.”
“It might help you. You know, to have a woman your own age to spend some time with.”
She narrows her eyes. “Are you trying to set me up with the mother of your child?”
“I’m trying to keep her here. It’s not safe for her out in the wild with the Bellasios running rampant. If it was just her, that would be one thing. But she’s carrying my baby.”
“Ah, I see,” Mila muses shrewdly. “You want me to do it so thatyoudon’t have to.”
I bristle and say nothing. She’s got me there and she knows it. No point adding kindling to her fire.
“She’s really made an impact on you, hasn’t she?”
I bristle. “She’s pregnant. My interest in her ends there.”
“You haven’t been with a woman in months, dear brother,” she says with a playful smirk. “What was it about this particular specimen that caught your interest?”
“You don’t know a damn thing about who I’ve been with.”
“Dima talks,” she answers dismissively. “Like an old fishwife, actually.”
“That fucking—”
She raises her hands. “Oh, calm down. We were just worried about you.”
“You were worried I wasn’t getting laid?”
“Well, Dima was worried about that. I was just worried that you were fixating too much on Benedict Bellasio. I don’t actually give two shits about your sex life.”
“The two of you need to get lives of your own.”
