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It had been three days, so why had I convinced myself he would leave me alone?
He pushed off the wall where he leaned and walked over to me. “Is now a good time? I didn’t want to interrupt.”
I wanted to run, but it wasn’t essential. If I actually wanted to listen, it was as good of a time as any. “Sure.”
He stared at me for a long moment. “Bridget, the threat to your life is over.”
Well, good to know.“What happened? Political change in the Bratva or something?”
He blinked. “No, I didn’t realize…I mean I guess I should have, because how could you know.” He took a visible deep breath. “Bridget, it wasn’t the Russians who poisoned you. It was Sylvie.”
I stared at him, my mind stalling to a stop before flooding with a thousand questions. “What?”
He pointed at my office. “Can we sit down? I don’t love doing this in the middle of the street. It feels like we should at least have the illusion of privacy.”
Unable to think past Sylvie poisoning me, I opened my office door and walked back inside. Michael followed me, locking the door behind us.
“Why would she do that?” It didn’t make any sense.I met her once. I could really annoy people, but killing me with a cupcake seemed a bit much.
“She thought she was in love with me.” He stepped away from me to look out the window and then turned around. “She was why Tito shot Stephen, and why he would have killed you.Shewas his boss.”
I sank into my chair. Everything hurt, and I tried to make it make sense…
I remembered Tito talking about Michael mourning me… “What he said…about your love life. It makes sense now.”
“Yes.” He nodded and took one step toward me. “I realized it on the treadmill, and then I came out to find you poisoned.”
I rubbed my eyes. I wanted to cry but not in front of him. I didn’t trust him with my tears, so I would just fake it until I got home. “Thank you for letting me know.” I rose, brushing my hands down my legs. “It’s nice to know the threat is over.”
“Yes.” He nodded. “But that’s not why I came to see you, Bridget. I mean it is, because your safety is the most important thing. I’m hoping you’ll let me explain some more.”
I had to make him stop or I wasn’t going to survive it. “No. Thank you. I think this should be the last time we talk. I understand things much better now. You made yourself very clear the day you left the hospital while I was still recovering, so I don’t think there’s more to say.”
I opened the door and motioned for him to leave, but he didn’t budge. He stared at me.
“I didn’t leave. I mean, I get it if you don’t want to see me anymore. That I can completely understand. But I can’t let you leave here thinking I left you at the hospital.” He rocked back on his feet and rubbed his eyes. “That much you have to hear.”
I stopped moving. It made no sense. Was he just lying again, but why? “Michael, Roy told me you left. I remember thatquite clearly. I asked him if you stayed because you told me when Stephen was shot how you always stayed at the hospital when someone you cared about was hospitalized. I remember it vividly, so I asked him…were you there? Because he told me you had left hours before, and that told me everything.”
He visibly swallowed. “Roy lied.”
“What?” My head swam and for a second, I wasn’t sure I could stay upright.
“He lied. We were sure Sylvie was monitoring us in every way by then. She was smarter than me, better at it than me at that point. We had no choice but to make her think I left the hospital. She would’ve heard the same thing that I told you, because she was clearly listening to every word we said. My leaving was meant to signal to her that we were done so she would leave you alone.” He took a step toward me. “But I couldn’t leave you, Bridget. I really couldn’t. I exited the hotel, got into a car. Drove a distance. Went into a car wash. One of my guys, Bryce, he turned out to be trustworthy, switched places with me in the wash, and took off in the car. I then made my way back to the hospital, where I stayed until you were released.”
How was that possible? “No one saw you.”
“Despite all evidence to the contrary when it comes to you, I am actually really good at my job most of the time. I stayed in a room a door down from you. The old woman was comatose. I read to her. The nurses thought I was her grandson. It was right next door and Roy left a bug in your room so I could hear everything.”
I winced. Pretending I hadn’t wept for days would be pointless then, since he would’ve heard the whole thing.So much for dignity and a little bit of pride.
“Roy feels like shit about that. Not that his feelings should be your biggest concern. But he did it because I asked him to in order to make Sylvie stay away from you.”
I supposed it made sense. I hated it but the logic was there. “Why bother? You told me how you felt.”
“Bridget,” he walked toward me again, definitely close enough to now be in my space. I closed the door.Ridiculous that I held it open like that.“I’m a very good liar. You are absolutely not.”
I barely got through Amanda Hill, and in that case, I told mostly the truth. I couldn’t sell Michael as my husband in Russia. I sucked at lying.
