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The call ends and she lets out a soft breath. I decide to make my presence known, walking forward until I’m right beside her. She looks up at me for a second before looking back towards the night sky.
“Hey,” I say. “Were you just talking to your cousin?”
“Yeah, Rico. I should probably introduce you two sometime.”
“I’d like that.”
“How is he?” she asks.
“Nate’s good. Already in bed. It’s late and he’s had a rough day. He fell asleep as soon as I tucked him in.”
“Okay,” she nods, still facing forward.
“So what’s wrong? You look like the embodiment of distraught.”
She smiles but it doesn’t quite reach her eyes.
“Oh nothing’s wrong. Apart from the fact that my father has sent out men to find me, and drag me back home by my hair, kicking and screaming if they have to,” she informs me.
My jaw tightens. What the fuck?
Katerina continues. “Oh and my sister still has no idea what’s going on but she will soon and once she does, she’s probably going to hate me.”
That gives me pause, “She didn’t know?”
“No. No one knew,” she says softly. “I didn’t tell my family about Nate.”
I don’t say anything for a couple of seconds letting that digest. What could she possibly have been hiding? Why didn’t she tell anyone? Not even the people she trusted.
“Don’t worry, I’ll leave soon,” Katerina states, looking up at me. “I just need a couple more minutes.”
My eyes narrow. “You’re not going anywhere.”
Her mouth opens slightly. “What?”
“We have an extra room. You can sleep there, while we figure everything out.”
“But-”
I shake my head before she can counter me.
“Katerina, you don’t have anywhere else to stay. And you’re already here. Plus, it would be in poor fashion to kick a woman out at 11pm in the middle of the night.”
That finally makes her smile. She gives me a look.
“You’re doing a horrible job of hating me.”
I shrug. “I can go back to doing that in the morning. Let’s just sleep tonight, okay? I know you need to rest.”
She inhales softly. “Thank you. For everything. Thank you for letting me see him.”
Her eyes get a glassy sheen and she looks away, running a hand through her hair.
“Of course, Katerina.”
I lead her back inside, towards the bed I already asked to be cleaned up. She looks around for a couple of second before looking at me.
“Tomorrow morning, I’ll make some calls. Do my best to mitigate the fallout from the article. It’s an exclusive so if we can keep others from reporting on it, things shouldn’t be too bad.”
