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And now, Francia knows that.
“Konstantin loved my idea and he paid up front for it,” she says. “He gave me money for clothes I could only dream about, an apartment with a view, and access to every party I could ever want. All I had to do was hook Ivan Pushkin.” Her face sours slightly. “But Ivan didn’t bite. The bastard didn’t even recognize me when he showed up at Quintaño's to find you.”
I frown. “If you wanted to meet him, why did you send Jorden and me to his party?”
She groans. “You don’t listen. God, you really are stupid.Ivan wasn’t paying attention to me.He wasn’t interested, so I had to pivot. I had to come up with a new plan and I knew that you and Jorden were my best chance. If there’s anything men like Ivan love, it’s a couple of empty-headed skanks to flaunt around in front of him.”
I want to defend Ivan. She doesn’t know him at all. That is everything hedidn’twant in a woman.
But I keep my mouth shut. The longer Francia talks, the longer I stay alive.
“Just like I thought, Ivan made a beeline straight for you. But what I didn’t anticipate,” she says, that unsettling smile curling the corners of her mouth again, “is how upset Mikhail Sokolov would be about the whole situation.”
My heart is thundering in my chest. All the buried threads of my life—the past I hoped I would never have to unearth—are being laid bare in front of me.
Francia.
Knows.
Everything.
“Mikhail was upset because his fiancée had disappeared on him.” She pouts dramatically. “She ran off, leaving him jilted…only to pop up again under a new name on the arm of Ivan Pushkin.”
Realization dawns. “That’s how Mikhail knew we were at The Coop the other night.You told him.”
“Genius, right?” She laughs. “When Ivan showed up, I hoped he would see the two of you together and get jealous, but you had him wrapped too tightly around your finger by then. He threw Mikhail out without asking any questions. He wantedyou. God knows why, but he did.”
The venomous rage running through Francia’s words is obvious. No matter how powerful she claims to be, she hates that I caught Ivan when she couldn’t. She despises me for it.
“Naturally, I realized I was being presented with yet another opportunity,” she continues. “In an attempt to find one missing daughter, I’d discovered another. And I wanted my due. So I called your stepfather.”
My head throbs. Everything is falling apart. The fragile life I built is crumbling under my feet and I’m not sure what hell is going to swallow me whole. But I know it won’t be good.
“So who are you delivering me to?” I ask bitterly. “My stepfather or Mikhail?”
“The Sokolovs gave me more than enough to search for Katerina and I’m sure there will be an even bigger payout when I tell them what you just revealed. Thanks for that, by the way.” She winks at me. “And your stepdad was a bit cheap, to be honest. I figured he’d pay a bit more to find out where you are, but you must not be worth that much to him. Either way, I got my money there, too. Those deals are closed.”
I frown. “So what’s the point of this, then?”
“That isyourproblem, Cora. Oh, wait—do you prefer Cora or Cordelia?” She waves a hand through the air. “It doesn’t matter. Your problem is a failure to think creatively. I mean, you had so many powerful men at your disposal, and you ran from all of them. For what? To be a waitress? To live in a shitty studio apartment and scrape by? It’s pathetic how you wasted every opportunity thrown your way.”
“One woman’s opportunity is another’s prison,” I deadpan.
She rolls her eyes. “Well, yourprisonwith Ivan looked pretty fucking nice. Over and over again, he put himself on the line…to save you.He risked his position aspakhanand all his connections…for you. It would have been romantic if it hadn’t been so pathetic. But it gave me an idea.” She paces back and forth in front of me. “If you weren’t going to appreciate what you’d been given, then I would take it for myself. By any means necessary.”
“Ivan?” I ask, not quite able to believe what I’m hearing. “You think that you are somehow going to trick Ivan into…intowantingyou?”
“He doesn’t need to want me. I’m not naive enough to think something like that is important. But if Ivan shows up here and finds me clinging to my life after a brutal, heroic fight to save you and Jorden from death—a fight I’ll unfortunately lose, sadly for the two of you—then he’ll marry me out of convenience. He’ll marry me to keep this story quiet and as thanks for trying to save you.”
It’s terrifying how much her plan makes sense. Ivan has told me multiple times that he wants to marry someone who is well-connected.Check.Someone who isn’t emotionally invested.Check.Someone who knows what they are getting into with him—money and protection, but no love.Check.
Francia could give Ivan everything he wants.
“You’re forgetting something,” I tell her. “You have to pin this murder on someone. Ivan is going to want to know who is responsible and it will all come back to you.”
She wags her finger. “Konstantin won’t breathe a word to Ivan. Not when he has a spy living in his enemy’s house. I’ll keep delivering information to Konstantin until he finds Katerina and our business together is done.”
I snort. “Good luck getting that past Ivan.”
