Page 78 of Mile High Ex's Dad

---

“And I’m trying to handle the situation that threatens him.” My voice stays even. “Leave this to us.”

She folds her arms. “That sounds very noble when you say it like that.”

“It’s not noble. It is practical.”

Alina’s eyes narrow slightly. “And Sienna?”

I look at her. “What about her?”

“You carried her upstairs.”

“She nearly went down.”

“That isn’t what I asked.”

I let out a breath. “I didn’t choose the planner, Alina.”

“No,” she says. “But you seem very interested in her for someone who didn’t.”

I give a short laugh, more tired than amused. “You’re reading too much into it.”

“Am I?”

“Yes.”

She studies my face for a moment. “You don’t usually involve yourself.”

“I involved myself because Camille put her hands on her in a hallway full of staff.”

“And because?”

“There is nobecause.”

Alina holds my gaze a second longer, clearly unconvinced. “Fine.”

But from the look on her face, she doesn’t believe a word of it.

11

SIENNA

It’squiet in that strange way old houses get at night, when every sound feels too loud and too far away at the same time. The lights are low. The windows are black with rain. Viktor is ahead of me, walking fast, one hand to his phone, his voice clipped and cold in a language I don’t understand.

I’m trying to keep up.

“Viktor,” I say.

He doesn’t turn.

Something feels wrong. I don’t know why at first. Then I hear footsteps behind us. More than one set. Quick. Closing in.

Viktor stops. Turns.

A man comes out of the dark at the end of the corridor. Then another. One of them raises something in his hand and for a second my stupid sleeping brain thinks it’s only a shadow, only some harmless object catching the light.

Then the first shot goes off, and the sound tears through the corridor.

Viktor jerks.

---