Page 152 of Sexting the Pakhan

“I can’t leave yet,” I say.

Her face tightens. “Ruslan.”

“I was betrayed.”

She goes still.

I keep my voice low. “The shooting at the school was not random. My men were split. My shooter knew where I would be. They wanted me there, and I walked right into their trap.”

Her face goes pale in a way I don’t like.

I add, “If I leave now and go back to my own people without knowing who turned, I may lead them here.”

The apartment is quiet except for the girls laughing in the bathroom.

Zoya looks toward the hallway. Then back at me. Her voice is flat. “So what you’re saying is, I rescued you, brought you into my home, and now your enemies might follow.”

I don’t soften it. “Yes.”

Her eyes harden. For a moment, she looks exactly like the woman who survived me.

Then she says, “You should have told me that before breakfast.”

I nod once. “I should have.”

20

ZOYA

For a few seconds,I just stare at him.

I’m standing by the sink with one hand still on a wet plate, and Ruslan is sitting at my kitchen table telling me that he was betrayed, and that if he leaves, he might lead danger back to my apartment.

My apartment. Where my daughters sleep. Where Mila keeps stickers on the coffee table and Nadia lines up her books by height.

I put the plate down carefully. “You should have told me this last night,” I say.

“I know.”

“No,” I say. “Don’t just say you know. You let me bring you here.”

“You brought me here because your daughter wouldn’t leave me.”

“My daughter is five.”

His face tightens. “I’m aware.”

“Are you?” I ask. “Because you’re sitting there telling me your men may have betrayed you like that is a normal breakfast update.”

“It is not normal.”

“But it is your life.”

He doesn’t deny it.

That makes me angrier.

Karina comes into the kitchen then, hair tied messily, bag over one shoulder. She has clearly heard at least the end of it because her face is already tense. “What happened?” she asks.