Page 216 of Sexting His Assistant

I swallow. “No. I’m okay.”

“You’re lying,” Meredith says.

“Everybody keeps saying that to me lately.”

“Perhaps improve.”

I huff out a breath. “I don’t know what I need.”

“That’s a better answer,” Meredith says.

I rub my thumb over the edge of my phone. “I’m worried about Misha.”

“Your brother?”

“Yes,” I say. “He hasn’t answered. He was staying with me, sort of, but he hasn’t come back, and now I can’t reach him.”

Meredith does not dismiss it. That helps. “When did you last hear from him?”

“After the gala. He texted that work ran late, and he would come tomorrow.”

“And nothing after?”

“No.”

“Do you share location?” Meredith asks.

“Usually,” I say. “He forced it on me years ago after I came home late once, and then I forced it back on him because fairness.”

“Check it.”

“I did yesterday,” I say. “It was off.”

“Check again,” Meredith says.

I pull the phone away and open the location app while keeping her on speaker.

Misha’s name appears, but there is no moving dot, no address, no updated time.

Location unavailable.

The words make my stomach twist.

“It’s still off,” I say.

Meredith’s silent for a moment.

Then she says, “That’s strange.”

“I know.”

“Does he turn it off often?”

“Never,” I say. “Not really. He complains about privacy and then leaves it on anyway because he wants mine on.”

“Then treat it as strange,” Meredith says.

I close the app and open my messages with him.