Page 67 of Blood Code

Keira dropped one of her olives into Alina’s drink, leaving the wretched woman in stunned silence.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Keira said coldly. “Did you think I was meek? Someone you could push around and threaten passive-aggressively?”

Polina snorted. “You know, I like you.” She smiled. “I think you’re more like Xeniya than we imagined.”

“Oh, how so?”

“She would’ve threatened Alina too. Although she’d definitely have threatened to kill her.”

Keira laughed. “I am known for my restraint.”

“Yes, eyeball plucking is famously restrained,” Neeve joked.

Maks cleared his throat beside me, pulling my attention back to the matter at hand. The package.

“Sir, I got word from Nika. She’s acquired a DVD player.”

Chapter Eighteen

Xeniya Morozova

Age 35

Naturally, I followed Severin deeper into his flower maze to eavesdrop.

Because I certainly hadn’t sent him any gifts today or planned any ghost attacks.

A missed opportunity, really.

I sighed.

Perhaps I was losing my flair for the dramatic, because nothing fun or entertaining had been on my agenda since I’d gotten the livestream of the girl.

I could probably do both, right?

Hunt her and traumatize Russians?

Unfortunately, after discovering that Severin had been sent a DVD, I was rudely accosted by a snake—which wasn’t fair to snakes, because they were so much better than Alina Orlova.

“Uh, X, are you worried?” Neeve asked in a hushed tone.

“About?”

“Polina.” Neeve glanced around, then lowered her voice further. “She’s clearly suspicious of you and compared you to, well, you.”

“Oh.” I shrugged. “No, I’m not worried. If she suspects I am Xeniya, she’ll come to me first.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because she was one of my closest friends before…” I bit my lip. “She’ll be fine. Besides, we have something far more interesting to pursue.”

“Oh?”

“Severin was sent a DVD as a gift, and it wasn’t me.”

“Oh…” Neeve raised an eyebrow. “That is interesting.”

“So I say we crash that party.”