Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 98176 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 491(@200wpm)___ 393(@250wpm)___ 327(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98176 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 491(@200wpm)___ 393(@250wpm)___ 327(@300wpm)
Yulia lays a slim hand on my arm. “It’s okay, Sara.” Her blue gaze softens. “You don’t need to go into details. I understand.”
“You do?”
She nods. “I’m not an idiot. I know that things can change, and that the ugliest of beginnings can lead to something beautiful over time. As far as using me to escape, I’m sure I would’ve done the same in your shoes. In fact—” She stops. “Never mind that. I’m just glad you and Peter are in a good place now. I mean… you are, right?” Her gaze falls to my stomach; then she looks up with a silent question.
“Oh. Yes, for sure.” I wince internally, recalling how I told her that Peter intended to force a child on me. Covering my stomach with my hand, I say firmly, “This one is very much wanted.”
She smiles. “Good. I’m glad to hear it. Now if you’ll excuse me…” She glances at the bathroom.
Grinning, I step back, realizing I’ve been holding her up this whole time. “Thank you,” I say as she goes in. “For your help that time and for everything.”
“It was my pleasure,” she says, and as she closes the door, I head back to the dining room, feeling infinitely more relieved.
When I return, everyone’s on their feet, milling around the table with post-dinner drinks, and before long, we’re saying our goodbyes.
“Thank you. Everything was wonderful,” I tell Nora sincerely, and she grins.
“I can’t claim any credit. It was all Ana,” she says, and at that moment, her husband calls her name from upstairs.
“Coming!” she yells back, and stepping forward, she gives me a quick hug.
“Stop by anytime, okay?” she says, and I promise to do so.
She heads upstairs, and I turn to Yulia. She and Lucas are staying in the main house, so she’s standing in the hallway next to her husband, watching us leave. Impulsively, I come up to her and give her a hug as well.
“Thank you again,” I tell her as we separate, and she smiles at me warmly.
“Good luck, Sara. I hope to see you around.”
“Oh, you will,” I tell her. “Bye, Lucas.” I wave at him, smiling, and he gives me a stony look in return.
Okay, so only one of the Kents has forgiven me so far.
“Ready?” Peter asks, looping his arm around my waist, and I nod, leaning in to him as he leads me away.
Back to our temporary home.
70
Peter
“So, what’s up with Yulia and the Esguerras?” Sara asks at breakfast the next morning. “At dinner, it seemed as if there was some tension there, and I remember you mentioned something about it in Cyprus.”
“Oh, that?” I ladle her some more steel-cut oatmeal with berries. I’ve started researching optimal nutrition for pregnant women, and I plan to shift Sara’s diet toward more healthy foods. “Yes, there’s definitely tension—and for a good reason.”
She puts down her spoon. “Oh?”
I debate glossing over the whole ugly story, but she hasn’t had any flashback episodes this morning or last night, and this has nothing to do with her parents or any of the traumatic events she’s been through. So I decide to fill her in, especially since she seemed to be getting chummy with Kent’s blond wife last night.
“Do you remember how I told you that Esguerra once had a run-in with a terrorist group and had to be rescued?” I ask. At Sara’s nod, I say, “Well, there was a reason they captured him. His plane had been shot down over Uzbekistan, and that happened because of some information that Yulia provided to the Ukrainian government.”
“What?” Sara’s eyes grow huge. “Why would she do that? Was she with Lucas at the time?”
“From what I’ve heard, they’d had a one-night stand in Moscow right before the crash. As to why, that was her job at the time. She worked as a spy for the Ukrainian government in Moscow.”
“Oh, wow, that’s…” Sara appears to be struck speechless.
I smile. “Yeah, I know. Kent was on the plane too, by the way. So were nearly fifty of Esguerra’s men. Pretty much all of them perished—which is how Esguerra ended up in a hospital in Tashkent, wounded and unprotected.”
“Oh, fuck,” Sara breathes. “How is she still alive, much less married to Lucas?”
I grin. My little civilian is starting to think the way I do. “Honestly, I’m not sure,” I tell her. “I left the estate right after that whole mess went down. But I’m guessing she’s alive because they’re married. I helped him retrieve her from Moscow at one point because he wanted to personally punish her, but I don’t know much beyond that. Just that they somehow ended up together and, by all indications, are pretty happy.”
Sara shakes her head. “Wow. I just… I have no words.” She digs into her oatmeal, and I make quick work of mine before getting up to clear away the dishes.