CLAUDE
HE’D FORGOTTEN TO take the ones around my hands off.
And he didn’t believe me.
Those two thoughts circled in my mind, over and over, as I paced the room. Minutes, hours—I wasn’t sure anymore. The untouched food on the nightstand had gone cold, the smell stale now, but I couldn’t bring myself to care. All I could think about was Nikolai and how much I needed him to believe me.
I sank down on the edge of the bed, knees bouncing, my eyes trained on the door like I could will him to come through it. I couldn’t get Nikolai out of my head, couldn’t stop thinking about the way he’d looked at me.
Like he was waiting for me to f**k up.
Then I heard it. Footsteps.
My pulse kicked up, the air catching in my lungs. But something about the sound was wrong. They weren’t his—too
