“… But something feels wrong, and I need you here,” she rasps, her voice almost a sob. “I reallyneed you here.”
I’m holding onto the phone so tight that I’m surprised it’s still in one piece. I need her to know I’mcoming.
I open my mouth to say something, anything, but Christo lunges forward.
“She’s lying to you,” he hisses.
My gun was aimed at his chest before he even took a step, and he looks nervously at it now. But itdoesn’t silence him.
“Nikolai, I have to tell you something: Belle is working with Xena,” he confesses somberly. “She hasbeen for weeks.”
I’m quiet. My pulse pounds where I was shot, every throb a fresh bout of agony.
I consider shooting him for lying about Belle, for trying to drive a wedge between us. But then Iremember the nigh
