Page 167 of Nine Months to Love

“At first, yes. What reason did I have not to? She seemed genuinely sorry. She even offered to pay for Mikayla’s funeral. To clear our debts.”

“How generous.”

Mikayla’s eyes flash. “She offered me more than that. She offered me revenge.”

“Against who?”

“Againstyou.” Her teeth are bared and gleaming in the low light. She looks half-human, half-feral.

“She told you I started the fire,” I say.

“Yes. She said you were trying to kill her and Vasily. That Mikayla was just collateral damage. A casualty of your war.”

“And you believed that, too.”

“Why wouldn’t I? You admitted to setting the fire, didn’t you? You admitted to trying to kill them.”

“I did. But I didn’t know your sister was inside. I watched that cabin for hours before I lit the match. There was no one else there. Just Natalia and Vasily.”

“Maybe you didn’t look hard enough.”

“Or maybe my mother lied to you.”

She doesn’t answer.

I push off the door and take a step closer. “Think about it, Mikayla. Why would she call your sister in on her day off? Why would she ask her to do housekeeping when she and Vasily were about to arrive?”

“I don’t know.”

“Because she needed a body. She knew I was coming and she needed someone to die in that fire so I would think she was dead, too.”

Mikayla’s face goes pale. “No.”

“Yes. She used your sister. She lured her to that cabin and left her there to burn.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Don’t I? She’s done worse to people she claimed to love.”

Mikayla stands abruptly and paces to the other side of the room. Her breathing is ragged. “She cleared my debt,” she insists. “She gave me a new life.”

“She gave you apurpose,” I correct. “Revenge. Something to focus on so you wouldn’t ask too many questions.”

Mikayla stops pacing and turns to face me. “Then why did she come to me? Why offer me anything at all?”

“Because you were a weapon on the inside. Someone I would trust.”

“And you did trust me.”

“For a while.”

“Until Olivia came along.” Mikayla laughs nastily. “That’s what this is really about, isn’t it? You’re angry because I chose your mother over you. Because I didn’t fall at your feet like every other woman in your life.”

“I’m angry because you lied to me. You put my family in danger.”

“Your family,” she spits in disgust. “You meanher.”

“I mean all of them. Babushka. Taras. Olivia. The baby.”