Page 67 of Toxic Temptation
I walk away from the table, pulling out my phone. My fingers hover over her contact for a moment before I press call.
She answers on the second ring. It’s been only a few hours since I dropped her back off at her apartment and still, the sound of her voice fills me with a relief that I can’t quite put my finger on.
“Kovan? Is everything okay? Is Luka hurt?”
“Luka’s fine. He’s safe at home with his nanny.”
“Thank God.” Her exhale is audible through the phone. “What’s wrong then?”
“We have a problem.”
Silence yawns between us. I can hear movement on her end, the rustle of fabric. I can’t help but wonder what she’s wearing.
“What kind of problem?”
“We need to play our parts well, Vesper. We can’t afford to make anyone suspicious. And let’s face it—that bitch of a social worker was plenty suspicious before she even met you.”
“I thought we did fine at your office today. Didn’t we?”
“‘Fine’ isn’t good enough, Vesper. Not when Luka’s future is on the line.” I pace to the window, watching the city lights flicker below. “You need to know me. Really know me. My habits, my preferences, everything.”
Her laugh is soft. “I could make flashcards. Study you like I’m cramming for boards.”
“You can study all you want—as long as you do it from my house.”
The line goes quiet. When she speaks again, her voice is different. Careful. “What do you mean?”
“Move in with me.”
“Move in?” she chokes out. “Kovan, I can’t?—”
“You can and you will. We have forty-five days to convince a judge we’re serious about each other. Living together is the fastest way to?—”
“No.”
I pull up short. “Pardon?”
“I said no. I’m not moving in with you.”
Heat flares in my chest. “Why the hell not?”
“Because I need to be close to the hospital. Because I have my own life, my own space. But mostly because I don’t want to.”
“Vesper—”
“I have to go. The hospital’s paging me.”
The call goes dead.
I stare at my phone, jaw clenched tight enough to crack teeth. She hung up on me. She actually fucking hung up on me.
When I return to the game room, Pavel and Osip stop their conversation mid-sentence.
“Everything alright?” Pavel asks, eyeing my hands.
I look down to find my fists clenched white. “Get me some moving boxes,” I tell them. “And a truck. First thing tomorrow morning, we will meet them at Vesper’s apartment.”
Pavel’s eyebrows shoot up. “She agreed to move in?”
