“How are the injuries coming along?” Milana asks me, her mouth full of buttery pastry. “You still leaking from all those extra holes?”

“No leakage to report,” I reply with a chuckle. “Do you have any reports for me?”

“Tons,” she says while chewing. She glances over at June, subtly but enough for me to notice.

“Go on,” I encourage. “Let’s hear it.”

She hesitates for a second, and then swallows her doubt. “It looks like Adrian is back in the city.”

My hands ball into fists instantly. “So he was following us.”

“It could have been a coincidence. But you and I aren’t the type to believe in coincidences, are we? So yeah, I think it’s likely he was following your movements.”

“Two separate teams and they can’t even find one fucking man. What is he, invisible?”

“Adrian is no fool, Kolya,” Milana reminds me. “He can be quite resourceful when he needs to be.”

“Um… sorry, have I misunderstood something?” June interjects. She turns her accusatory gaze on me. “What’s this about your men trying to catch Adrian?”

I can feel the dread unfurl in my stomach. “That was always the plan.”

“Well, yes,” June says with a concerned nod. “But that was before you knew about your mother.”

“Why should that change anything?”

“Because now, we have a reason to explain why Adrian was involved in the ring in the first place.”

I stare at her in disbelief. “Do you really think his activity in the ring was devoid of ulterior motives? He was just a good ol’ mama’s boy, looking for the one woman he ever loved?”

“Why else would he have been there?”

“To buy and sell women, June!” I roar, my voice hitting its high mark before I can think to rein it in. I hate the way she cowers, the way she flinches, the way I make her look like all she wants is to curl up and disappear.

She doesn’t, of course. She swallows that fear down and stares back at me, proud and fiery. “I would think that you’d want to give Adrian the benefit of the doubt,” she says icily.

“Come on, June,” Milana chides, joining the fray. “There’s no reason a man would descend into that world unless he was there to buy or sell.”

“Unless he was trying to find his mother!” she says fiercely. “Why can’t the two of you believe that maybe he isn’t the villain you want him to be?”

I can’t fucking believe we’re having this conversation. I’d assumed that the last few days had put all that uncertainty to bed. But apparently, we’d just misunderstood each other.

“He didn’t say a word to me about finding her,” I growled. “According to Milana’s sources, he found her years ago. He could’ve said something. Why would he hide her existence from me?”

“You weren’t exactly honest with him either, Kolya,” she points out. “You didn’t tell him about your suspicions. You let him believe she had abandoned the two of you to move to France!”