He stops on a deserted stretch of road and turns to me. “How’s the arm?”

“It feels… funny,” I admit.

“Fuck,” he mutters under his breath. “I should have made sure I killed the bastard. Now, he’s probably gonna run off and report to Kolya.”

“How do you know Kolya even sent him?” I ask.

Adrian gives me a look that says Come on, now. “Who else, June?” he asks. “He’s looking for you, I already told you that. He must be intent on getting our baby.”

“T-that’s not what the man said,” I say, unable to hide the fearful stutter in my voice.

“No?” Adrian asks. “What did he say?”

I’m on the verge of telling him, but then, for some reason, I don’t. “Never mind. It doesn’t matter.” I cover my face with my hands. “I need to rest.”

“I know,” he says softly. “I know.”

“We need to find a place to stay for the night. A motel or something.”

Adrian’s face sours. “No! No motels.”

“Adrian, I—”

“All my money is back at the laundromat. I’ll need to go back there, just to collect my stuff.”

“That’s risky,” I protest. “You just said it’s not safe anymore.”

“Kolya’s not going to expect us to go back right away. He probably doesn’t have any men scouting out the place. It’ll be fine.”

“But—”

“Just trust me, June,” he cuts in.

I’m too tired to argue with him. So when he starts the engine again and steers us back onto the road, I say nothing.

Something occurs to me a few minutes down the highway, just as the city starts to materialize in the distance. “Adrian, how did you find me?”

His face scrunches up strangely. “Oh. Uh, well… I came back to the laundromat and the door had been pried open. There were obvious signs of a struggle.”

“And you found… like, a trail? Evidence?”

He gives me only a cursory sideways glance, and I find myself wishing we were sitting across from one another, face to face. So that I could see his expressions. So that I could judge them.

“I know my brother.”

I frown. “That doesn’t make sense.”

He looks surprised by my insistence, and more than a little bit irritated. “Are you trying to tell me that you’re disappointed I saved you?”

I almost rise to the bait. But I’m not going to let him turn this around on me. “I’m asking you a question,” I say firmly.

He sighs and regrips the steering wheel. “I know how Kolya operates, and I also know where his safehouses are, where he likes to do business. I had heard rumors a few years ago that he brought women out here when they were changing hands.”

It strikes me as just vague enough to be true. Then I catch myself combing through it meticulously and I shake my head. Adrian is right—I’m acting ridiculous. He just saved me from someone who very obviously had bad intentions. I should be grateful, not suspicious.