Good. I wasn’t going anywhere with her dressed like that. No matter how desperate I was. That getup is not cute.
Phoebe’s mom takes the carrier, lifting Katerina out and cradling her. She smiles, sings a nursery rhyme of some sort before Phoebe’s dad rattles off about not getting clucky ’cause his shop is dusty and old.
Ten minutes later, Phoebe enters the room again, this time dressed in a pair of jeans and a Rams jumper. My favorite team. Maybe this bitch wasn’t so bad after all.
“You ready?” Phoebe asks, grabbing the keys off the nightstand.
I take a moment to watch Phoebe’s mom with Katerina. She’ll be okay, right? I mean, it’s just a couple of hours. Why the hell is this bothering me so much?
It’s almost like I’m going to miss her.
“Let’s go,” I tell Phoebe, following her out the door until we’re standing in front of a beaten old red Toyota.
“What the hell is this?”
“My car. And please, Susan doesn’t like to be looked at that way.”
“Susan? You named this piece of shit Susan?”
“Oh, sorry Wesley Rich,” Phoebe mocks with a pout. “We can’t all drive Porches like you. Get the fuck in and let’s go find my best friend.”
“Fine, but if I die, it’s all your fault.”
She rubs her hands together, purposely lifting her brows, pleased. “Yes, because dying inside Susan would be fun. For fuck’s sake, grow a dick and get in the car.”
This bitch would be the death of me.
But I no longer cared.
I was one step away from finding Milana.
And that’s all that mattered.
“Miss Milenov hasn’t been here in a week. We were quite worried, actually.”
The nurse doesn’t give any further information. Sitting behind the desk and excusing herself to answer a phone call. The roadblock worries me. I’m close to calling the police, filing a missing person’s report and demanding the whole country go into lockdown until we find her.
“I know what you’re thinking, just stop, please,” Phoebe sputters, momentarily beyond words. She takes a deep breath, staring back at me with her big green eyes. “If you freak out, I’ll freak out. So just stop, okay.”
I’m tearing my hair out, pacing the foyer, restless legs fueled by the anxiety that overwhelms me. I’m scared, terrified—what if she ends it all? What if the pain got to her so much that she couldn’t pull herself out of it? I’m a fucking idiot…I should have seen the warning signs. She wasn’t like the rest of them. She didn’t beg for my attention because I was rich and famous, she begged for it because her life depended on it.
“You want to meet Katya?”
“Is that what you call her? I thought her name
was Katerina?” I question, avoiding the curling pain settling in my stomach.
“Yes, I’ve known her my whole life. Katya is her nickname. Let me guess, you didn’t even know that?”
Frustrated, I quickly bark, “Why the fuck would I know that? Milana never said a word. She never wanted to talk about her mom or life back home. So excuse me for being clueless.”
“Maybe it’s because you’re so self-absorbed you think the world revolves around you!”
The nurse asks us to keep our voices down. Done with arguing, I tell Phoebe to quit talking and lead me to Katya.
Rose Meadow Care Facility had all the bells and whistles. The grounds are beautiful, very manicured with lush lawns and blooming flowers everywhere you looked. According to a sign I read, there is twenty-four-hour nursing available and on-call doctors. It was a long-term facility for people that needed round-the-clock care.
And I expected it cost a fortune which further explained Milana’s reluctance to spend anything back home and her desperation to keep her job.