“They said it wasn’t part of the original breakfast plan. Someone from the groom’s family specially requested it.”
“Who?”
“They couldn’t remember clearly. At first, they said the groom’s aunt.”
He stays still, watching me.
“I think it was Anna,” I say quietly. “Or at least, I think she was at the venue earlier than she told everyone.”
Viktor doesn’t speak.
“She lied about that,” I continue. “And she lied about knowing me.”
His eyes cut back to mine. “Knowing you?”
I take a breath. “She was on the flight.”
The room goes very quiet.
“What?”
“I didn’t know who she was then. After I left your cabin, she stopped me near the bathroom. She told me to stay away from you.”
His face hardens. “Anna said that?”
“Yes. She said you were dangerous. That I didn’t know what kind of man you were. I was already overwhelmed, and then she said that, and I panicked.” My voice drops. “That’s why I ran when we landed.”
Viktor looks away, and I can see the realization hit him.
“She never told me,” he says.
“No. And at the wedding, she pretended she didn’t recognize me.”
He turns back to me slowly.
“I don’t know what she’s hiding,” I say. “But she is hiding something.”
For a moment, neither of us speaks.
I force myself to keep going. “There’s something else. About the baby.”
His attention locks onto me.
My heart starts pounding.
“Ethan isn’t?—”
The door opens.
Maksim walks in with a clipboard and stops when he sees us. “Bad timing,” he says. “But I need to check on my patient.”
I close my mouth and feel the words fall back inside me, warm and unfinished.
Viktor looks at me for one second longer, and I know he knows. Not what I was going to say exactly, but that I was finally about to say something that mattered.
He lets go of my hand and stands.
Maksim’s eyes move between us once and give away nothing. He has seen too many hospital rooms and too many badly timed emotions to be interested in this one right now.