HER || 18+ (Monsters #2) || Sequel to THEM

60 - Masterpieces

. . .
Olivia Woods

I initially thought going out on dinner would him would somehow make the heartbreak better - I'd see how mad he was and then I'd feel a bit better for my decision.

I didn't expect him to look at me with longing in his eyes.

Alisa Sokolov was smoking on my couch, eyes on Ivan. Zavier had called pretty much right when Alisa came over. Alisa said I could go if I wanted to because Ivan and she had a lot of things to talk about.

Now that I was back, I didn't know how to talk to her.

I sat down on a chair, still in my dress. "Did you order food?" I asked her.

"Ivan did. And then he refused to share." Her voice was heavy with a Russian accent. The Brooklyn accent she used to have before wasn't there, at all.

Ivan had left me alone with Zavier. The dinner had stretched over an hour. The half-hour thing had been bullshit from the start.

I took out my phone. "I'll order something for you. Chinese?"

"You know what I like."

I paused. I did know what she liked.

I ordered, a little bit for myself too because I always got hungry in the middle of the night, and then set my phone down.

Now her focus was on me. Alisa was dressed in an all-black outfit, her eyes lined with thick eyeliner and bright blue eyes bright. She tapped her white nails on the armrest. "Are you not going to ask me what I'm doing here?"

"I thought you wanted to talk to Ivan."

"No," she said instantly. "Toddlers are better at making a conversation than him. I am in Paris to hunt someone down. I knew you were here. I thought you'd like a little visit."

"You're hunting someone?"

"I'm an assassin."

Wow.

Where was the Georgia who worked in a shitty diner?

Nowhere. She was nowhere, except my mind, perhaps.

She leaned forward, putting her elbows on her knees. Ivan walked closer to me. She smirked at that but didn't take her eyes off me. "How have you been?"

"Okay," I said. Lying, of course. I couldn't be in a worse place mentally. "What about you?"

"I'm alright."

"That's good."

"Da."

This was awkward. I wished that Daisy was here. I ran my hand on the hem of my dress, spotting a mistake in tailoring. You can't do one thing right. "I never really thanked you, did I?"

"I didn't do it for you."

"No?"

"I did it for myself. I'd be pretty sad if you died."

"So you saved me so that you wouldn't have to be sad?"

"Exactly." She leaned back into the couch, putting her ankle on the knee of her other leg. Her heels glittered. "Do you live alone?"

"I love with a friend."

"Who?"

"Someone."

She smiled. "Am I replaced?"

"I don't know. I don't think she is an undercover spy."

"It's always the ones you trust."

"I know that."