Hope chews on the inside of her cheek. "I'll tell you, but don't freak out, okay?"
"Too late. I'm freaked. Tell me what's happening."
"Katerina Alekseeva paid me a visit two days ago."
She might as well have said the specter of death floated in for a chat. "Hope! Why didn't you tell me?"
"I'm telling you now," she says. "Plus, it took me this long to recover. That woman is terrifying."
"She attacked you?!" Katerina may be scary, but I'm instantly prepared for a no-holds-barred fight to the death if she so much as touched Hope.
"Verbally. And emotionally. In some ways, I might have preferred she hit me. She's tall, but I could take her. She probably hasn't eaten carbs since 2010."
"This is about Rufus, isn't it?" The guilt-snake around my ribs squeezes tighter. "God, this is all my f
