Dimitri’s low growl rumbled, barely audible, but Kate caught it, her heart lurching at his unease. “Is that really your mother?” he asked, disbelief sharpening his tone.
Kate forced a giggle, masking the dread coiling in her gut after Margaret’s chilling whisper. “I take more after my father.”
“No offense,” Dimitri murmured, eyes narrowing as Margaret vanished down the hall, “but I don’t like her. Be careful around her.”
Kate’s brow furrowed, her mother’s saccharine smile and cryptic words—Change of plans, darling—echoing like a warning. “Don’t worry about me,” she said, voice steady despite the tremor in her chest. “Just… don’t do anything rash, no matter what happens.”
She squeezed his hand discreetly, her worried eyes meeting his. Confusion flickered in Dimitri’s gaze, then sharpene
