13
Nikolai
Ignoring Chloe’s claims that she can walk “just fine,” I carry her to her room and return to finish the message I was writing, instructing Valery’s newest arrival on how and where I want the DNA sample collected. It’s not a man my brother is sending for this job, but a woman—which is even better.
It opens up some interesting possibilities in regard to getting close to Bransford.
I then answer a few more urgent messages and go get Chloe for our flower-gathering expedition.
My heart pounds with anticipation as I approach her room. Maybe I’m reading too much into this, but I feel encouraged that she’s actively sought me out, that she wants to spend time with me, even if it’s under this bullshit pretext.
My strategy of being nothing more than her patient, platonic caretaker is
