Alina's POV
My eyes wandered through the dark, abandoned uncompleted building, dust swirling in the cold draft. Where the hell was Ilya? She was the one who told me to meet her here.
"Looking for me?" her voice purred from behind.
I whipped around, my gaze locking onto hers in the gloom. "Let's settle this, Ilya. I don't want any trouble," I said, keeping my tone as calm and level as possible.
A loud, jagged laugh broke from her lips. "You don't want any trouble? I never said I wanted trouble either, Alina. You said you had an offer for me, so what is it?" she demanded, a raw, underlying desperation lacing her voice.
In truth, I had no offer for her. I just needed to get her in front of me to figure out what she was planning.
"You won't gain anything from doing all of this, Ilya," I reasoned, taking a cautious step forward. "You have a wonderful husband—Zaheer—who actually loves and cares for you. Why can't you just go back to him and stop all of this madness?"
