-Mikhael-

I learned an ugly truth. This morning, I was in Valentina’s office. I was looking for an out.

I made it to her desk. Good, they are still busy with the bugs. I held my breath. Here goes. I reached for the big drawer. Oh hey, it’s unlocked. I slowly pulled it open. Hm… Let’s see…

There’s so many papers in here. I started to look through them. I narrowed my eyes. I can’t read Russian. Mom never taught me and neither did Dad. I frowned to myself. Damn it! Still, I couldn’t quit. I dug back in.

Oh? What’s this?

I reached down and took out the book. The leather felt heavy. I recognized it. Oh… This is the book for their wine business. I looked around. Maybe… Just maybe…

I opened the book. Inside was a mix of Russian, English, and Japanese. From what I could read, it was all business talk and wine. Prices and information. Boring. I turned the page. More business and wine talk.

But then something caught my eye.

Veronika?

Huh? Who is that? It didn’t look like a customer or a supplier. Just a name and a price. I had to keep looking. Pages after page were filled with names and prices. All names were female too.

Jill, Megan, Lana, Nozomi, Sabrina, Christine, Jane, Lizzie…

The list kept going. All hid between the wine and business. My stomach dropped. No… No, please don’t let it be what I think it is.

Suddenly, the phone rang. I jumped back. What do I do? I panicked as I looked around. The phone rang again. Shit. Shit! I shoved the book back into the drawer. I shoved it shut and ran out of the office.

“What are you doing?!” I heard shouting at me. I jumped back with a yelp. Valentina stared at me like she wanted to kill me. (I should be used to it by now.) I pointed to the door.

“Your phone is ringing,” I said. Valentina frowned as she walked into her office. I didn’t dare to move. Once she was inside, I slowly backed out of the hall.

Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit. This is bad. What should I do? Part of me wanted to believe that this was a misunderstanding. Maybe the list was something else. That had to be it, right? Right?

My gut wouldn’t let me believe otherwise. Which was why I didn’t know what to do. But one phone call and chance encounter would choose for me.