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A sigh escapes me at the sound of my twin sister’s voice. I glance down at Grace—she looks equally pained by the interruption—before tossing an irritated glare at Elmira.
Her attention, however, is fixed firmly on the woman at my side.
“Don’t tell me you’re leaving already. I didn’t get a chance to meet your guest.”
Grace stiffens beside me, that wary light back in her eyes as she watches Mira.
“Another time. Urgent—”
“Hi, I’m this knucklehead’s twin, Mira.” She holds out her hand toward Grace, whose eyes widen a fraction before she takes it.
“Twins?” She glances between us as they shake hands. “Oh—yes, I can see it now. You have the same eyes.”
“What do you mean? Aren’t we identical?” Mira crosses her arms and furrows her brow in an exaggerated imitation of my usual expression. “Do you see the resemblance now?”
To my surprise, Grace bursts into genuine laughter, her chest heaving as her eyes twinkle with amusement.
Mira grins, clearly pleased, while I frown, not seeing the joke.
“It wasn’t that funny,” I mutter.
“It was,” Mira assures me. “For a second there, I almost looked like you. Almost.”
“I see you’re the funny and good-looking twin,” Grace quips, still smiling as she wipes her cheeks. “It’s nice to meet you. I’m Gr—uh, call me Ace.” She catches her slip quickly. If I didn’t know her name was Grace, I might have missed it.
Instead, my heart pounds in my chest and my spine straightens. A different reminder. Liar.
“Let’s do this properly some other time, Ace—without this one hovering.” Mira nods at me.
That’s enough. This is not what she thinks it is.
“We’re leaving now.”
I tighten my grip on Grace’s arm and practically drag her with me, cutting the conversation short.
It’s about time I deal with my little spy.
15
GRACE
Who would have thought that I’d have this much fun at a wedding? Too much fun, actually. I enjoyed it so much that I’m feeling sick to my stomach.
Here I am falling deeper into some dirty fairytale while my best friend is trapped in literal hell. I want to puke, to feel the acid burn my throat. I deserve that much at least, plus a whole lot more.
Why can’t I just pull myself together and focus? Sure, this would still be hard if I didn’t kind of like Dimitri, but the idea that real feelings are getting involved—damn it.
I can’t help the tingling sensation I get when he’s around me. The way my heart kicks whenever he looks in my direction. Then I met his sister—his twin—and suddenly, he felt so much more… human. Real. This is real.
I want to sink into myself. The guilt has been growing so fiercely that I nearly spilled everything to him twice already. And I’m almost tempted to do it again.
But when I glance up at his face, I find it set like stone, jaw tight.
What’s got him so upset?
My stomach tightens painfully as we reach his car and climb in without a word. Dimitri quickly closes the partition between his driver and us, then turns toward the window, shutting me out.
My brows pull together, my heart sinking a little. This isn’t good.
