CHAPTER 231
ROMEO POV
The unwelcome ringing cut through the room. It wasn't my phone. I knew that instantly. Mine was silent, exactly where I'd left it. This sound came from the bed behind her—thin, insistent, vibrating against the mattress.
Katya stiffened.
I saw it in the way her shoulders locked, the way her breath caught just slightly, like the sound had reached somewhere deeper than her ears.
So did it reach me.
A phone.
The image from earlier slammed back into place—Katya laughing, a phone pressed to her ear, something I hadn't authorized, something that should not have existed in this room.
I straightened, standing up slowly, the movement controlled but sharp enough that she noticed.
She reacted immediately. Katya pulled her shirt down properly, fingers fumbling at the fabric like she'd just remembered where she was.
The motion was quick, almost panicked, like she was bracing for something she couldn't name.
