Chapter 11 Katerina

• Two taps, and then the bedroom door swings open to reveal a woman older than my mother. Her short hair is streaked white and gray, like a birch tree in winter. She's wearing a stiff dress the color of mud that covers her from her wrists to her ankles. The only color on her is the twin sapphire studs in her ears. They match the discerning eyes that follow my hand as I shove my phone under a pillow.
• "Dobriy vecher," she says. "You must be Katerina. I'm Ulyana Nazarova, the head of the household staff."
• "Dobriy vecher," I greet her cautiously. If she works for Sasha, she's as much of an enemy as the men who roughed me up earlier.