Forged Risk

by Sidney Bristol

  “I owe you,” she said.

  “No, you don’t.”

  She gathered her resolve, holding tight with two mental hands, and pushed forward. “You saved me. I should do something to say thank you, at least. Right?”

  Evan glanced up.

  Felecia smiled despite his stoic expression.

  Those eyes. They saw straight through her. Instead of making her nervous she had an unsettling, warm, tingly sensation stir up in her stomach. She swallowed and forced herself to smile a bit more.

  Evan set her foot down and placed his hands on his thighs. “This looks like it’s mostly superficial. How about I show you to your room? You can clean up and when you’re ready, there’s some food still.”

  He stood and went to the sink.

  She stared at his backside.

  He clearly spoke both Ukrainian and Russian like someone who’d done so since birth. He couldn’t have misunderstood her. Could he? Or was her delivery just that bad?

  One thing was for sure, Felecia was in over her head.

  4.

  Saturday. Safe House. Kiev, Ukraine.

  Evan set the last bag with the others. Jamie, Harper and Tucker had confirmed that in the short window they’d pulled back to regroup Obran had vacated the space where they’d found Felecia.

  A mental picture unfolded in Evan’s mind. It was the moment he’d looked up at her large, dark eyes. She was a beautiful woman. No amount of dirt or blood could hide that. Part of him couldn’t blame Obran for locking her up. She was like Helen of Troy or some other fabled beauty. He’d known what she was suggesting last night, albeit the delivery was clumsy. It had broken him a bit for her to think that was necessary and he hated the surge of desire he’d felt for her. She tugged at his protective instincts in the worst way.

  With effort he shut away the thoughts of Felecia and focused on Obran.

  They’d taken a chance and they’d missed him.

  With their cover blown the next step was to vacate the safe house and relocate. Remaining where they were only posed a threat to their safety and the operation. Then there was Felecia to figure out. They still had no idea how she fit in.

  Evan was beginning to understand bits of it. At some point in the past Obran must have been a decent person. He wouldn’t have sheltered his family for so long if he didn’t care for them at some point. Or did Evan have it wrong? Was it about power all along?

  It was hard to say. They knew so little and Felecia’s view of Obran was unreliable considering the abuse she’d endured.

  Logan caught Evan’s eye and gestured for him to join the others in the living room.

  “I think it’s time we made some decisions.” Logan glanced between the gathered men. “This op didn’t go as planned.”

  “That’s one way to put it,” Harper muttered.

  “What about the girl?” Tucker asked.

  Felecia had emerged from the bedroom to take a shower and get food last night. No one had seen her since and when they’d considered checking on her, none of them wanted to be the one to disturb her. They just weren’t set up to deal with her. Maybe it was a bad idea to leave her in a room by herself, but none of them liked seeing a young woman chained up like someone’s junk yard dog.

  Evan put thoughts of Felecia out of his mind.

  “What choices do we have?” Jamie asked. “Either we stay here and hope we find Obran ourselves before he finds us, or we get out of Dodge.”

  Harper frowned. “Shouldn’t that be Redneck’s line?”

  “Fuck you,” Tucker said without missing a beat.

  Logan shook his head.

  “You know what would probably work?” Harper glanced around the circle. “Send Jamie in there, flirt with her some. I bet he’d butter her up.”

  Jamie glared at his friend. “You’re a dick.”

  “What?” Harper chuckled.

  “She doesn’t speak English, dumbass,” Tucker said.

  “That true?” Logan focused on Evan.

  “I don’t know.” Evan pondered back on last night. “She never appeared to understand what we were saying, but can we trust her? I didn’t ask.”

  Deep down, he wanted to help her. To protect her. To believe what she said. But the facts were that she was a crook’s daughter, reared in an ugly lifestyle. They had no idea what Felecia was capable of. That was something he needed to remember the next time she turned those large, brown eyes on him.

  Logan stared hard at Evan. “I think we should be a bit more careful what we say around her, just in case.”

  “I still think my plan would work,” Harper said.

  “No,” Evan snapped before he could stop himself.

  Logan looked at him, brows lifted.

  Well, shit.

  Evan blew out a breath and scrubbed his hand across his mouth. “No, that’s not going to work.”

  “Why?” Logan asked.

  “She’s already tried it the other way around.” Evan grit his teeth and ignored the heat climbing up his neck.

  “What? She flirted with you, Ukie?” Harper slapped his shoulder.

  What was up with him?

  Harper was always a bit annoying, but lately it was on steroids.

  Evan gave Harper a flat stare. The worst thing Evan could do was react to Harper’s jabs. “I shut it down. We aren’t going that route. Given what she’s been through? No.”

  Felecia was a young woman in a threatening situation surrounded by unfamiliar men. Evan should have been prepared for the clumsy attempt at flirting, but it had surprised him. He’d wished for Obran’s death in that moment. Felecia should be living her best life, establishing herself in whatever it was she wanted to do, not chained up in a prison.

  “None of this helps us decide what we’re going to do,” Tucker said.

  “The flight to St. Petersburg doesn’t leave for a few more hours.” Logan remained focused on Evan. “Why don’t we talk to her? You said last night she seemed like she’d cooperate with us. Let’s see what we find out. Go get her.”

  Evan wished he could think of a reason to refuse the order, but he couldn’t. Until Felecia indicated otherwise, he was the only one who could speak to her.

  He trudged out of the living room and down to the bedrooms.

  The light was on in Felecia’s room though no one had seen her yet. It was still early. The sun had barely colored the horizon.

  He braced himself and lifted his hand, tapping on the door.

  Logan had said she’d taken a shower and the offered clothes. It was still customary for them to travel with a couple extra sets of clothing for men and women as per their Aegis Group jobs. Yoga pants and T-shirts might not be fashionable, but at least they didn’t have blood on them.

  The door opened a bit, just enough for Felecia to look out at him.

  Evan swallowed.

  She was still pretty. Those haunting dark eyes of her tugged at him. He took in the rest of her, assessing, adjusting his view of her. The sweater had hung on her like a shapeless sack. He’d assumed she was underweight and in poor condition considering how they’d found her.

  The truth was so much better.

  The T-shirt revealed well-toned arms. The yoga pants highlighted muscular legs and a body that had been honed. She might have been a prisoner, but she’d kept herself ready. That said a lot about the kind of person she was and drove home the fact that he needed to watch himself around her. She might not need his help.

  He tilted his head down the hall. It actually felt good to speak his native language to someone again. “The others would like to talk to you if you’re up for it. There’s some breakfast if you’re hungry.”

  “Okay,” she said softly and let the door open the rest of the way.

  Seeing her showered and in clean clothes soothed a part of him that had remained on edge last night. She was being taken care of. She was safe.

  Felecia padded out of the bedroom ahead of him.

  He glanced into the room, taking it in. Th
e bed was made. Nothing out of place. No sign that she’d even rested there. Because she hadn’t slept? Or because she’d woken up and tidied up after herself?

  The others had moved to the kitchen. Two extra chairs clustered around the table and the guys were getting coffee poured and food on plates. It wasn’t much, just stuff that could be quickly heated and eaten on the go.

  Felecia glanced at him. He wasn’t exactly sure what the look meant, but he felt it in his chest. This need to look out for her, even here among the other guys. Like she belonged to him or something.

  It was crazy, but he couldn’t shake it.

  Evan stepped forward and pulled out the chair at the end of the table for her. This way she wouldn’t be squeezed between the guys. A little elbow room might help her feel more at ease.

  “Thanks,” she muttered and sat.

  “Morning, Felecia,” Logan said as he sat at the opposite end of the table.

  Evan took the chair on her right while the other guys made offers of food and coffee. Evan didn’t offer to translate, just watched her. Her face remained smooth, no reaction, no indication she understood more than the basic gestures from the others. Felecia nodded at everything and wound up with a full plate in front of her plus coffee.

  “We need to know about Obran,” Logan said looking at Evan. “She understand what we need?”

  Logan wasn’t asking about her comprehension skills. He was asking about her grasp of language. Evan still hadn’t had the chance to determine anything there.

  “We’ll find out.” He turned toward Felecia and translated Logan’s question.

  She glanced from Logan to Evan and spoke in Ukrainian. “Is he in charge?”

  “Logan is our Team Leader.”

  Did that matter to her? Would she have rather flirted with the man in charge?

  Evan silenced the absurd thoughts and waited for her to finish chewing.

  She kept studying him, as though the others weren’t even there. “What do you want to know?”

  “You do realize this is pointless?” Harper pushed his plate away and sat back, arms crossed over his chest.

  “Do you know what your father does?” Evan asked her in Ukrainian, ignoring Harper.

  Harper sighed heavily. “We can’t trust anything she tells us.”

  “Shut up,” Logan muttered, but the command wasn’t convincing.

  Felecia’s gaze flicked from man to man. There was a slight difference to her now. She was composed. The nervous girl from last night was gone. Her gaze finally came back to Evan. When she spoke, it was in the words that sounded like water cascading over stones. That was always how Evan thought the language sounded and rolling off her lips it sounded even better.

  “I know what my father does,” she said and straightened a bit more. “Your friends might want to know that I understand English.”

  Evan sat back and nodded. He’d dreaded that answer. None of them had asked, so why did he feel as though she’d lied to him?

  “This could even be a trap or something,” Harper said. He was running his mouth, saying ridiculous stuff likely on purpose.

  “Harper, cut it out.” Evan turned his head. “She understands you.”

  “Shit,” Jamie muttered and dug in his pocket, laying a five-dollar bill in the other man’s hand.

  Harper merely grinned. “Told you.”

  FELECIA HADN’T BEEN able to sleep. She’d been too nervous. There was too much to think about. Even now despite how hungry she was it was hard to eat for all the knots in her belly.

  One of the details she’d considered long and hard was the language barrier.

  She understood them even if the language came slower to her. The longer she let them believe she didn’t speak English, the more damage she’d do to the tentative trust they’d established once the truth was out. She was worried that even twelve hours was too long.

  She licked her lips and spoke slowly, the words cumbersome on her tongue. She met the gaze of each man around the table before ending up at Evan again. “Most of the time I listen to English. I do not speak it well.”

  “Good. This will make things easier,” Logan said between bites of toast. He at least did not appear to be phased by this revelation. “We still need to know about Obran. He’s your father?”

  She nodded and nibbled at the food. It was regrettable she couldn’t deny her parentage. Oh, she could have insisted otherwise, but the possibility would always be there. Besides, she’d seen the picture of her mother.

  “You know what he does?”

  Again she nodded.

  “Can you be more specific about what he does?” Evan asked, his tone gentle.

  Why did that unknot her stomach? Why should it matter what he thought?

  Felecia darted a glance at him, those cool blue eyes focused on her. If anything he appeared more relaxed. Had she built trust instead of destroying it?

  She bought herself a moment by taking a sip of the coffee and considered her words, how to say what she needed to say. Then there was the matter of how to say it. In the end she turned to Evan and spoke in Ukrainian. It was faster to get things across without muddling over words. “When he started he was just a forger. Documents. Passports. That sort of thing.”

  Evan held her gaze and began translated as she spoke. This really was easier than having to think about her words, but the tradeoff was looking at him. She resisted the urge to shiver. Something about the way he looked at her made everything else fade from focus. It could be just the two of them in here for all she noticed the others.

  “Eventually it became something else. He makes people new lives now. New backgrounds. New everything. Sometimes even faces.”

  “Faces?” one of the other men said after Evan spoke.

  “Why’d Obran have her chained up?” Logan asked.

  Felecia set down her fork and hid her fists under the table.

  “You don’t have to talk about that,” Evan said softly, still using Ukrainian.

  She looked back at him and summoned her English. “I want you to hate him as much as I do.”

  It wasn’t something she was proud of saying, but it was the truth.

  He nodded.

  She turned her focus on Logan. “You have seen pictures of my mother? I look just like her. Eight years ago he took her out one night. He left me locked in the flat where he kept us like prisoners. I never saw her again. He claims he does this to protect me. To prevent bad people from using me against him. To keep his enemies from killing me. I think he does this because he is a sick bastard.”

  “You think he killed your mom?” Logan folded his hands on the table.

  Felecia shook her head and quietly said, “I don’t know.”

  Some days she thought he had. Others, she couldn’t believe he had it in him. There was no doubt in Felecia’s mind that Obran had loved her mother. But had her mother loved Obran?

  “You see your dad’s clients much?” Logan asked.

  “Sometimes. Mostly I make documents.”

  One of the other men whistled.

  “You ever run across four Americans? Men?” Logan’s gaze was fully focused on her. This was what they were here for. The question they wanted answers to.

  It was the knowing again. Or maybe it wasn’t. But something bad was going to happen.

  Felecia’s mouth went dry.

  She knew who he was talking about.

  The Horsemen.

  She should have made that connection sooner.

  If these Americans wanted those people, she was in a whole lot more danger than she’d been prepared for.

  Evan leaned toward her. She saw him lick his lips out of the corner of her eye.

  “No,” she said before he could press her. “No, I can’t talk about them.”

  “We need to know about those men,” Logan said again.

  This was her chance.

  That phrase had become her mantra since she’d been cut free. She had to make the most of this, even if it meant r
isking her life.

  She looked across the table at Logan and summoned the words. “I will tell you everything I know, but I want to be in America. I need protection if I talk about them.”

  Logan glanced at the man on his left. That one shook his head and shrugged, his attention still mostly on his food. The other two muttered things under their breath while Evan remained silent, his attention on Logan. Those two shared a look, some sort of silent communication that came from working alongside each other for a long time.

  “We aren’t in a position to promise anything,” Logan said slowly.

  Evan began before Logan had finished. “We’ll make sure you’re safe.”

  “Evan,” Logan snapped.

  “We can get her help.” Evan glanced at Logan. “You know we can.”

  “But we can’t promise it. This isn’t like it used to be. The rules are different now.”

  Evan’s gaze narrowed, exposing his stubborn streak. “We can’t leave her here.”

  Logan scrubbed his hand over his face before glancing from Evan to her. “Fine. Yes, we’ll figure it out, but we can’t make any more promises. Is that going to work for you?”

  Felecia nodded. She wasn’t in a position to make demands. Honestly she was just glad that they seemed willing to help her in return.

  “Eat something.” He nodded at her plate. “We have time.”

  She picked up the fork and ate mechanically.

  If these Americans weren’t able to offer her more than temporary protection, she’d have to decide where to go. One thing was for certain, Dad would come after them first. Either they would be able to thwart that, or she could leave them to be her decoy while she got as far from here as she could.

  Felecia didn’t like the idea of being on her own, especially if the Horsemen were involved. Those men were their own brand of scary. She’d met them a few times and each time it had felt as though she’d had a brush with death.

  Should she warn them about her dad? That they’d painted targets on their backs?

  She glanced at Evan.

  Dad would kill him given the opportunity. The idea of Evan dying had her stomach knotting up again and a deep pit of grief opened up inside of her.