“Well, I was in charge of the hens,” I say. “I fed them, I cleaned out their houses, and I collected their eggs. They were like my pets. I would squat in the dirt and open my arms and they would come running into them. They were so sweet. I loved them so much so I fought my parents and never allowed any of them to end up on our dinner table, but when we left we had to sell them all to a neighbor. They eat their chickens.”
A sigh escapes me. I haven’t spoken to anyone about them ever since we left and I feel a sense of nostalgia and sadness for my little friends. For that simple, happy life we left behind.
“Why did you come to New York?” His voice is soft in the cool evening air. The sun has already set.
I exhale the breath I was holding. “My mother’s sister was living there then and she told us to come and live with her. The Big Apple. Where the streets are paved with gold. What a shock my mother got when we arrived. Sometimes I feel we would have been better off on the farm, but we’ll never know.”
James comes to tell us dinner is ready to be served, and we move to the great dining room, our bodies touching. There is a closeness between us that wasn’t there before. I slant a glance at him. His face is closed, but I know something has changed in him. Something is different.
The dining table has been set for two. It’s clear the room is hardly ever used as our voices echo in the still air. I look around me. It feels as if I am living in a fairytale. Those horses, the land, the house, this candlelit room. I feel like Bella from Beauty and the Beast, only in my case, my beast has already been turned into a Prince.
Waiting staff come into the room. They fill the glasses in front of us with water and wine. The wine is cool and complicated. I’m not a wine person, but I like this wine.
“The wine is lovely,” I murmur.
“Yes, I have a sommelier who fills my cellar.”
“Wow, what a life you lead.”
“Actually, most of the time, I am working.”
“Do you ever get lonely, Konstantin?”
“No,” he denies instantly, then he pauses. “My work is very important to me.”
“Don’t you ever want to settle down, have a family?”
He looks away from me. “Yes, one day. But not now. I have to do this thing first. It is very important.”
“It’s the secret project you’re working on, isn’t it?”
“Yes.” And then he changes the subject. So we start talking about horses and then he invites me to go sailing in the Mediterranean with him. I feel pleasure surge into my body as I stare at him in astonishment. It’s just a small thing and it probably doesn’t mean anything, maybe he does this all the time, but he wants to see me again after the weekend.
I am so incredibly happy I can hardly eat. I finally understand what people mean when they say, I’m on cloud nine.
Raine
I think I might have drunk too much, because the rest of the night passes in a dream. We touch, we kiss, we hold, and we have sex, but sex feels different. It feels as if he cares. Of course, I don’t fool myself that he really does, but it just feels as if he does. It’s probably all that alcohol sloshing around in my veins.
We wake up early in the morning and I go to my room and slip into my new riding gear, complete with riding boots and go outside. The air is crisp. He is standing next to a pillar looking into the distance. He seems to be lost in deep thought.
“Hey,” I whisper.
He whirls around to look at me. “Wow! Turn around.”
I obey.
“You have the sexiest ass I’ve ever seen,” he decides.
I blush. I don’t know why I’m blushing.
He smiles, a knowing smile. I look at his beautiful face and start to feel butterflies fluttering in my tummy. But I don’t want to be like Chloe and the girl who tried to throw herself off the building. I need to keep myself sane. I need to keep a little bit of myself aloof. This is just a dream. When it is over he will be gone and I will have a healthy sister.
We ride together. Konstantin on a shiny black Arabian stallion, and me on a beautiful golden horse called Laika. It was immediate when I sat astride her that riding a horse is like riding a bicycle. You never forget. Laika responds beautifully. I pat her shiny neck.
“Shall we race that silly black Arabian stallion?”
She moves her head as if nodding.
“Wanna race?”
Konstantin’s eyebrows rise. “Why? You feel like losing?”
“Are you too chicken?”
He laughs. “No, I just like to have you in one piece.”
I laugh. “Oh, you little coward.”
“Go on. I’ll give you a head start.”
“No, I don’t want a head start. I want to win fair and square.”
“You know, I don’t think I’ve ever met a woman like you.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever met a man like you either. Now, are we racing or not?”
He grins. “On the count of three?”
“On the count of three,” I confirm.
Of course, I lose. It’s not Laika’s fault. No one told me that the Arabian stallion could actually fly.
To his credit, he doesn’t gloat. We go back and have a huge English breakfast. I have the works. Fried tomatoes, sausages, bacon, eggs, baked beans, and mushrooms. I don’t know whether it’s how this produce tastes in England or it could be the fresh air and the exercise, but it all tastes absolutely delicious.
Then it is time for us to leave. As I pack my suitcase, I actually shed some tears. What if I never come back? I have so loved my time in London.
The trip back passes too quickly. Yes, we have sex, but it feels too quickly over. I feel almost tearful, but I remind myself no one likes a clingy tearful woman. I won’t be like Chloe and the other girl. I won’t do that to myself or him.
There is a separate car waiting for me.
“I’ll call you,” he says, as he bundles me into it.
“Okay,” I croak. Then the door is shut and the car moves away. I turn my head to watch him. He lifts his hand in a wave and I wave back. Then I turn my head forward and stare at the leather upholstery in the car. I won’t cry. I just won’t cry. I will concentrate on only one thing. I have saved my sister.
The driver drops me off outside my house. He helps me with my suitcases. “It’s okay. I can manage from here,” I tell him.
“You sure?” he asks. “I don’t mind taking them to your door.
“It’s okay, thanks.”
I wheel my two suitcases into the lift. I feel strangely light-headed. I cannot believe how much I miss him. The lift opens and I get in. Tears fill my eyes. I dash them away. Stop being so silly. Grow up for God’s sake. It was just a dirty weekend. As long as Maddy gets her treatment, and I instinctively know he won’t break his word, then nothing else matters.
I get out of the elevator and head towards our home. For the first time, I notice how shabby the corridor is. The peeling paint, the threadbare carpet, the stains. I put my key in the door and the door gets yanked open.
Maddy throws her arms around me. “I’ve missed you,” she cries passionately.
“Hey, hey, what’s going on here? I’ve only been gone for a weekend.”
“It feels like forever,” she complains. “Don’t go away again, please.”
“Oh Maddy, Maddy, Maddy.”
“I had a bad dream about you,” she whispers in my ear. “I dreamed your plane crashed.”
“Your dreams are nonsensical,” I say with a laugh.
“I thought you died.”
I pull away from her and smile. “Me? Died? Never.”
My phone starts ringing. I pull it out of my purse thinking it is Konstantin. But it is not. It is Catherine Moriarty.
Raine
I untangle myself from my sister. My heart is beating so fast I am afraid Maddy will hear it.
“Hello, Catherine,” I say as calmly as I can. I know my sister is watching.
“You have not do
ne the job you were paid to do,” Catherine says. Her voice is cold as ice.
“I need to talk to you.”
“What about?”
“Um, can we meet?”
“At the coffee place down the road from you in one hour?”
“The Breadstick?”
“Yes.”
“Yes, that would be fine.”
Then the line goes dead. I stare at the phone.
“Who the hell was that?” Maddy asks.
“Just work. A difficult customer,” I lie.
“Oh, now tell me all about your dirty weekend in London.”
“Do you mind if I get through the door first, young lady?”
She moves back and catches sight of my new suitcase. “Ooooo, what’s that? A new suitcase?”
“Yes, I say wheeling both my suitcases through the door and shutting it.”
“What’s in the suitcase?” Maddy asks curiously.
I love Maddy with all my heart, but right at that moment my head feels like it is spinning. I am dizzy with anxiety. Catherine was clearly furious with me, and telling her I’m not going to switch the painting is not going to be a fun experience.
“What’s in the suitcase?” Maddy asks again.
“I did some shopping,” I say looking down at the suitcases blankly. There is a horrible feeling in my stomach.
“You mean the billionaire took you shopping?”
I turn to look at her, her eyes are round with astonishment and curiosity. “No, he arranged for me to shop with a personal stylist.”
“Oh my God! That is just like a romance movie. Shall I make us some coffee and you can tell me everything?”
“Maddy, I can’t talk now. I have to meet that person who just called. It won’t be a good meeting because I didn’t do what I was supposed to. So I’m just going to go to my room and prepare myself for a bit, okay. We’ll talk tonight.”
Her shoulders slump and she looks defeated. “Okay.”
I hate to see her like that. “Chin up, pumpkin. We’ll talk when I come back, all right.”
“All right.”
I turn to go.
“Raine?
I turn back. “Yeah?”
“I missed you.”
“Come here,” I say, opening my arms.
She rushes into them and I hug her thin body tightly. “I have so much to tell you and I also bought you a present, but just let me get past this difficult meeting, okay?”
I open my arms and she moves back. “Good luck with your meeting.”
“Thank you.”
I go to my room and I sit on my bed. I stare at the wall and rehearse what I am going to tell Catherine. When I have it all pat, I stand and walk to the door. Maddy is staring into her cellphone, and she does not even realize I have come into the living room. She looks almost hypnotized by the flickering light coming from it.
“I am going out now, Maddy.”
She jerks her head up. “Okay, see you soon. Don’t let her push you around.”
I smile. “See you soon.”
I take my time walking down the sidewalk. I breathe evenly and deeply. A vagrant is going through trash. He finds a half-eaten sandwich and starts eating it. No matter how many times I see it, the sight always saddens me. People are not meant to live in cities. All of us scurrying about like rats. It’s not right.
As I reach the café, I straighten my spine, square my shoulder and approach, keeping myself as calm as possible.
Even though I am ten minutes early, Catherine is already there, which for some reason gives her a psychological advantage. There is a glass of water in front of her.
“Sit down,” she says, her face is cold and hard. Strange, but she even seems like a different person.
I slip into the seat opposite her.
“Why haven’t you switched the painting yet?”
“Look, I’m sorry, but I can’t do it. I feel too guilty. I’m just going to return the money that you have wired into my bank account and let’s just call it quits.”
She shakes her head. “Let’s just call it quits.” She starts laughing, then shakes her head again. “It’s not often I am wrong, but when I am wrong I can be spectacularly wrong. I thought you were a smart cookie. Looks like you’re the dumbest broad in New York. You can’t give the money back. This operation has cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. All the other girls have been paid. I have been paid for my time. And if you can pay all those people and for all the time spent to set up this job it still won’t be enough because these people don’t want the money back. They want the painting switched.”
“Why is the painting so important to your clients?”
She leans forward, her eyes glittering with emotion. “That’s none of your business. Your job is simple. All you have to do is to switch the painting and then nothing more will be asked of you.”
“Isn’t there another way?”
“No, there is no other way. Try to see it from their point of view. If you had not taken this job, then another girl would have been picked and the painting would have been switched by now. You’ve ruined the perfect set up. Something that took many, many months and hundreds of thousands of dollars to arrange.”
“I know I messed up, and I’m really, really sorry, but I just can’t do it. The only thing I can do is slowly pay back all the money that your clients have spent and they will just have to find another way to get the painting they want.”
She sighs. “I don’t think you get it. You cannot walk away from a job like this just because you decide that you like riding the mark’s dick. Once you’re in you’re in… or there will be consequences to pay.”
“Consequences?” I whisper.
“Yes, consequences. These people have no limits. If you cross them they will come for your family. I hope you understand Raine what I mean when I say that. Your mother… or even your sick little sister.”
I freeze with fear. My mind is unable to assimilate the knowledge that they know everything about me and my family.
“They won’t stop until you do what they want you to. Do you really want to risk your family for a stupid painting or for a man you mean nothing to?”
I swallow hard. I can almost feel all the little bones in Maddy’s thin body pressing into my flesh.
“This is the skull at your banquet that cannot be denied,” Catherine says.
I stare down at the table surface. At that moment a waitress appears on my right. “What can I get you?” she asks.
I look up at her. She has bright red hair, tattoos on her neck, and a nose ring. I shake my head. “Nothing, thank you. I’m leaving.”
She nods and flounces away.
I turn back to Catherine. “All right, I’ll do it.”
She smiles, but it doesn’t reach her eyes. “When can you do it?”
“I’ll try to do it tomorrow.”
“Good. Call me after you have done it.”
I nod.
“You can go now.”
I stand like a robot and walk out of the café. I feel as if I am in a daze. My dream has just turned into a horrific nightmare.
Raine
I walk aimlessly for a long time. Sometimes people tut at me. I seem to be in their way. They are in a rush to get somewhere. My mother texts me to know where I am. I tell her not to worry. Everything is fine. I will be along soon.
I walk until it suddenly becomes clear in my head. And I know exactly what to do about it as well.
Maddy is in bed and my mother is back by the time I arrive home. As I close the front door, she walks out of the kitchen while wiping her hands on a towel.
“What’s going on?” she asks, a worried frown on her face.
“Come and sit down, Mom.” She sits on the old sofa and I join her. And I’m about to tell her when I suddenly remember the phone in my pocket, all the phones in our house. We are literally surrounded by listening devices.
“Wait. Can we take a walk outside and I’ll tell you everything then?�
�
“Walk? Why? I just got home after a very long day at work, Raine. I’m exhausted. Can you tell me here?”
“No, Mom. I’m sorry, but this is important.”
She stands and walks towards her coat. Shrugging into it, she says, “Come on then.”
“Mom, have you got your cell phone on you?”
“Yes, it’s in my coat.”
I walk towards her, putting my forefinger over my lips to warn her not to speak, I take the phone out of her coat and leave it on the table together with mine.
Then we walk out of the apartment. As soon as we reach the street, she turns towards me. “What on earth is going on?”
“Mom, I think I’m in trouble. I think I’ve accidentally got mixed up with some very bad people.”
My mother pales, her hand rushes to her mouth. “What’s happening, Raine?”
“You know that painting that I was supposed to switch because it has sentimental value to someone. I don’t think that’s true. I think I was desperate for money, I deliberately fooled myself. I let myself believe such an obvious lie. Who would go to all the trouble they went to just to get back a valueless painting? I think that painting has a listening device in it. I think someone is trying to bring Konstantin down.”
“Don’t do it, Raine. Give the money back,” Mom bursts out instantly.
“They won’t let me give them the money back. I have to do it, or they will hurt you or Maddy.”
“Oh God!” Her eyes are filled with horror. “We have to go to the police.”
“Mom, remember what Catherine told me at the beginning. They have bought the police and even the judges. We would be signing our death warrants if we do that. We cannot take on people like these. They are criminals, but they are very powerful and roam in a world we know nothing of.”
“Should we pack our bags and leave the city?”
“No. We can’t do that. That will mean Maddy will die in the next year.”
Tears fill my mother’s eyes. “What do we do then?”
“Tomorrow I will somehow arrange to go to Konstantin and I will switch the painting. Once I have done that I will pretend to him that I want to redecorate his office. I will tell him it has always been a dream of mine to try out some interior design and why not his office. I know he doesn’t care anything about décor so he will probably say yes if I push. If he says yes, I will get some workmen in and get them to move the painting to another room. An unused room. They cannot blame me if they think the redecoration was planned a long time ago and I had nothing to do with it. And I’m going to close my bank account tomorrow so they can’t deposit their dirty money into it anymore. Whatever is in it now, I’m going to donate to the homeless charity down the road.”
The Russian Billionaire: A Romantic Suspense Novel Page 11
