“Are you hungry?”
She shakes her head. “Can I ask you a question?”
“Depends on what it is.”
“You said before that a contract was put out on my life. Who ordered it?”
A moment of silence passes. “Ava…”
“Please, Niko. If I’m going to die anyway, don’t you think I deserve to know who put all of this in motion?”
“Fair enough, but answer some things for me first.”
“Like what?”
Why did you destroy me?
Why did you ruin my one chance at being happy?
“Why do you do it? Why do you sell your body and allow other men to have you like that especially after…” There’s already a sick feeling in my stomach telling me I don’t want to hear the answer, but I can’t stop myself. “You’re not theirs to touch.”
“A lot of things changed after you left, Niko.” I tense at her choice of words, and she quickly corrects herself. “I mean after my father sent you away. I may have been young and innocent once, but I wasn’t stupid. I knew what my father was, but after everything happened, I gave up fighting. Hope didn’t exist for me anymore.”
“You couldn’t have been hopeless with your clothes on?”
Again, Ava tenses, still refusing to look at me. “Did you know my mother was a stripper at Seven? That’s how she met my father. He was a monster even back then, but Mom believed he was her dark knight. You know, the one in the fairy tales who whisks the princess away from whatever pile of shit she’s fallen in?” She tilts her chin my way. “Even though marrying into the Bratva ended up killing her, I thought I’d give it shot. Maybe a dark knight might whisk me away too.” Her teeth catch her bottom lip, and she shakes her head. “Or maybe when you’re treated like a damaged toy your whole life, that’s all you think you are.”
Holy shit.
I expected a response like, “I did it as a giant fuck you to my father,” but her soul wrenching confession is almost more than I can process. I want to take her in my arms and soothe the pain away, but I can’t. That’s not who I am anymore, and the parts of me that used to hate her for it are starting to look inward.
And I don’t like it.
“So, what about you?” she asks, quickly changing the subject. “How’d you end up as a contract assassin?”
I shrug again. “Not much to tell. Once I escaped your father’s medieval accommodations, I hauled my ass out of the States as fast as I could. I had no idea what to do. The only life I knew was Bratva and prison, and the only skill I had was aiming a gun. A few odd jobs led me to Moscow where I met a guy who was a mercenary. He brought me in, and an old friend from my past landed us a contract job from a man in New Orleans.”
“Arthur Calthorpe,” she says quietly.
“It was a hit on a Columbian arms dealer, and it went off without a hitch until my associate and I were captured. We only made it out alive because I took every fucking one of those assholes out by hand. When I returned to Moscow, I found out my friend had orchestrated the whole thing as a test. Dagger was already a Cavalieri and wanted to bring me in. I was pissed, but then Arthur called offering me the deal of a lifetime. A spot at his Tabella Della Morte. The chance to be a knight of death. A man who by definition doesn’t even exist. The contract required a signature in blood, and I couldn’t slice a vein fast enough.”
I pull my empty glass to my mouth to stop any more words from coming out of it. What in the hell just happened? I’ve never told that story to anyone. Arthur is a ruthlessly private man, and spilling information could get me killed.
Damn it, she did it again.
“Storytime is over,” I growl, slamming the glass on the nightstand and rolling over. “Go to sleep.”
I flinch when I feel her bound hands on my back. “You promised you’d tell me who put the hit on me.”
“I said, go to sleep.”
“No! Stop keeping secrets. You owe me the truth.”
The force in her voice alone makes me roll back over, but it’s her words that fuel the fire. “I don’t owe you shit.” I almost turn away, when the texts on her phone pop in my head. “However, as far as secrets go, I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours.”
She snorts and flops onto her back. “Yeah, so the minute I do, you can kill me.”
“Ava, I’ve told you, if I wanted you dead, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”
I wait for another smartass comment, maybe an attempt to play me again, or at the very least, some petulant display of defiance. Instead, there’s an awkward silence before she draws her knees up against her naked breasts and lets out an unsure breath.
“I’m being blackmailed.”
Well, fuck me, she did it.
“By who?”
Ava drops her forehead against her knees. “Seven was raided. Not a big deal; we’re used to it. But this time it was the FBI. An agent caught me right after…well, he arrested me, all right?”
“He arrested you for prostitution. It happens.” I keep my voice even, trying like hell not to tip my hand.
“Not to me. The cops around here don’t mess with my father, and in turn, they don’t mess with me. This agent kept saying he could save me, that he could get me out of this life, but I just laughed. I’m not stupid, Niko. No one can hide from Sergei Chernov. No matter what they promise, or how careful they think they are, he’ll find me. So I refused.”
“What changed?”
“They mentioned Yuri.” The instant she says his name, her body coils, and her fingers gnarl. “I don’t know what happened, but I broke. I finally broke and told them I did it. It was a confession right there on tape. They had me.”
After eight years, she finally admits the truth. I thought I’d feel a rush of vindication, but all that’s churning inside me is an overwhelming need for her to come clean about everything.
“And this is where the blackmail comes in?”
“Ethan, that’s the agent, he said he couldn’t ignore my confession, or what had been covered up, but he could give me leniency if I gave him my father.”
I can’t take my eyes off her damn hands. “That’s all? You didn’t say anything about me.”
“No,” she says, propping her chin on her knee and weaving her index fingers together. “Why would I say anything about you? I didn’t even know you were here until two days ago.”
She’s lying.
I want to grab those fingers and break them one by one.
“Stop talking to the Feds, Ava.”
She rears back like I’ve slapped her. “I can’t! What if somehow my father finds out—”
“Sergei was the one who put the hit out on you.”
You wanted to know.
There it is in all its fucked-up glory.
All the color drains from her face. “Why…why would he do that?”
“Why does your family do anything? To save your own asses.” I know I’m taking this truth thing to an extreme, but let’s be honest, she deserves it. Although, she’s looking kind of gray, so I take it down a notch. “He knows you’re talking.”
“Who told him?”
“You did. Never get in a strange car right outside your apartment, Ava. You always add in three or four stops. It’s common sense.”
“I thought you said by definition the Cavalieri Della Morte didn’t exist. How did my father know to contact you?”
Huh. Good question. Something I’d ask Arthur if I weren’t having this conversation with a dead woman.
“Maybe he has a little black book of contract killers.”
I expect her to flip out on me, but she’s eerily calm. “If I don’t give the Feds something on my father, this is going to blow up in our faces. They’re going to come after me.”
I don’t want to admit it, but what she’s saying makes a lot of sense. Still, after what I saw in those texts, I’m not willing to risk it. “This is not up for discussion.”
“Niko, I have to go to the club,” she s
ays, slightly panicked. “My father lives and breathes that place. If I’m going to find something on him, it’ll be there. Trust me on this.”
“Trust isn’t given, pchelka. It’s earned, and you have a long way to go and a lot of secrets to spill. You’re still holding something back. Come clean, and I’ll think about it.”
I don’t tell her I already know what that something is.
Her golden eyes blaze like the hellcat I accused her of being earlier. “Do you really think I’m that stupid?” Frustrated, she stretches out her legs and slides down the mattress, rolling away from me to face the wall. I watch the pale skin on her back expand as she slowly inhales and then sighs it out. “Look, we both have to take a leap of faith, Niko. If not, kill me right here.”
I should, but I don’t. Instead, I let her scoot her naked ass against my dick, and sometime during the night an unseen force drapes my arm across her chest. In the early hours of the morning, that same force buries my face in her thick, mangled hair.
When I wake up, I realize I don’t have to take a leap of faith.
I’ve already been pushed off the cliff.
Ava
It’s morning. I still have no concept of time, but the bright sunshine on my face is unmistakable. My lashes involuntarily flutter, so I squeeze my eyes, fighting the inevitable as a new day nudges me awake.
For the first time in eight years, I wish for the sun to disappear and darkness to return. That’s because for the first time in eight years, I didn’t dream of Yuri. Last night, I slept in peaceful nothingness because the only man who has ever mattered held me tightly against his chest as his protective arm wrapped around me like a shield, keeping the monster in my nightmares in hell where he belongs.
I can’t help but smile. Niko can tell himself he hates me all he wants when he’s awake, but his body betrays him when he’s asleep. Somewhere, deep inside the layers of self-built walls, the man that a naïve sixteen-year-old girl fell in love with still exists.
“Trust isn’t given, pchelka. It’s earned, and you have a long way to go and a lot of secrets to spill. You’re still holding something back. Come clean, and I’ll think about it.”
My smile falters as his words from last night haunt me. I’ll gain his trust, but it won’t be by giving him what he wants. There are some secrets I’ll take to my grave. Nothing is worth admitting them.
Even to him.
“Well, this is certainly an interesting turn of events.”
My eyes pop open to find a blond man dressed in jeans and a Miami Heat T-shirt standing with his arms crossed at the foot of the bed. There’s no weapon in sight, but that doesn’t stop the scream from tearing from my lungs.
Shooting straight up, Niko grabs a gun from underneath his pillow, going from unconscious to ready to strike in the blink of an eye. “What? What’s wrong?”
All I can do is raise my bound arms and point. Niko swings the gun and aims it at the intruder, who stands there smirking.
“Mudak,” Niko mutters, lowering the gun and raking a hand across his face. “I almost shot your dick off.”
The blond man shrugs. “Painful, but not a kill shot. If that is where you shoot all your enemies, I understand why you need my help. You have too many pissed off dickless men chasing you.”
“How the hell did you get in my house, Mik?”
The man holds up a keyring. “You gave me keys, remember? Your text said to be here at eight a.m. I knocked for twenty minutes before I used them.” The smirk on his face twitches, and his gaze shifts a few inches below my chin. “However, I can see why you may have overslept.”
Niko and I both glance down, and he lets out a string of curses before jerking the sheet over my naked breasts. “Look at her again, and I really will shoot your dick off.”
The man chuckles under his breath and winks. “Understood.”
Niko’s expression borders on homicidal as he throws the sheet off him. Resisting the urge to lick my lips, I watch as he sits on the edge of the bed and pulls on a pair of jeans from the floor. Standing, he rakes a hand through his hair and motions toward me.
“Mikhail, meet Ava.”
“The pleasure is all mine, printsessa.” Mikhail walks toward me and extends his hand.
Before I can let go of the sheet, Niko grabs the edge and yanks it so hard my arms are pinned underneath it, wrapping me in a linen cocoon.
“The pleasure, comrade,” he growls, his temper on the edge of snapping, “is actually all mine. So keep your fucking hands to yourself.”
Instead of being offended, Mikhail seems even more amused. “Of course.” Twirling the keyring around his finger, he dips his chin at me and winks again. “Lovely to meet you, Ava. I am sure I will be seeing more of you soon.”
I don’t have a chance to respond before the door closes behind him.
My mind goes into overdrive. “What does he mean?” I whisper. “You wouldn’t…” The thought is so horrible I can’t say it out loud.
Niko lifts an eyebrow. “Ava, I’ve been accused of being many things in my life, but generous isn’t one of them. I’ve told you I don’t share. That includes money, information, and most of all, women. As far as Mik goes, he’s all talk. He enjoys getting a reaction out of people, so deny him one and he’ll shut up.”
I let out an audible sigh, the knot in my stomach slowly untangling.
“Besides, I don’t make idle threats,” he says, shoving his foot in his boot. “If he touches you, I’ll blow his dick off, providing some alligator a very small lunch.”
I can’t help the giggle that bubbles up. I bury it behind my arm as Niko pulls on a T-shirt and grabs his gun. Running a hand through his thick dark hair again, he heads for the door.
“Wait!”
He stops and glances over his shoulder. “I have shit to do, Ava.”
“I get it, but I’d like to get dressed too. Can’t you cut this off now?” I hold up my bound wrists like an offering.
“I told you, no clothes.”
“And this?” I raise my arms higher.
“It stays.”
His words hit hard. The connection when we talked last night felt real. I could sense the outer layer of his wall start to crack, but sometime during the night it iced over, reverting him into the man who almost choked me to death.
“But after last night…” Clearing the emotion from my voice, I start over. “We slept in the same bed, and I didn’t go anywhere. Doesn’t that count for something?”
“Nothing happened last night, Ava. I came down your throat. You can’t tell me that doesn’t happen to you on a regular basis.”
I flinch, his words as painful as if he’d slapped me.
A shadow crosses Niko’s face, but before either of us can say a word, he stomps out of the room, slamming the door behind him. I’m still in shock when I hear voices on the other side of the door. I don’t know if it’s out of curiosity, survival, or outright sadism, but I crawl out of bed stark naked and tiptoe to the door. Softly pressing my ear against it, I make out each of their voices.
“I thought you hated her,” Mikhail says, his tone slightly accusatory.
“I do.”
“If that’s how you treat your enemies, remind me to never piss you off.”
Niko growls, his patience paper thin. “Suck my dick.”
Mikhail laughs. “My point exactly.”
“I got this, Mik.”
“You have nothing. Sergei is expecting you to deliver what is left of that girl’s body to him. When you cannot do it, he will come after you. That is if Arthur does not have your head for it first.”
What?
My heart pummels my chest. Niko talked to my father and didn’t tell me? I don’t have time for that to hurt as much as it should because it feeds into a more terrifying thought.
Niko promised him my dead body.
“Who says I can’t give it to him?”
I bite my arm to keep from screaming.
“What the hell is in you
r head, Nikolai?”
“Things that are going to haunt me for the rest of my life, Mik.” Niko shuffles around, and I think he’s moving toward the front door when I hear him change directions.
Shit, shit, shit!
Screw tiptoeing, I run like the prey I am and jump back on the bed, quickly sliding underneath the sheet just as the door opens. “Forget something?” I croak.
“Yeah, to warn you that Mik is going to stay here with you for a while.”
“Where are you going?”
“Not that I owe you an explanation, but I have a job to do. Contrary to what you might think, it doesn’t revolve around you.”
“You talked to Arthur?”
He nods. “Last night. As far as he knows, my job here is done, so he gave me another one.”
It’s irrational, but the thought of Niko stalking another woman pops into my head. I imagine him sneaking into her apartment, climbing on top of her, wrapping his hands around her neck, and then lowering his mouth and kissing her with the same fire on his lips. Dark jealousy streaks across my mind, blotting out any form of common sense.
“What are you going to do, bring her here and have two captives?”
“It’s not a woman, Ava, and no—you’re the only one.”
I sit up straight, the sheet falling to my waist. “What does that mean?”
“You’re not a stupid girl. What do you think it means?”
I think it means that you just made me an accessory to murder.
“Niko, don’t,” I beg, grabbing his arm. “Please don’t kill whoever this man is. I can’t have that on my conscience.”
“Fine,” he says, his palm reaching out to stroke my cheek. “You choose, pchelka.”
“Choose what?”
“Your body for his.”
He can’t be asking me this. It’s cruel. “You want me to decide if you take my life or his?”
His hand slips into my hair. “No, I want you to decide if I take your body instead of taking this man’s life.”
I close my eyes. “Neither one leads me out of this room, does it?”
“Your freedom was never an option.” His hand tightens in my hair, and I wince. “Choose.”
Darkest Deeds: Cavalieri Della Morte Page 11
