by Bella Rose
“What?” He stopped walking and turned to stare down at her. “What is that supposed to mean?”
She paused in her energetic trek toward her house. “I was just referring to the fact that after I left town you never really attempted to do anything with your life. You run errands for Karkoff. And I know you said that nobody would give you work after I left, but that was years ago!”
“And so you’ve made the assumption that not only have I not done anything you would consider worthwhile, but that I’m unmotivated and incapable as well.” He didn’t know what to say. “I’m not sure I’ve ever been so thoroughly insulted before in my life, Katie. Thank you.”
“What?” She looked confused.
“I just mean thank you for motivating me.”
“Okay?”
* * *
Katie had no clue what had just happened. Viktor looked so angry. Of course she could barely see his facial expression in the dim glow of the streetlamps, but he looked pissed.
“Let’s get you home, shall we?” His tone was brusque.
She grabbed his arm. “You’re angry at me.”
“No. You’ve just enlightened me. That’s all.”
“How?” Katie demanded. “Don’t you understand that I’m just trying to keep you from getting hurt?”
“Don’t you understand that I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself?” He snorted, looking down at her and shaking his head. “You act like I haven’t been doing just that for the last five years. Did you honestly believe that everything just stopped while you were away?”
“It seems to have done just that!” she argued. “I talked to Franco. He says you got pretty much blacklisted after I left. You picked up with Karkoff’s crew and that was it. What else am I supposed to think?”
“So now you’re going to save me?” The disgust dripping from his words seared her like acid. “That’s rich, Katie. Really.”
They were approaching her house. She could see the familiar outline of her back gate in the murky darkness. “Maybe you need saving,” she told him primly. “Look at you! You’re working for Karkoff doing one task a week, or maybe more, and barely scraping by. Is this what you want for the rest of your life? You’re going to be fifty or sixty years old still doing odd jobs for a guy who won’t make you a full member of his family?”
Even when the words were out she realized how they sounded. He swung open her gate with a flourish and Max trotted right into the yard. Katie followed, but Viktor stayed outside. He closed the gate with a click that reeked of finality.
“I think I’ve bothered you enough for one evening,” he told her stiffly. “Knowing that you feel nothing more than some bizarre responsibility for my well-being, I think I’d rather just take my chances out here in the real world by myself.”
“That’s not what I meant,” Katie protested. “You’re twisting my words! That’s not fair.”
“Life isn’t fair, sweetheart.” He said something else in Russian and then walked away.
Max cocked his head, lifting one ear as if wondering where the man was going. Katie wondered the same thing. Where would he go? What would he do? And how badly had she messed up their relationship?
“Viktor!” she called out.
He turned, but in the darkness she couldn’t make out his expression.
“Please don’t leave like this. It doesn’t have to be this way.” She gripped the top of the gate until the wood bit into her palm. “I just want you to be safe.”
He was silent for a long moment. So long that she thought he wasn’t going to respond at all. Then his voice drifted out of the darkness. “What kind of man would I be if I hid behind a woman?”
Chapter Eleven
Sasha was waiting for Viktor when he returned to his basement apartment. It wasn’t exactly a surprise. Viktor deliberately refrained from showing any outward reaction. He simply put his key in the lock, turned the handle, and gestured for Sasha to come inside.
“This is such a shithole,” Sasha commented once Viktor had closed the door and turned on a light. “One room, almost no furniture. Are you going to ask Katie to live here with you after you’re married?”
Sasha’s sarcastic tone was covering something else, but Viktor couldn’t be certain what it was. So he went to the fridge and grabbed a beer. “Want one?”
“You got any vodka?”
Viktor grabbed the bottle he always kept on top of the fridge and snagged a shot glass from the cabinet. “I didn’t realize you preferred hard liquor.” Viktor left Sasha to pour his own shot and opened his beer.
“Of course I prefer vodka,” Sasha blustered. “I’m Russian.”
Viktor snorted in amusement. “Are you actually trying to fit the stereotype?”
“Watch your tone,” Sasha said roughly. He poured a shot and threw it back. His eyes bulged a little as he tried not to cough. “You need to remember who is respected here and who is not.”
“Speaking of.” Viktor was getting more than a little impatient. He took his beer to his recliner and sat. “What can I do for you?”
Sasha poured another shot and slugged that one down as well. He didn’t look like he was about to choke this time, but it was close. “I’ve been thinking about you and your lady love.”
“Have you?” Viktor didn’t believe a word of it.
“Yes. I think you should just get married.”
“You think I should marry Katie even though you were threatening her less than two hours ago to stay away from me?” Viktor smiled. “I can’t wait to hear this one.”
“Don’t be sarcastic.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” Viktor stood up, taking a long draw from his beer. “You can try to tell me you’ve come here to promote my happiness, but I know it’s a load of crap. You don’t care if I’m happy, and right now it would do you a whole lot of good if you could make your uncle really unhappy with me. I know how this works.”
“I know you messed with that shipment the other night!” Sasha snarled, pointing his finger emphatically at Viktor. “I know you did!”
“Perhaps it was the supplier?” Viktor said silkily. He could not give himself away. Not now.
“Do you know what was in the back of that van?” Sasha’s voice was rising higher each second. Soon he would be screeching like a woman.
“I told you,” Viktor said quietly. “I’ve learned not to ask.”
Sasha threw up his hands, practically stomping around the room in a tantrum. “Women! Slaves to be sent all over the country to my uncle’s brothels!”
It was only a confirmation of what Viktor had already suspected, but that didn’t make him less ill. He clenched his jaw tightly and tried to hang on to his temper as well. Then he glared at Sasha. “What part of ‘I’ve learned not to ask’ did you not understand?”
Sasha curled his lip. “I think you should know how badly you screwed up! Those women are wandering around in a strange city with no money and no protection and it’s your fault.”
“And how is this my fault?” Viktor carefully took another swig of beer, glad that he had declined any hard liquor. He needed his wits now more than ever.
“You let them go!” Sasha shouted. “I know you did! It’s just the kind of thing some softhearted loser like you would do!”
“Is there a point to this interview?” Viktor said, forcing himself to project an air of calm he did not feel. “Because I’m tired and you’re really pissing me off more than usual.”
“Either you admit what you did or I’m going to make you.” Sasha slammed his shot glass down so hard that the bottom cracked.
“Hey!” Viktor said indignantly. “Not all of us are rolling in our uncle’s money. Some of us actually have to buy our own stuff, which—by the way—is why I would never betray your uncle. Why would I do that? What purpose would it serve? And if I didn’t know what the cargo was, why would I bother to do anything with it? I don’t get paid to mess with the cargo.
I get paid to drive.” Viktor pointed back at Sasha. “It’s starting to sound like you’re the one who has a motive to mess with your uncle. Maybe you did something with this cargo.”
“Do not put this on me!” Sasha shrieked.
Viktor stared in fascination at the man he had known for years. It was becoming more and more apparent that Viktor had never really known Sasha at all. The mask that Sasha presented to the world at large was not this half-crazy, raving lunatic who was convinced everyone was out to get him. This version of Sasha was dangerous and Viktor knew it.
“Sasha,” Viktor said firmly. “Just go. Get out of my apartment and go. I don’t know what you want from me, but you’re not going to get it. And quite frankly, you’re just pissing me off.”
“No!” Sasha made a grab for Viktor’s arm.
Viktor hastily took a step back out of range.
“You don’t understand,” Sasha moaned. “My uncle is pissed at me! He thinks I had something to do with this. You have to help me find out what happened to those women!”
Damn.
“I’ll ask around,” Viktor agreed. “Maybe someone has heard something that they wouldn’t be willing to tell a pledged member of the Karkoffs.”
“I have to find them,” Sasha insisted.
“If a bunch of women went missing, immigration or social services probably picked them up,” Viktor suggested. “At that point, they’ll be well out of reach. There’s nothing else for it.”
Sasha seemed to shake himself out of his low mood. “You need to find them! I’ll be back tomorrow to see what you know.”
“Great,” Viktor murmured as Sasha walked out the door.
* * *
Katie woke up the following morning with a monumental headache and a desire to do nothing but stay in bed all day. Unfortunately, that was not an option. She settled instead for refusing to think about Viktor, which was a task that took considerable effort on her part and only served to make her headache ten times worse.
“Girl, you look like hell!” Anne told her not too long before three o’clock rolled around. “You’ve been sitting over there all day as if you were a zombie. What happened last night? Or did you just wake up on the wrong side of the bed?”
“I guess you could say I had a little disagreement with my friend.”
“Your friend whose name starts with a V?” Anne guessed. “I think that was bound to happen.”
“I’m starting to think you’re right,” Katie said glumly. “It’s like the world just wants to put up a bunch of roadblocks, you know?”
“So maybe you go home and take that adorable dog of yours to the park and just enjoy yourself and forget about him for tonight,” Anne suggested. “It’s all right to take a break from someone, you know?”
“I think you might be right.”
Anne glanced up at the clock. “Go right now. I’ll cover for you for ten minutes. You look like you could use a few extra minutes of R and R.”
“Thank you,” Katie said earnestly. “I promise I’ll be more myself tomorrow.”
“I know you will be.” Anne waved her off. “We all get caught up sometimes.”
Katie waved to Anne on her way out the door and hustled home to change clothes, get Max, and head to the park. She’d never been so eager for her daily walk before in her life. It felt so good to be outside in the late afternoon sunlight. She started to relax almost immediately.
Max was feeling good too. He fetched the ball so many times she thought his tongue was going to start dragging on the ground. She laughed as she watched him struggle with whether he wanted to take a little nap in the grass or have her throw the ball just one more time.
“Okay, enough!” she told him. “I’m making the call because you’ve completely worn yourself out and you need a break!”
The dog flopped into the grass and rolled onto his back. He waved his legs in the air and twisted his body to scratch his back. She was just laughing about his antics when someone walked up. She expected Viktor, and even had a little speech prepared. But it wasn’t him.
“Sasha.” Katie nodded with forced cordiality. “I hope your tooth is feeling better.”
“Thank you,” he said. “I’m fine now. Or I suppose I’m mostly fine.”
“Oh?” She fidgeted uncomfortably. “Then maybe you should call the office and make another appointment.”
“I don’t need another appointment.” Sasha was looking at her in a very odd way. “I need some insurance.”
“Dental insurance?” She couldn’t even be certain they were talking about the same thing.
Sasha muttered something in Russian that Katie couldn’t understand. Max was staring at him as though the dog couldn’t decide if the stupid human was a threat or not. Then Sasha held up his hand and two more men sprinted out of the trees a few yards away.
Max leaped to his feet, barking, but he was tuckered out and slow. One of the men slipped the loop of a dog-handling pole around Max’s neck. Katie screamed. Max fought the man, snarling and spinning at the end of the pole. It didn’t do any good.
“Leave him alone!” she shouted.
Some of the mothers over by the playground equipment were starting to take notice. Katie screamed again, trying to reach her dog. Sasha’s second companion grabbed her around the waist. These were not the same men who had come with him to her home the night before. She didn’t know these two.
Katie could see one of the mothers dialing her phone. She pointed to the Good Samaritan. “The cops will be here any second! You’d better leave me alone and go away before they arrest you.”
Sasha shrugged. “We’ll be long gone by then.”
Sending an arrogant wave to the mothers, Sasha motioned to his two accomplices. They fell into step behind him with Katie and Max in tow. Katie beat on her captor’s back, but the guy was like a block of wood. Her hands actually hurt from the contact.
“Igor isn’t going to be bothered by your squirming around,” Sasha informed Katie. “So you might as well stop.”
“At least he’s aptly named,” she snapped. “What is your problem?” she asked Sasha. “Your uncle told you to leave me alone.”
“My uncle also told me to take care of a little problem. And since my problem involves Viktor, you’re really the best insurance policy for that purpose.”
“So let my dog go, please?” she begged.
They were approaching yet another SUV. It was like a bad movie all over again. Sasha seemed to be considering her request. She was shoved unceremoniously into the back of the SUV. Then Sasha pointed to the dog.
“Kill him, I guess.”
“No!” Katie shrieked, feeling her eyes tearing up. “Don’t hurt him! Don’t! I’ll give you anything you want, just don’t hurt him!”
“That’s ridiculous,” Sasha said derisively. “It’s a fucking dog. Have some pride.”
“He’s a better man than you are.” She struggled valiantly, trying to get out.
Then the man holding the snarling, biting Max said something to Sasha in rapid Russian. Sasha answered back and they proceeded to have what sounded like an argument. Finally the man dropped the pole and got into the front passenger seat of the SUV. The vehicle spun gravel as it left the parking lot, but Max was still alive as they left him behind
Chapter Twelve
Viktor cursed beneath his breath when he saw Sasha pull his SUV into a spot in the rear lot of the park. Viktor couldn’t think of someone he would like to see less than Sasha. The man was already getting out of his vehicle with a smug smile in place as if he hadn’t been half drunk and begging tearfully for Viktor to help him out just the night before.
“What do you want?” Viktor muttered as Sasha approached.
Something about Sasha’s smile was off. “Looking for your girlfriend?”
“Why?”
“Because you’re not going to find her here.” Sasha glanced around. “At least not right now. She was here e
arlier with that rabid pet of hers.”
“What did you do?” Viktor asked through clenched teeth.
“I took out an insurance policy.” Sasha pulled out a pack of cigarettes and removed one from the package. He put it in his mouth and lit it. “I wanted to be sure that you would be properly motivated to find my missing cargo.”
“So you kidnapped Katie in order to gain my cooperation?” Viktor balled his hands into fists. “Are you insane? I’m more likely to beat your face in until you squeal and tell me where she is.”
“That’s not going to work.”
“Oh? And why not?”
Sasha took a long drag of his cigarette and blew the smoke into Viktor’s face. “Because if you do anything to me”—Sasha waved to another man on the far side of the park—“my associate there will make one phone call and your bitch of a girlfriend will die.”
“What do you think this gets you?” Viktor asked. “I told you already that I don’t know what you’re talking about. And I even agreed to look for your missing cargo. But I told you if they’d been picked up by social services, then that was it. What am I supposed to do? Magically make a bunch of women appear out of thin air?”
“No. But I guess I’ll at least have one.”
“Excuse me?” Viktor felt icy rage taking over his body. “What are you saying?”
“Only that if you don’t get me what I want, I’m going to have to substitute your girlfriend for the rest of those women. She’s not exactly pliable, but there are men who like a little fight in a girl that they buy.”
Viktor started toward Sasha, but he held up his hand, waving his finger in front of Viktor’s face. “Ah, ah, ah! No touching or she dies!”
“You’re not doing yourself any favors,” Viktor told him. “I was already going to help you.”
“Now you’ll be more motivated.”
Viktor snorted. “Or I’ll just be motivated to murder you.”
“And have fun finding that mutt of hers too.”
