Time and Space

by Rachel Robinson

  “Don’t be such a little whore, Rosy,” V chides. “She took over Elena’s job after she fell off the radar. She’s not as good as you. Her mind wanders elsewhere too quickly,” V says, stroking Lainey’s hair. “No, you were my Hope diamond. You deserted me.”

  “I’m sorry,” Lainey squeaks out. Her voice is hoarse and childlike. “Forgive me.” I wince. Hearing her submit to him makes my fucking skin crawl. Ignoring Rosy is easy. It’s what I’ve been doing since the first time I saw her. She keeps talking and I formulate a plan to kill them all. A man dressed in all black brings a large man into the room and pushes him down on the floor next to me. He’s wearing a black hood and he’s obviously drugged or hopped up on electricity because he’s not fighting at all. V brings Lainey closer, keeping her pinned with his gun. Rosy hands him my gun and he pockets it. Fuck. That option is out for the time being.

  “Let me! Let me!” Rosy squeals as she dances back over to my lumbering companion. She pulls the hood off like a child at Halloween. It’s Dax. As if my day couldn’t get any worse.

  Lainey cries out. His head spins to her voice. “Lainey. Are you okay?” Dax asks, confused and groggy.

  V finally lowers the gun. Lainey wipes underneath her eyes with her fingertips, smearing her black mascara. “You did so well getting them here, Elena. Thank you,” V says, and then he mutters something to her in Russian.

  Lainey laughs, tucks a strand of blonde hair behind her ear, and ties her robe a little tighter. “Both of you deserve whatever comes next. The saying should be bad girls finish first,” she says. Like a light switch being thrown in the middle of the night, she’s on. Or off. I can’t be certain because she’s masterful in her element.

  “What the fuck, Lainey!” Dax screams. If I’m confused, he’s the definition of in the dark. “What’s going on here? You called me and wanted me to meet you here. Said you wanted to talk about the wedding and I get fucking knocked out the second I walk through the door.” She smiles. It’s beautiful and scary. She walks over to him and stoops down. Lainey isn’t close enough for me to reach, yet. She knows exactly how far to stay away.

  Tilting her head to one side, she says, “Dax. You were always too eager, rushing me into things I didn’t want, convincing me of truths that were actually lies. I thought you were a good man.” She shakes her head sadly. “Did you trade information with Cody?” How does she know? My mind is reeling. She isn’t playing a game, she’s pissed. We’re about to pay for it, too.

  “Not really, no,” he says.

  Liar, liar, pants on fire. Her smile fades and she presses her mouth into a sharp line. “Fine. Cody,” she says, turning her head to me, her gaze piercing me. “You broke up with me because of Dax. Didn’t you?” I’m not sure of the best way to go about this. Perhaps Dax had it correct with the lying. She’d know. Of course she’d know the second the lie came out of my mouth. “I was a pawn in your dirty little game of revenge.”

  “Fast Lane,” I plead. She shakes her head. Her eyes close. V cackles from behind Lainey. I don’t even look at him. I concentrate on my woman, and the second her soulful eyes open, they flash with anger and disappointment.

  I tell her a truth. “He is the better man. Dax, I mean. That’s not a lie.”

  “My relationship with Dax was built on lies. Mostly that’s my fault, but it doesn’t change the end state. Dax,” she says, looking back at him. “Our relationship was built on lies.” Ouch.

  Dax is enraged. I feel his hands shake next to mine. He’d be killing something right now if he weren’t restrained. Maybe he’ll be on my side when the shit hits the fan. It’s not a matter of if, just when. “What the fuck is going on here, Lainey? You need to tell me something right now,” Dax growls. I feel for him. He’s about to get information overload. He knows who V is, sure, but he has no idea his fiancée has deep ties with him. That she founded her roots in Virginia Beach to spy, gain intelligence, and wedge her way into the SEAL community for monetary gain. She’s infiltrated not just our hearts, but the very core of our community in the worst kind of way. It’s unforgivable for a man like him. For me? I forgave without blinking. She came clean the very first time I caught a whiff of something that didn’t add up. She had too many cell phones, too many email accounts, her meetings were late at night, and her phone conversations were spoken in hushed whispers.

  Lainey sits down, folds her legs under her, and tells him a story about a young woman who wanted a better life. She wanted to make money and be around hot men. One particular hot man ended up being the love of her life. She turns around and looks at V when she gets to the part of the story where she cuts ties with him and begins her interior design business. She talks about being engaged to me and how she left everything behind and started fresh, how her espionage roots didn’t matter. Both Dax and I are equally as captivated by her tale. She moves her hands when something excites her and she looks legitimately sad when she speaks of the time when I was taken. She tells us she suspected that V was responsible for my disappearance because he sent vague messages through messengers of one sort or another. I find myself leaning forward to find out what happens next, even though I know all of our actions and decisions have led us to this right here. On a kitchen floor tied up together without any chance of a peaceable reconciliation. Lainey tells this story so effectively that there’s no way Dax can be upset with her. She has this way of weaving a story and then injecting it with just the right amount of guilt. Is he even aware she’s doing it?

  Dax takes a deep breath and I feel his back relax against mine. It’s not time for that yet, bro. “Jesus, Lainey. Why didn’t you tell me this sooner? Why did you let it go this far?” My ankles and hands are numb from the fucking zip ties. I wonder how many zip ties I can fit down V’s throat.

  She sits back on the floor and pulls her knees up to her chest. “You were my shot at a normal life. That woman I just told you that story about doesn’t exist anymore. I’m still an interior designer, Dax. We just have more in common that you knew,” Lainey says. V grunts, groans, and tells her to finish chit-chatting. I’m surprised he’s humored her this long.

  “You realize what you did was against the law? You could go to prison for the rest of your life. I mean, hell, Lainey. I’m a Navy SEAL. My morals were about as loose as I can permit back when I didn’t know any of this. Knowing this changes everything. Everything,” Dax says, hanging his head. I can’t help but feel sorry for the man. I bet his uniform is pressed and her wedding ring is sitting on top of his nightstand.

  “Morals? You gave him information about Vadim’s whereabouts in exchange for my love. Don’t say that’s not how it went down, because it was. Phones were tapped and conversations were heard. What would happen if the Navy found that out, oh righteous one?” Lainey says. Her eyebrows rise in question and the rest of her body tenses.

  “I fucked up because I wanted you so badly,” Dax replies. This is getting unbearable. If I had access to my gun I’d put him out of his misery.

  I sigh heavily. “How much more of this fucking shit do I have to listen to?” There’s only minutes before the shit show starts. I need to get my head on straight and listening to this love fest is making me nauseous and uneasy. I keep eyes on V and listen for footsteps around us. I may have let them cuff me for Lainey’s safety, but I sure as shit am not going to die for it. Not after this.

  Lainey ignores me completely. “You have never considered what I wanted, Dax. Therein lies the problem. I tried to tell you so many times and you talked your way around it, trying to convince me otherwise. Going as far as you did to keep me isn’t love. It’s obsession,” Lainey says. She stands, walks backward toward Vadim and holds out her hand. Vadim laughs. It’s a maniacal sound that reverberates in the large vacant house. “And now you both must atone.” My fucking stomach lurches. Atone?

  “Got everything off your chest, honey?” V asks Lainey. She nods, swallows, and grabs my gun that he’s dangling off his finger in the air in front of her face. Fuck. What
the hell is happening right now? “Go ahead and take care of business so we can get on with our night. We need to celebrate your freedom and your return to me,” he says, pulling her close under his filthy arm. His mere presence makes me murderous, reminding me of all the things I work hard to forget. The dripping returns, as do the memories of days filled with blackness and pain, hunger and boredom so severe that it handicaps the mind. The years of life he stole from me in the name of revenge are worth more than my own revenge plot against him. Death is easy. Living like he forced me to is agony in comparison.

  Lainey weighs the gun in her right hand, balancing it on her palm. She flips it over and checks out the other side, and then makes sure it’s loaded and ready to fire. I shake my head. Dax tenses and starts trying to pull away from me. Yep, this is the woman you don’t know. She’s a real stunner. Literally. I wish I could see his face, to try to gauge his reaction to this. It’s not every day that you find out your fiancée is skilled in espionage and has the means to murder you. It should be a book or something. Lainey would make for one hell of a character. Her huge, blue eyes find mine and hold steady. I stare back, willing her to hear my thoughts. She turns away.

  “Which one will you choose, Elena?” V asks. She narrows her eyes at Dax and bites down on her perfect, pillowy bottom lip. These could possibly be my last moments on earth and I’m getting a boner from her fucking mouth. A mouth attached to a woman who has the means and the desire to kill me. My vision takes on a surreal quality, almost like a dream.

  She aims the gun at us, huddled on the ground. Dax has stopped scooting and has started pleading with her. It’s interspersed with swearing at her, because after being a lying bitch she owes him more than this. He makes solid points. She owes me even more. She knows it.

  Her hand shakes as her gaze flits back and forth between our faces. What must we look like? A couple of huge, burly men reduced to a pitiful heap. And all for love. Fucking love. Cities fall because of it and lives are deconstructed in the name of it. If I outlive this night, I’ll swear it off for the rest of time.

  V chides. “You know the deal, Elena. You have to kill one. That’s what I want to earn your trust back. So pick. It should be easy. The man who holds your heart or the one who repaired it after it shattered. It’s a dilemma for sure, but one man has clearly already paid his dues.” V aims his gun at me and Lainey aims my own goddamned gun at Dax. In a twist so fucked up that not even I saw it coming, I understand that nothing matters anymore. Not revenge, or what I’ve been through, what Lainey’s been through, not what Dax has dealt with. None of it matters because this is the fucking end.

  V groans when Dax begins threatening. I don’t hear specific words, just the tone of his hysterical voice and the word ‘fuck’ laced throughout. “You know why nice guys finish last? They’re never the ones holding the fucking gun,” V says, playing Ghandi. We’re always the ones holding the guns. That’s why this whole situation is so laughably stupid. I’m not a nice guy. Neither is my cuff mate.

  Lainey glances at me. Her eyes fill with unshed tears. She mouths a single word. A word that tells me everything I need to know. You. I blink twice and give her an imperceptible nod. This is it.

  She takes a step closer and focuses her aim on my head, right between my eyes.

  The kitchen sink drips.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Lainey

  “I need to be alone with them,” I say, my voice shaking. It matches the rest of my body that seems to be in the middle of some sort of shuddering panic attack. I’ll never get this vision out of my mind. Dax and Cody sitting on the floor of this vacant house, looking horrified because of me. Cody’s beautiful face in the crosshairs of his own fucking weapon—all of it is of the wildest caliber of macabre. Handling this situation requires more finesse than I’m capable of. I called them here and told them I needed them.

  When V doesn’t respond I clear my throat. “Just for a second. To say goodbye. I owe them that,” I say, flicking my gaze to Vadim. I smirk, the confident one that lets him know I’m in control and ready to do as I’m asked. He looks nervous, leery, but I’m holding a gun. What choice does he have? I’m on his side, remember? I return my gaze to my gun, not to what I’m aiming at. If you aim a gun, you should be prepared to fire it. It’s the number one rule of gun ownership. Uneasiness mixes with my nerves and it’s about as unpleasant as a UTI and a yeast infection at the same time. The black gun blurs in my vision. I can’t fucking pass out now. Don’t you dare pass out, bitch, I tell myself.

  “Do it quickly. The mark of a good agent is the speed in which you make life or death decisions,” he says, eyeing me up and down. He has so many of his goons in this house that I’m not sure exactly how I’ll get out, or how we’ll manage, but I’ve stalled as long as I can. He’s right. We’re alone on this side of the house, so my only hope is that I can be quick enough to do what needs to be done. Sucking in a deep breath, I try to calm my nerves. It’s been a while, but I can do this. I don’t—can’t—make eye contact with Cody or Dax again. I feel too much when I do. They make it worse. V begins his exit.

  Sweeping the gun right, with my finger on the trigger, I stop when I have Vadim in my sights. His back is to me. It’s a low blow move, but too much is at stake right now. Way more than I anticipated. With my hand steady, my aim perfect, I pull the trigger and watch as the bullet flies and enters V’s back. He slumps first to his knees and then onto his stomach. I have seconds. Maybe even less. This is it.

  I still don’t look at the men in the face. I stoop down, pull a kitchen knife out of the back of my pajama pants, and cut off the zip ties on their ankles and then their hands. From shooting Vadim to cutting them free it takes less than ten seconds. I catch a quick glimpse of Dax in my peripheral and notice he’s staring at my face, like truly staring, wondering who the fuck I am. Cody isn’t wasting any time wondering who I am. He knows. He’s pulling another gun out of his leg holster and preparing to pepper whoever comes blasting into this room next. Dax backs away, looking down at V. He’s moaning, not dead yet, but it’s a grave injury. I made sure of it. No words are exchanged, but we’re all on the same page. Cody drags Vadim behind a kitchen island, leaving a trail of blood as he goes. I imagine he wants to mutilate him with a dull spoon and a hot pan, but currently there’s no time. There will never be enough hours in the day for him to inflict the type of pain he deserves. I swallow down the guilt and try to remember to breathe. It’s unfortunate and fortunate at the same time.

  “You got any more fucking guns on you?” Dax asks, an unwitting, sarcastic smile playing on his lips. “I would have brought my kit if I knew I’d be working tonight.” It’s a joke, a really bad one at the moment. Cody responds in the negative, so I toss him my vegetable knife and Dax hurries to grab Vadim’s weapon from the floor. “I should have known better. It’s always a battle if Lainey has anything to do with it,” Dax mutters. His words are dry, emotionless, and I know that our relationship is damaged beyond repair. Funny how it takes a gun fight with mobsters to make him understand. Or it could be the fact that I shot a man in the back when he was in the same room. Either option doesn’t make for good wife material.

  That’s when gun shots echo in the air. Hard pops sound and grow closer. We slink behind the island. While texting with one hand, Cody takes a towel he pulled from a cabinet and shoves it in V’s loud ass mouth. He’s getting blood everywhere. The smell makes me want to vomit up all the bourbon I spent all night drinking.

  “I’m so sorry, Dax,” I whisper. He looks at me pitifully, shakes his head, and holds up his knife in a salute. “I’ll make sure your name stays out of this,” I vow. I can make good on this one.

  “My men are here,” Cody says, putting his phone away. “They’re cleaning house up front. You can put away your tomato slicer, bro. The big boys are here now.”

  “Fuck you,” Dax spits. “Fuck all of you and the nightmare this day has been!”

  V wails beside us. Cody punches him in the
face so hard that I have to look away. He’s silent after that.

  “Why is RC here? How did you tell them?” Dax asks. A few more gunshots pop in the front room and then silence.

  “Lainey called and asked me to come to a weird house in the middle of the night twelve hours before her marriage to you. I figured something was up. It was either going one of two ways. In case it was going to swing badly, I told them to come here if they didn’t hear from me in twenty minutes. They’re here now. For what it’s worth, I’m sorry you got caught up in all this bullshit as well,” Cody explains. Dax puts his head down between his knees and groans. My stomach ties in knots at the sight. I’m the cause of his pain.

  I’m still shaking because of the shock and adrenaline pumping through my system. I want to take him in my arms and hold him so tightly that nothing can touch him unless it goes through me, but I’m afraid we’re past that now. This entire mess is because of me. I look at Cody. “I can’t even apologize for what I’ve caused you. I’d never forgive me if I were you,” I tell him.

  It’s not the time, nor the place to have serious conversations. With our enemy bleeding out beside us and my fiancé wondering what the hell is happening. Cody’s men are mowing down villains in the next room, but all I want to do is talk to him. I want to tell him that he can be free now. Free from V’s heavy-handed thumb. Free from looking over this shoulder. Free from me dragging him down at every corner. Even with Vadim’s cold heart still, I can’t be the woman he wants me to be. I’m a killer. I’m a person I don’t recognize. The woman I left in the past is back and she’s a nasty, scary bitch.

  Cody’s huge, hulking killer comes in the kitchen. I know it’s him because of the sound his huge boots make against the floor. “Cody!” he yells.