by Anna Antonia
Again, I cut my gaze to Risa. Everything since Clichy till now had spiraled out of control already, but I didn’t want her to hear anything else. I needed to shut this man up and now.
“It has no bearing.”
“Why am I not surprised to hear you say that?” the jovial bastard chided. “I’ll tell you anyways because you both need to know.”
Fucker.
The piece on my ankle burned. So did my sidearm. I could get the drop on him, I knew I could, but what if he had backup?
Unlike me.
I couldn’t take a chance with Risa’s safety.
“And how is Elaine involved with the US government?”
He continued on as if I hadn’t mentioned his employer’s name. “It was the tracker. Your little tracker contained a miniscule piece of code that became your signature when you recycled it in your real-time trading app for Bridgewater.”
Goddammit.
Blood rushed to my brain so quickly I felt lightheaded. My heartbeat droned my doom.
How could I have made such a catastrophic error? I didn’t recycle code. Ever…except when apparently I did. There was no chance of it being a result of sabotage. I wrote that program myself and I knew exactly which line it would’ve been.
My brilliance became arrogance which became my downfall.
Speeding through the various implications, I deduced they all pointed to one conclusion.
If he is telling the truth, if this isn’t an elaborate ruse from Elaine, then I’m on their radar. My entire life is open for surveillance. Not just that, but if I’m to stay out of prison I’m going to have a boss. My resources have now just become the US government’s.
In normal circumstances, I’d take my chances because I answered to no one. But with Risa in my life…I needed more information.
“Why this? Why not just charge me with…” Darting my attention over to my love, I killed my words as a blanket of shame settled over me.
What would she think of me if she knew? How would she see me if I had to admit I never gave thought, much less judgment, on what my father did for a living?
She couldn’t know.
“With aiding in trafficking?”
Fuck! I shifted my stance. Did this piece of shit know nothing of discretion? Or was he simply following orders to unmask me? That had to be it. Elaine wanted Risa out of my life, by fair means or foul, and this was just the way to do it.
As I feared, Risa flinched. Her gaze begged me to deny the ugly charge. I opened my mouth to do just that only to have nothing come out.
“That would be the simple course of action for a common criminal. Unfortunately, for you, you’re not just anybody. You are obscenely wealthy, Mr. Black-Price. You could buy armies many times over. Your government needs to make a point. They are watching you and will swoop in at any time to impress upon you their concerns.”
“So you’re here to teach me a lesson.”
“As a matter of speaking, yes.” The bastard actually had the nerve to smile. “You have to keep better care of Miss Kelly. Your government won’t. They’ll lock her away on an oil rig in the Atlantic and you’ll never see her again. You’ll either dance to their tune or you’ll decide she’s not worth the aggravation. Then there goes poor Miss Kelly. Fish food.”
Fisting my hands, I took a step to pounce on him. Already I could feel his blood staining my skin as I crushed his pretty face into oblivion.
“Damian, no!”
I stopped halfway between us. Risa shook her head, arms out and hands held towards me. She looked scared but I couldn’t tell if it was for me or because of me.
Shaking my head slowly like I’d been the one to already take several blows, I said her name.
“Just…please. Don’t come closer.”
15
RISA
Misery twisted Damian’s features before they became frighteningly blank.
I ached to feel his arms around me, to run my fingertips across his dark brows and angular cheekbones. But I couldn’t. If I touched him, I’d fold.
And he couldn’t afford for me to do it.
I’d heard enough. I saw Damian’s reactions, the ones he couldn’t hide fast enough. His fear. His shame. His suffering.
Of course, it brought me low. I never wanted to hurt Damian. I wanted to love him, to please him with my entire being.
But his sincere lack of denial confirmed everything Marcus said was true. I wasn’t angry Damian lied to me by omission. Hurt—yes. Angry—no. I couldn’t begin to fathom how heavy of a burden his heritage, and the secrets spawned as a result, were.
The pieces were always there but I never imagined the picture they’d form.
I knew what I needed to do.
Marcus met my eyes for an instant, but the question was clear.
Will you help Damian?
Yes. A million times yes.
I’d do anything to give Damian a fighting chance. If there was even the slimmest of chances to protect this man I loved, then I’d take it.
If only I could explain to my beloved what was to come next.
If only I could I reassure him everything I did was all for him.
If only I could trust he’d be confident in my judgment.
But I couldn’t.
Instead, from this moment on I’d be cruel to be kind and pray for Damian’s forgiveness when it was all said and done.
16
DAMIAN
Risa didn’t want me near her. It didn’t make sense unless she knew everything.
No.
She’d believe in me over a man who took her by force because Risa loved me.
Demands weren’t even made yet, but I needed Risa by my side. Now. Not a moment later. This was coming to end.
I held out my hand and said the only word that mattered. “Risa.”
“Mr. Black Price—you’re not in control here.”
“Risa is mine.”
The bastard tsked and shook his finger. “You think this pretty girl is an object to be owned? That’s hardly romantic, Mr. Black-Price. Careful, careful—you’re letting your true self show.”
Panic grew alongside anger. The unspoken name spiraled me deeper into a truth I couldn’t let out.
“Risa come over here.”
“Oh, I don’t think so.” He closed his hand over her arm again.
I fixated on the sight. My fingers itched for the gun only inches away. “Remove your hand or I’ll remove it for you.”
The man’s green eyes revealed nothing. I hated how his calmness contrasted against my growing loss of control. I wasn’t usually like this. I wasn’t an intellectual brute. I understood he pushed my buttons for a purpose—to make me become unhinged.
“I brought you here today to inform you of one thing. There’s been a change of plans. Risa has decided she’s going to stay with me a bit longer.”
Understanding and listening required a skillset I no longer had possession of.
“Risa. Now!”
She kept her attention on me, but her words were for another man. “Marcus, you can let me go. I won’t run. Especially not to him.”
Risa’s words didn’t sink in. The verbal blade slid in too quickly for me to realize it. I took one step and then another. I didn’t care that it made me an easy target.
“Stay there, Black-Price. I don’t want to have to hurt you.”
Hurt was all I knew as I replayed the words over and over again.
“I won’t run. Especially not to him.”
Other words filled the cracks.
“Your word means nothing. Your promises even less. One day you’ll understand what you’ve done to me tonight. And when you do, I hope you recognize just how badly you treated me. And I pray to God you realize that by then I will have forgotten all about you. Know it won’t be by accident. It’ll be by choice.”
Was this it? Was this the moment of Risa’s revenge?
Impossible. Our love was forever. She was the one for me and I was the one for her. I knew from
the first moment I saw her and I knew just as strongly now.
Risa’s captor level a gun at me. The metal menace didn’t keep me from crossing the clearing. Bullets, blood, pain—none of it stopped me from getting back to Risa once before. It wouldn’t now.
Until one word did.
“Konstantinov.”
Four syllables. Ones that should never have formed in Risa’s lush mouth.
The sound of my true name jolted me like a brand to the spine. Freezing in place, I stared at her with nauseating horror. Sweat broke out, drenching my body while a curious buzzing sound overtook my senses.
“Your name is Damian Konstantinov. You’re the son of a Russian mafia lord—Grigor Konstantinov. Your mother—”
“Stop.” I couldn’t swallow past the lump in my throat. I couldn’t hear anything beyond that point. My heartbeat swallowed all sound, including those from Risa.
“…you’ve always lied to me, Damian. From the beginning. Until the end. You didn’t trust me. Why?”
She didn’t try to disguise the warble in her voice or the tears running down her face.
“You never had any intention of telling me the truth. Didn’t you think I’d still love you? Or was it just I wasn’t important enough to deserve all of you?”
She was so wrong! But I couldn’t tell her. I was frozen in silence.
“Gretchen knew this. She tried to warn me that night, the one where we went to your apartment. She was right. Your coldness did it to me too. I want out, Damian. I don’t want to live like this.”
My voice stayed locked away while I screamed in my head, “Stop! You can’t mean this! Take it back, Risa! Take it back now!”
Risa fisted her hand and kept it by her leg. “I came here, not to go back to you, but to tell you goodbye. Let me go, Damian. Please. Go home, go back to your life, and let this end.”
I listened to her pleas. I parsed through them, distilling each statement down to its barest form of meaning.
Risa didn’t want me anymore.
The truth of who I was behind the façade wasn’t enough to keep her by my side.
Risa. Didn’t. Want. Me.
This catapulted me into action. I stormed towards her, fixated on reaching her and proving I was worthy of the love she’d given me.
“Risa! You mean everything to me! You always have! Listen to me—”
Explosions stole my chance to reach her. I fell onto my knees. No shrapnel. Just light and deafening booms.
Flash grenades.
Swimming through my loss of balance, I tried to focus on Risa. Her blurred edges made it impossible to see through the light burned onto my eyes. Still, I saw and heard enough to push me faster.
Her arm reaching towards me. My name in her scream.
But my stumbling, drunken gait couldn’t get me to Risa fast enough.
Then just like that—she was gone.
I broke.
17
RISA
Marcus made sure I had earplugs and now I understood why.
We ran, leaving the man I loved with all of my heart roaring my name. It pushed past the foam, echoing in my ears and hurting worse than the smoke attacking the sensitive lining of my throat or the blinding pain in my eyes.
Marcus picked me up and put me into the vehicle we’d left before walking a couple of miles to the meeting spot. I still didn’t know how we got here. Not when I was crying so hard I couldn’t breathe, much less run.
We sped along the makeshift road, but I didn’t pay attention. I simply buried my face into my hands and shuddered gasping sobs.
I committed to this, but I had no idea how much it would hurt to see the devastation of Damian’s breaking heart. Seeing it convinced me to stay and I reached for him.
I’d already buckled under the pressure. Marcus yanked me away, oblivious to my protests. He understood what I should’ve but couldn’t.
I quit before I’d begun.
The jeep came to a skittered stop. Marcus hustled me out towards a waiting helicopter, blades roaring like a turbine. Blinded by tears, I followed.
Then for the second time in nearly as many days I wondered if I’d just made a terrible mistake.
Elaine sat in the helicopter surrounded by men with rather large guns.
I was trapped.
18
DAMIAN
My heart bled.
I couldn’t get up. I could only lay here in the snow, in the dirt, and feel my insides being destroyed by what had just occurred.
Risa was gone. She had left me.
She changed her mind though. I knew she did. I heard it in her scream. I couldn’t save her. I couldn’t keep her from leaving with that man.
Who was I if I couldn’t protect the only woman that mattered?
The heavy tread of steps entered this forsaken circle. Wolffington roughly grabbed me by the shoulders, lifting me up on feet that could no longer support me. He shouted words that had no meaning.
She was gone.
I couldn’t stop her from leaving.
Risa’s loss was my destruction.
19
RISA
Elaine didn’t speak another word. She merely gestured for me to get in and take a seat. I couldn’t go backwards with Marcus crowding me and I wasn’t about to go forward. Accusingly, I looked over my shoulder at him.
“You said she didn’t hire you!” I yelled over the roar of the chopper blades.
“She didn’t, Miss Kelly.” Marcus lightly touched my shoulder. “Hurry now!”
When I still didn’t move, righteous in my fury but fearful of what was to come next, Marcus leaned closer and shouted, “Damian’s men will clear that break in less than two minutes. They’re contractually obligated to take you back even if it means shooting this copter down. Lots of people will die. This will not be helpful to our mutual interests. Now please board.”
Feeling my stomach twist with anxiety, I took the hand in front of me and climbed aboard. A quick glance confirmed Elaine had five men on board, plus the pilot. They were all outfitted in black, matching what appeared to be a military helicopter.
I avoided looking at the heavy guns, but I was all too aware of them. Marcus took a seat beside me and then we were in the air. Looking out the window, I saw he was right. Several men swarmed the clearing, weapons raised high. My fingers dug into the seat, sure a hail of bullets was about to penetrate the metal floor.
A few more minutes passed this way until I believed we were safe from being shot down.
Looking up, I clashed gazes with Elaine. If I expected her to be smug in her triumph, I’d be disappointed. She was composed, as always.
I doubted she’d want to shout a conversation over the dull roar, but I still yelled, “How could you?”
Elaine remained unruffled. She tilted her head and gave me a polite smile.
I wanted to shake her by the shoulders and scream in her perfectly made up face. Instead, I turned my head to the left and looked down at my feet. Dangerous fury coursed through my veins, powerful enough to leave tremors in its wake.
Tremors that only increased in strength when we landed sometime later at a small airstrip. Once the craft powered down, Elaine’s men streamed out, boots making heavy thuds, sounds which reinforced my mistake.
Elaine unbuckled herself and stood. “Hello, Risa. I’m so glad you were reasonable. You made the right decision.”
What to say to that?
I stood up, even though she still towered over me. “I would’ve made a different choice if I knew you were involved like this.”
“And you would’ve been wrong. However, I do understand your reasoning. Suffice it to say, you are making the right decision to help Damian. You’ll see.”
With that she stepped off the craft and strode into the hangar, surrounded by her men. This left me alone with Marcus.
I couldn’t explain why I felt betrayed by him. After all, he was my kidnapper. It was beyond foolish to believe Marcus in the first place. Still, I did
n’t want to swallow my venom.
“You lied to me.”
“No, I didn’t.”
“Elaine wants me dead, Marcus, and you hand delivered me to her. This wasn’t about helping Damian. It was about finishing what she started.”
Marcus’s expression remained neutral. “Miss Kelly, you are mistaken about quite a few things. Elaine doesn’t want you dead. If she did, you’d be six feet under.”
“Then why am I here?”
“To help buy time for Damian until all the pieces are tidy in their boxes.”
“What the hell does that even mean?”
“It means let’s go. We have quite a long trip ahead of us.” Marcus strode towards the hangar, seemingly confident I had no other choice but to follow.
Maybe he was right. Or maybe his arrogance was about to be shaken.
True the tiny airport was isolated, but I saw houses not that far from here. If I could escape I could make a run for it. I just needed to get to a phone, maybe even a police station.
Marcus stopped and turned around.
“Miss Kelly, we talked about this.”
I didn’t answer. My feet shifted and my legs dropped slightly. The window wasn’t going to be big, but all I had to do was outrun Marcus. Just long enough to get around the building. From there, I’d take one of the stray metal poles leaning up against the wall and smash him with it. Elaine’s men would be harder to elude, but I had to take the chance.
They’d either shoot me or I’d make it. Failure or freedom.
“I promised you this wasn’t going to be easy.”
I stiffened, remembering those same words from a different time.
“You expect me to take you at your word after lying to me. Not smart, Marcus.”
“I never said Elaine wasn’t part of this. I just said she didn’t hire me. Which is very true.”
“Then who did?”
“You know who.”
“For all I know you’re lying about Damian’s father. For all I know, Grigor Konstantinov doesn’t exist.”
“He doesn’t.”
I didn’t expect that answer or the one following.
