by Nikki Sloane
Her blue eyes looked at me like I was a piece of shit, and I didn’t blame her for the reaction. I’d told her if she left me and went to the Russians, they’d pump her full of drugs. To her, it sure as shit looked like that was what I planned to do.
I grimaced. “Okay, fine. I’ll get someone to fix the fucking piano. All right?”
It was ridiculous I was negotiating with her. The girls at Mira’s didn’t have a problem with Amit. Actually, they loved the guy and teased him ruthlessly.
Oksana glared at him, still clearly full of suspicion. “That’s birth control you’re planning on injecting me with?”
He nodded. “If you are healthy and have good blood pressure, then yes, miss.”
A reluctant decision was made, and her shoulders slumped. “Fine. Let’s get it over with.”
I grasped the doorknob and began to back out of the room—
“Vasilije,” she cried.
The sharp way she said my name made me freeze. I stared at her with concern. “What?”
“You’re going to leave me? With this strange man, who’s . . .” Her eyes accused me of betrayal. The fight in her was gone, and her voice was broken. “Who’s . . . going to touch me?”
Oh, fuck.
I hadn’t even thought about it. An invisible hand wrapped around me and squeezed, sending all the pressure to my head. I stepped into the room, closed the door, and moved toward her. My voice was uneven. “I thought you’d want privacy.”
It was a bullshit excuse. I hadn’t been trying to leave to make her comfortable, I’d been doing it to avoid it being awkward for me. A strange sensation twisted inside my gut. What the fuck was it? Guilt?
And why did she want me to stick around? The idea she was more comfortable with me inside the room instead of outside it, made everything upside-down. Even more bizarre, I sort of liked how she wanted me near.
The relief that swept through her caused a pinch in my chest, making it hard to talk. Which was fine. I had no idea what to say. I stood beside the bed as she sat down on the edge of it and pushed up the sleeve of the robe, bunching it at her shoulder.
Amit donned his stethoscope, wrapped the pressure cuff tightly around her bicep, and began to take her vitals.
“Are you on any medication?” he asked, squeezing the balloon, and the needle on the gauge leapt upward.
“No.”
“Do you smoke?”
“No.”
“When was your last period? Are you regular?”
Oksana’s gaze was fixed forward, staring at nothing. “A week ago, and yes.”
Well, fuck. Here was another thing I hadn’t thought about, because I didn’t have a mother, or sisters, or even a serious girlfriend. Women had periods, and they needed stuff for that. Maybe Addison had left some girl shit in the house after she and Luka moved out. I made a mental note to handle that situation later.
Amit watched the needle fall slowly on the gauge and then pulled the cuff off with a loud, scratching rip of Velcro. “Excellent. Any medical history for you or your family I should know about? Blood clots? Strokes?”
“No.”
“Good.” He dipped the head of the stethoscope between the V at the top of the robe and listened to her heart. “Deep breath.” He moved the stethoscope to a new spot. “Again.”
After a pause, he seemed satisfied.
Amit straightened, pulled the stethoscope from his ears, and slung it around his neck. It was a gesture he’d been doing for thirty years, and the last twenty of it for my family. Was Addison, studying at Johns Hopkins, doing this same thing right now? It was good she and Luka got out when they did. My uncle would have forced her to work for him. He’d love to have another doctor in the organization to make late-night house calls. One who would treat gunshot wounds without filing a state-required police report.
“Very good,” Amit said. He gave Oksana a pleasant smile as he picked up the latex gloves and began to put them on. “Now, miss, I need you to move back, lie down, and open your robe.”
Her breath left her in a sharp burst. She shot her hand out and latched it onto my wrist, where her grip was ferocious. Her gaze stayed forward, not looking at anything as she lowered down, and it exaggerated how rapidly she was breathing. How violently she was trembling. I had the ridiculous idea she clung to my arm, as if holding onto me might make another man’s touch bearable.
Something inside me cracked.
When Amit’s hands reached for the knot of her robe, her grip tightened and it squeezed the word from me. “Stop.”
He froze at my command.
My mouth was dry and my tongue felt too big, but I got the sentence out. “We’ll skip this part.”
The doctor blinked with confusion. “But downstairs, you said you wanted—”
“I changed my mind,” I snarled. Goddamn it. I scooped my free hand under her and lifted until she stood in my arms. I had to wrap both around her because she was too startled to stand on her own. Her chaotic blue eyes reeled around and found mine. I had no idea what expression was on my face, but hers softened. She was wordlessly thanking me for saving her.
I was a prick.
I tore my gaze away and stared at Amit’s forehead and receding hairline. “Are you finished? Can she get the shot and be done?”
I was all fucked up. A brat who wanted to make sure his new toy was legitimately new, and not just advertising it. Even after Amit had warned me it might be impossible to tell, I’d demanded he check her virginity. He’d lectured me about the misconception of hymens and how often they broke or wore away, sometimes years before sex, but I still insisted. I wanted proof. I wanted to know if I was going to claim her virginity like a sick trophy.
The worst part was I knew she wasn’t lying. The girl was so clearly a virgin from the way she thought sex wasn’t about power to how she recoiled from a simple touch. She’d been on the verge of a nervous breakdown ten seconds ago when Amit reached for her.
As he tore open the plastic and paper around the syringe and prepared the shot, I shifted her in my embrace. Her eyes were vibrant blue, like Lake Michigan on a summer day. She drew in a deep breath through her nose as I felt the bottom of the robe moving. Her hands settled on my chest, softly clutching at my dress shirt.
“Vasilije, can you hold this?” Amit asked, pressing the bunched fabric in my hand that was at the small of her back. He needed me to hold it out of his way so he could slide his needle into the muscle of one of her cheeks. My gaze didn’t waver from hers as I gripped the plush fabric. I could see every action in her expressive eyes. The smell of alcohol filled the room as he wiped the swab over her skin and she flinched, probably at the cold.
“Small pinch,” he said.
Her pupils widened as the needle went in, but the Russian girl was deadly silent.
Plastic snapped, covering the needle, and then a Band-Aid was put in place. “All done.”
I let go of the robe, dropping it to cover her exposed skin. She’d been leaning into me for support, but as she solidified, she didn’t move away. I didn’t either.
When Amit had everything packed up in his bag, he looked at me, expecting me to usher him downstairs so he could get paid. I hesitated. “I’ll be down in a minute.”
He nodded, and left us alone. The second the door clicked shut, the tension between Oksana and me spiked so intensely, I couldn’t move. What was happening? How the hell did this girl have such an effect on me? I stood paralyzed as she inched closer, rising onto her toes. She was so close, I could smell the faint hint of the soap she’d used in the shower. Her fingers slid slowly up until she had them laced together behind my neck.
Oksana was about to kiss me, but I met her halfway and our lips collided. Her kiss was a fist wrapped in velvet. I kept my defenses down and let her deliver one blow after another. Kiss after soft, gentle kiss, lulling me in. I wouldn’t feel the damage until it was too late.
“Thank you,” she whispered against my lips. She was thanking me for stoppin
g him.
It jolted me from my stupor, and I shoved her back. “Don’t.”
She pressed her fingertips to her kiss-swollen mouth, checking to see if my lips were still attached to hers, and when she discovered they weren’t, surprise washed over her. “Don’t kiss you,” she asked, “or don’t thank you?”
“Either.” Fuck, I needed to get out of this room where I’d lost all control. Put some distance between us and figure out how to get my shit together. My face turned to stone. “Get dressed. I don’t care what you wear as long as it’s something I bought.”
Her shoulders drew back at my abrupt change in attitude, and confusion splashed on her face, but I wasn’t going to explain myself. I turned and high-tailed it out of the room, trying to flee the uncomfortable sensation in my chest I hadn’t experienced in years.
It felt a lot like shame.
13
Oksana
I banded my arms across my stomach as my knees gave out, collapsing me to sit on the bed. There was a tinge of pain, reminding me of the injection site, but I was too mixed up to process it.
I’d kissed Vasilije twice now, and been rejected by him the same number of times.
The lunch I’d eaten churned in my belly. I’d come dangerously close to throwing up when I thought the stranger was going to touch me. I believed Vasilije when he said the man was a doctor, but it was horrifying, regardless.
I shuddered, holding myself together. I didn’t have time to sit on the edge of the bed. Aleksandar was likely still in the house, and I had to talk to him. Who knew when I’d get my next chance?
I ripped the tags off a pair of jeans and a black sweater, and yanked the clothes on. Adrenaline was still pumping through my system, along with the terrible throb that could only have come from kissing Vasilije. I hated my stupid body’s response to him. How it wanted him no matter what he said or did.
Vasilije and the doctor were in the office with the glass paneled door closed when I came down the stairs, so instantly I began to search for my reluctant partner.
Aleksandar wasn’t in the living room or the kitchen. I wandered past the fancy dining room with its gleaming table and ten chairs, and the crystal chandelier glinted in the sunlight coming from the oversized windows. Where the hell was he? Outside?
I went to the hall closet by the garage to get my shoes, and startled as he stepped out of the laundry room. A gasp cut off in my throat when he grabbed my waist and yanked me into the room with him. I spun out of his hold as quickly as possible, wanting his hands gone.
“I told you he’d go for it,” Aleksandar said, hushed. He looked upset, which I understood. He’d been heavily coerced into helping me. He was a serial gambler who owed half of Chicago money. Not just the Serbs, but the Italians, the Irish, the Chinese, and us. My father had fronted him the money to consolidate his debts in one place, but it meant we owned Vasilije’s right hand man in totality. He’d fought so hard against this plot, claiming he’d be loyal to Vasilije till death. That was easy enough to arrange, my father had told him.
Aleksandar didn’t like it, but he had no choice.
“Here,” he said, bending beside the washing machine and pulling out a thin black box that was tucked between the wall and the machine, hidden from view. “Everything you need is in there, all right?”
I ignored his agitated tone, took it from him, and opened the box. Encased in foam, the black squares were the same size as a 9V battery. These were the surveillance devices I had agreed to hide in Vasilije’s house so my father could know all the moves the Markovics were making as soon as the decisions had been made.
I lifted a corner of the foam and peered at the card with licensing code for hacking Vasilije’s mobile. I’d need two minutes with the phone to install the hidden app. A month of training meant I had both the steps and the code memorized, but it was included, just in case.
My pulse picked up. So far my father’s plan had aligned with mine, but I was about to veer in my own direction, and everything was going to become riskier. “How long is the battery life on these?”
Aleksandar was a breath away from chewing at his fingernails, he looked that worried. “Up to ten days. Why?”
“Ten days?” I faked outrage. “After everything I’m doing, that’s not long enough. We talked about using the thirty day ones.”
Anger swirled in his beady eyes. “Hey, that’s on you guys. I held up my end of the deal. You plant those tonight, I get you out of here tomorrow while he’s at work, and then we go our separate ways.”
I shook my head. “Tell Petrov I need the long-lasting ones. We’ve only got one shot at this. I’m not wasting it on a device where the battery runs out in a week.”
He stared at me. “Are you fucking crazy? You don’t get it, girl. Every day you’re here, it’s another day he might figure out you’re setting him up. You know what’ll happen then?”
“Vasilije will kill me.” My voice was flat.
“Yeah, and if I don’t get you out of here alive, your people will kill me. Assuming Vasilije doesn’t do it first.”
I tried to feel bad for him, but couldn’t. Aleksandar worked for the Markovics. He had more blood on his hands than I did, and he reluctantly agreed to turn against his own people. Aleksandar was also stupid if he thought he could tell me what to do. My position with Vasilije meant I got to call the shots. If I demanded different devices, my father would make it happen. He couldn’t trust Aleksandar to plant the devices himself, and wouldn’t waste the opportunity I was giving him.
“So,” I said, “I’d suggest getting me those devices as quickly as possible.”
Aleksandar made a sound of frustration, ripped his phone from his pocket, and made a call. I listened to the terse conversation and tried not to give anything away. The more upset Aleksandar sounded, the better it was for me.
He hung up and shoved the phone in his jeans. “It’s Thanksgiving this week. Earliest the Russians can get their hands on them is Monday.”
He looked furious, but I shrugged. I’d just bought myself another week with Vasilije. I had to ignore the competing feelings I had about it.
“Let me talk to Vasilije,” he said abruptly. “Maybe he’ll let you come home with me. The less you’re around him, the better for both of us.”
I must have overestimated Aleksandar’s intelligence. I barely knew Vasilije, but I could tell he wouldn’t give me up. He was a cat and I was his captured mouse. He was enjoying playing with me, not ready yet to move in for the kill.
“No, don’t say a word. All it’ll do is make him suspicious.” You know what else would make him suspicious? If he finds you whispering to Aleksandar in the laundry room. “I’ll see you in a week,” I said, leaving him standing there as I went toward the kitchen.
What was my father thinking about my request right now? I was a stupid girl. He didn’t care. Either I got him full access to Vasilije’s life, or I’d be killed trying. It was a win-win for the man who’d never see me as a legitimate daughter, no matter how many paternity test results proved I was.
I went hunting for a glass, and found one beside the refrigerator. I filled it with ice and water as movement to my right caught my eye. Aleksandar had followed me. Why didn’t he go wait for Vasilije outside the office door? I couldn’t have him hanging around me.
“Oksana.” Aleksandar’s hushed voice was urgent. “Vasilije will hurt you. He likes making people suffer.”
It was true, wasn’t it? He’d tried to humiliate and degrade me. He’d pinched me so hard in the dressing room, it had ached for a long time afterward. But he’d also stopped the doctor upstairs. Was he a sadist? Did he like inflicting pain as long as it was physical, and not emotional?
Aleksandar put a hand on my arm. Maybe his touch wasn’t sexual and he was only trying to offer me comfort. Perhaps it was supposed to be a friendly gesture, or he’d done it to try to get through my stubbornness. It didn’t matter. I jerked back. “Don’t touch me.”
If it was
any other attack, I could fend it off, but all my strength abandoned me when a man moved on me like this.
“Alek.”
Vasilije’s voice was a gunshot, tearing through my core. Aleksandar backed off instantly, putting several feet of space between us.
The devil stood in the center of the kitchen, his eyes burning red. He had to be considering murdering Aleksandar right that moment. Judging by the expression on his face, there could be no other thought in his mind. His right hand twitched, and then curled into a fist. He wanted to reach for his gun, and maybe thought better of it.
“Fucking put a hand on her again,” Vasilije said, “and you’ll spend the rest of your short life wishing you hadn’t.”
It was shocking how territorial he was.
“It was nothing, Vasilije. I swear,” Aleksandar said in a rush. “We were just talking.”
Vasilije’s dark gaze slid to me. “About what?”
Jealousy flamed in his eyes. I’d have to be very careful. I kept my face benign. “The American holiday this week. He was explaining it to me.” I took a sip of my water and pretended not to be affected by the tension radiating from the men. “Do you celebrate it?”
“No.” He said it like a gut reaction, and then scowled as he considered it further. “What’s the point? It’s just me here.” He turned his attention back to Aleksandar. “Amit and I are finished. Take him wherever he wants to go.”
Aleksandar hurried out of the kitchen, visibly grateful for the excuse to leave.
Vasilije captured me with an intense stare. We stood as mannequins, our gazes trapping each other, listening to the sounds as Aleksandar and Amit went out the front door. The security system panel chirped and brought Vasilije back to life.
“I don’t believe that bullshit was about Thanksgiving.”
I licked my lips, because my mouth felt dry. “He was worried.”
“About?” When Vasilije rested his hands on his hips, it pushed back the sides of his suitcoat and gave me a hint of the strap of his holster, reminding me of his gun.
