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.
“What you might do to me.”
“He was warning you?”
I nodded.
God, his black eyes were magnetic, and he blinked them slowly. “He needs to mind his own fucking business.” He sighed and shook his head. Then, he turned on his heel and headed for the stairs. Was I supposed to follow him?
“Where are you going?” I asked lightly.
“To work out.” His tone was gruff, telling me he wanted to be left alone.
I glanced at the piano. “Do you mind if I play for a while?”
He climbed the stairs as he took off his suit jacket. “Do whatever the fuck you want.” He made it two more steps before he hesitated. “Oksana.”
I lifted my gaze to him. He was near the top of the stairs. He had a hand on the railing, his suitcoat folded over his other arm. The black gun and straps of his holster contrasted against the white dress shirt, and his burgundy tie was the same shade of a dried bloodstain.
“He won’t touch you again,” he said.
My breath stuck painfully in my lungs. Vasilije wasn’t the first to make that empty promise.
His expression was resolute. “From now on, no one touches you but me.”