The strength goes out of me. He lets go of my hands and I collapse against the back of the couch, gulping air that won’t come fast enough. My mind refuses to believe what I have just heard. Things like this don’t happen to ordinary people. I am an ordinary person. The only thing a bit unusual about me is my name. Other than that I have to be the most ordinary person in the world.

“No,” I gasp in disbelief. My head is shaking. “No, no, no. I don’t believe it. You’re Serbian. I’ve read about the Russian mafia. You can’t just enter it. How could you be in the Russian mafia?”

“I didn’t say I was in the Russian mafia. I have nothing to do with them. I am a professional assassin. I work for anyone who is willing to pay my price.”

I stare at him in completely shock “That’s your job? You actually kill people for money?”

His eyes are expressionless. “Yes.”

“And your assignment was me?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t understand. Why hire you? Why not just ask one of the goons I saw that night or even his son? It looked to me like he actually enjoyed killing that man.”

“His son is a hot-headed fool. He shouldn’t even have been in that alley. A decade ago both you and Cindy would already be dead, but the Don has been under increased police surveillance for some time now so he cannot afford to order a hit unless absolutely necessary, and if he does he has to be extremely careful there is no blow back. Using a hitman with no links to their organization is a practical solution. My assignment was to find out which one of you was in the alley that night and take her out, but if you had not seen his son’s face he would have been willing to allow you to live.”

I look at him in confusion. “But how did they even know anyone was there? They didn’t see me and I made no sound at all.” My voice is suddenly small and shaky. I never saw this coming. Not in a million years could I have imagined that Konstantin was a hired gun sent to kill me.

“You made two mistakes. You didn’t leave enough time before you went back to the casino. They heard the sound of the door and returned, and when they did they found the electricity bill you dropped.”

“Our electricity bill?” My mind whirls. I can barely scrape my thoughts together so they’ll make sense. The stupid electricity bill! That’s how they found me. That’s why I couldn’t find it. I tucked it into the sleeve of my purse to remind me to pay it in the morning, and it fell out while I was trying to get back into the casino. “But all this happened six months ago. Why now?”

“In less than a month the Don’s son goes on trial for a minor financial irregularity. Everything has been arranged so he will get off with only a caution, but there could be some media coverage. Maybe a photo and a few inches of ink buried in the middle of a couple of broadsheets. Unfortunately, that opens up the possibility that you could see the article and recognize him. They can’t take that chance.”

“I don’t even read the papers,” I wail.

He shrugs. “You could see it in the paper used to wrap the fish and chips you buy on a Friday night.”

“They don’t use newspapers to wrap fish and chips anymore,” I say automatically.

“You know what I mean. Someone could be reading a paper in the casino. Your father could leave his papers open. Someone could tell you about it.”

I lift my hand up. “I get it. He wants to take care of the billion in one chance that I see the photograph of his precious son that might not even be printed.”

“Exactly.”

“How much money are you getting for … eliminating me?”

He doesn’t flinch. “I don’t work for less than $250,000.00”

My eyes widen and I start to babble, words streaming out of my mouth. “250,000 dollars? Come on! For a big Don he sure didn’t get his money’s worth. He could have had me killed for a lot less money. I watched a documentary the other day where a man killed a woman for £5000. Cash. He should have gone to him. Much cheaper.”

“There is a lot of planning that goes into these kinds of jobs. I had to arrange surveillance, rent this place, cars. You watched that documentary because the man was caught. I will never get caught and the hit will never be linked to the Don.”

I take a deep breath. “You’re the Rolls Royce of the elimination game, huh?”

“Yes.”

“Is that where you were these last few days? Reporting back to headquarters? Deciding how to murder me. Telling this … this criminal all about the stupid girl you took to the castle and fucked … because hey, might as well have some fun before you ice her, right?”

“No,” he roars.

“So all this was just some job to you?” I ask, my voice dead and defeated.

“No,” he says immediately, but doesn’t elaborate, which infuriates me even more.

“Why should I believe you? Everything between us has been a lie. You used me,” I accuse bitterly.

He shakes his blond head once, his lips pressing into an unhappy line. “I didn’t use you, Raven. Never.”

“That’s funny, because from where I’m sitting it sure feels that way. What was the plan?”

He pales and looks away. “It was supposed to look like an accident.”

“What kind of accident?”

He turns toward me. “Does it matter?”

“Yes, damnit it does. I’d like to know how you plan to kill me.”

“Don’t be a fool. If I wanted to kill you, you’d already be dead. You are not simply a job.” He stops and swallows. “You never were. I … uh … care for you.”

“Wow. Lucky me,” I say sarcastically, because I’m so hurt. I … uh … care for you? That’s what he feels for me? I glare at him.

He looks down at his hands.

“So what happens now?”

“He knows my methods. I told him I’d coaxed the information out of you, and I assured him that you did not see his son’s face.”

It takes a moment to get words out of my stunned mind. My voice is barely a whisper. “You lied to the Don?”

“Yes.”

“Why did you do that? I’m just an assignment. Another quarter of a million into what sounds like a numbered Swiss bank account.”

He caresses my face, his long fingers gentle on my cheek, and I don’t pull away. I can’t. In fact, it takes all I have not to melt at that moment.

“You know why.”

“Tell me.”

“I, because I … I … care … for you.”

I close my eyes. He feels it. I know he feels it. He just can’t say it. “So why did you say I was still in danger?”

He drops his hand from my cheek, the look on his face the same forlorn one I saw that night in the castle when he thought he was alone. I want to comfort him, this cold-hearted contract killer who was supposed to end my life, but somehow, cares about me too much to do it. I might have been wrong about everything else, but I wasn’t wrong about our connection.

“When I told him there was no reason to kill you, since you didn’t know anything, he laughed at me and suggested that my technique might be slipping. He thought you had lied to me, because his moles in the police department told him otherwise. One of them recently gained access to the original casefile. He saw that not only had you admitted seeing the face of the man with the gun, but you were so sure you could recognize him again you looked through the department’s mugshots. Basically, he wanted me to finish the job as per our contract. Without you there can be no case against his son.”

The rug gets pulled from under me again. “Does this mean you still have to kill me?”

A look of such sadness crosses his face that I want to hold him close to my heart. “I would never hurt you, Raven. Or take you away from Janna. I know what it is to be alone in the world.”

“So what do we do? Run?” Thoughts whizz at the speed of light through my mind. Janna. Cindy. Mum. Dad. My job at the casino. The Russian mafia boss who wants me dead.

He shakes his head slowly. “Not we, Raven. You. You need to leave the country. If you do not disappear completely, he will send someone else to kill you. The nature of their business makes these kinds of men suffer huge paranoia, Raven. He will never stop until you are dead, and once he knows I took his money and crossed him I will also become a target.”

I shiver suddenly. It feels like an icy block just settled in the pit of my stomach.

“Are you cold?” he asks, reaching for me.

I sink into his arms, craving that closeness, that familiar heat. My head is spinning too quickly to form coherent thoughts. I can’t think of the first thing to do. Go to the police? No, they can’t be trusted. Run? Sure, but where? And with what money? I just want to forget. Just for a minute. I want to lose myself in him. To pretend for a while we are still at the castle and we are just a man and a woman who cannot bear for our skins to be parted even for a minute. The truth is, despite all the lies, secrets and deceit, I still desperately want to kiss him, and climb into his lap.

I tip my head up and fuse my lips with his.

His mouth opens. My tongue pushes in and I scoot closer as my hands claw and rip his shirt open roughly. Buttons fly. This is the only thing I can trust. Our coupling. The rest of the world will wait. I push his shirt away and let my hands loose on that warm, smooth skin. Without breaking the kiss my hands reach for his belt. I undo it and pull the elastic of his underpants. His cock springs out, hard as rock.

His big strong hands lift me up bodily as he pulls at my panties. He drags them down my legs. Pulling his mouth away from mine, he lifts me up over his lap, and impales me on his cock.

“Yes,” I gasp.

“God, I’ve missed you so much,” he whispers in my hair.

“Me too.”

“My name is not Konstantin. It’s Dragan. Say my name.”

“Dragan,” I whisper.

“Say it again,” he whispers urgently.

I repeat his name.

With a groan, he rolls me onto the couch, and thrusts hard into me. Our coming together is frantic and urgent as if we are in a race against the blackness that is about to overcome us. Neither of us lasts. The second I go over, he lets himself explode too. Hard. Calling my name. Our breaths mingle. I want to find a way to stay in this moment—the two of us joined together. Here I am safely protected from the rest of the world, and the threat of the contract out on my head seems a long way away.

“I love you, Dragan,” I sob.

He doesn’t say it back. “I’m sorry, Raven. I’m so sorry.”

I close my eyes for a second and feel him pull out of me, and move away. I open my eyes and watch him as he zips up his trousers.

“Let me clean you up,” he says softly, and walks away.

I lie there in a daze. He comes back with a wet towel. Gently, the way I used to clean Janna when she was a baby, he wipes me and closes my legs.

“You must leave in the morning,” he says. “Begin a new life in another country.”

Tears fill my eyes. “Why can’t we go with you?”

He shakes. “No. Not with me. The way I live.” He shakes his head. “It’s not for you and Janna.”

I throw myself at his chest. “How do you know?”

“I am a man with no fixed address, no nationality, no family, no friends. I’m like the wind. You see me here today, and I look solid and real to you, but if you try to look for me tomorrow, it will be like looking for something that doesn’t exist. Everything I have is fake, rented, or temporary.”

“I don’t care about that. You are real.”

He shakes his head sadly. “You didn’t even know my name until a few minutes ago.”

“What are you saying? This is it? I never see you again?”

“It is better that way. Safer. For both you and Janna. You have to listen to me. These men are ruthless. They will not hesitate to silence you and the child.”

“Where will I go? I have no money and nowhere to go? I know no one who can help.”

He puts his large hands on my shoulders and pulls me close to his face. “I have prepared everything for you and Janna. Money, papers with new names, tickets, cover story. Your first destination will be Paris. After that you can decide for yourself if you want to stay, or leave for somewhere else, but what is important is that you will leave this country and never look back.”

“This is why you went away. To prepare all this for me?”

He nods.

“What about my life here?” I whisper. I’m too stunned to cry. Too shocked to do anything but hang on to his thighs, blinking and struggling to control the sick roiling in my stomach.

“Raven. Everyone knows who you are. Where you work. Where you live.” He pauses to let this sink in, his beautiful eyes steady. “You cannot remain here and be safe. Staying in this country is not an option. You have to follow the plan I provide to the letter or everything will unravel.”

“Okay,” I whisper.

“Listen carefully.”

I nod and he begins outlining the plan that will take me away from everything I’ve ever known.