Kelly

 

What the hell? Andrei had been so kind and tender and almost loving when we had sex. It hadn’t been fucking this time. It had been so much more. And it had been just what I needed. It made me feel alive again after the taint of death that always seemed to hover over me with Mom. It made me forget about my grief and my guilt and my worry. It burned me with life, even gave me hope.

 

And afterward, I knew bringing up the guy might set Andrei off, but I had every right to know. I had been the one threatened. I was the one being tailed. And it was because of him. He was the reason why I was in danger. That the guy had approached me outside of the hospital my mom was currently getting treated at only made things that much more terrible for me. What if he went after my mom to get to me in order to get to Andrei? This was making my head spin. My chest ached. Fear and anger brewed inside of me, generated at myself, Andrei, the guy, and the guy’s boss — he had said we after all.

 

I shouldn’t have been blinded by the dollar signs, should’ve never agreed to this. I certainly shouldn’t have had sex with him again today when it had been more times than the contract stipulated. I had been desperate, and I would be just as desperate now if I backed out and had to repay him the money I had already spent, but was it worth it to stick around and fulfill my obligation? I should’ve done more research. I should’ve demanded more information up front. I should’ve done a hundred things differently.

 

How could he act like he had a right to keep me closed off from the details that were pertinent to the whole threat? He hadn’t acted surprised at all, only furious. But it hadn’t been unexpected. And that, in turn, only fueled my fury. What the hell kind of a twisted mess had Andrei ensnared me in? I had signed the contract, but he hadn’t disclosed all relevant details. Wouldn’t that be enough to get me out of the contract legally?

 

I should’ve walked away the moment I suspected he was a mob boss. That a mob boss was paying two million to have a baby should’ve been another red flag. He wanted a kid as soon as possible for some reason.

 

A reason that was becoming slightly clearer.

 

Because someone was after him. Someone was threatening him, too. And now they were threatening me to get to him. Too bad they didn’t realize I wasn’t a girlfriend. I was just a uterus. And since Andrei had this bull’s eye on his back, and now that there was one on me, for that matter, how could I possibly give a child to him? The child would be in danger from day one! And to grow up under the guidance of a mob boss…it would be irresponsible of me to give him a child.

 

I had made a huge mistake in signing that contract. But what the hell was I going to do about it? The last thing I wanted was to piss off a mob boss. If Andrei turned on me, what would happen then? I had no illusions that I meant anything to him, this last bit of mind-blowing sex notwithstanding. Sure, it had been more intimate, and he had given himself to me, but he didn’t care about me as a person. Maybe he couldn’t care about anyone period.

 

So I couldn’t back out. Or at least not yet. If only I could find another well-paying job before I got pregnant. But what there the chances of that? I had tried to find a second job before I got canned, and there hadn’t been any jobs available other than Andrei’s offer.

 

I was screwed. In more ways than one.

 

***

 

The next day, I waited until Andrei left and decided it was well past time to do some snooping in this huge house. I had seen a few of the rooms, but now I wanted to see the ones off limits to me, the ones the servants had turned me away from on more than one occasion when I had just been walking around the place, not even trying to be nosy.

 

Lucas, my bodyguard, was busy on the phone, so I ducked down the hall and around the corner out of his field of vision. I had a feeling Lucas was going to hear about it from Andrei, and I sure hoped he wasn’t fired over my leaving the house. I wasn’t a child. I didn’t need to be babysat. And if I wanted to leave the house, I was going to leave the house. This place wasn’t my prison. I’d always thought it strange that Andrei had Lucas assigned to me as my bodyguard. Well, now I knew why.

 

Damn. I had gotten so upset with Andrei that I hadn’t even managed to ask him about my mom and leaving in the future. Because if something came up again, I would not hesitate to leave again. If he wanted to keep me around as his surrogate, he would grant me the ability to come and go as I pleased. I signed the contract, but this was a partnership, and I was going to have some say whether he wanted me to or not.

 

If I had to bring Lucas next time, so be it, but I was going to go. Andrei wouldn’t stop me. No amount of money in the world would stop me from being there for my mom when she needed me the most.

 

Time for some digging. If Andrei wouldn’t talk to me about himself, I would just have to learn more through good old-fashioned detective work.

 

Some of the rooms I peeked into were boring and looked like studies or extra living rooms. Nothing worth exploring. A few rooms were locked, and that really had me intrigued. I had no idea where the keys might be, and I didn’t know how to pick a lock, so I had to pass them by, unfortunately.

 

The room next to Andrei’s bedroom was unlocked, which surprised me. Hadn’t one of the servants turned me away from it before when I had been looking for Andrei’s bedroom? It looked like another bedroom, but when I opened the wardrobe, there weren’t any clothes inside. It was full of nonperishables. What in the world? What was this for? A stockpile for emergencies? Feeling like a thief, I walked over to the closet and opened it. No supplies, at least not food supplies.

 

There were so many guns and bullets and other weapons that I gasped. Andrei had quite an impressive collection — enough to start a war. Did the guy who threatened me belong to another mob? Had I gotten myself in the middle of a mob war?

 

“Kelly. There you are.” Lucas appeared in the doorway, arms crossed.

 

I jerked back and shut the closet, my heart pounding. It wasn’t that I was afraid Lucas would do anything to me. I trusted him, even if I wasn’t sure I could trust his boss.

 

“You shouldn’t be in here,” he said.

 

“Then why isn’t it locked?” I asked, mimicking his stance by crossing my arms.

 

He motioned for me to exit the room and go into the hallway.

 

I ignored him and stayed put. “Lucas, what’s going on?”

 

My bodyguard shook his head and shrugged. “It’s not my place to say.”

 

“Please?” I begged. “Andrei’s not exactly the talkative type.”

 

He said nothing, his gaze dropping to the floor.

 

Maybe making him uncomfortable would provoke a response out of him. And I knew the perfect way to make him uncomfortable.

 

“He doesn’t talk to me,” I explained with a slight grin. “He just moans.”

 

Lucas’s face turned bright red. “Yes, well…” he sputtered.

 

I pointed to the weapons. “What’s all this?”

 

His face twisted into one of compassion. “You really should know better. You’re too naïve.” He shook his head.

 

I glowered at him. “He sleeps next to an arsenal large enough to do some serious damage. How can he sleep at night?” I demanded.

 

“Some things are better not to think about,” was all he said.

 

“Doesn’t make it go away if you ignore it,” I muttered.

 

“Maybe not, but you should worry only about how you can sleep at night, not Andrei. Come on. I’ll escort you back to your room.”

 

I took one last look at the weapons before following Lucas out.

 

You should worry only about how you can sleep at night.

 

It was a small wonder that my sleep hadn’t been affected by more than just Andrei’s late night activities. What exactly was he capable of? His eyes, his face…he had looked almost murderous for just a split second when I mentioned the guy who accosted me. Would Andrei have that man killed? And the one who sent him? Somehow, I didn’t doubt that.

 

And the terrible thing was that in that moment, I wanted both men to die. They frightened me — the guy who threatened me and the faceless, nameless one who had sent him. If they were willing to go after me, they would be willing to go after the baby.

 

I really shouldn’t have signed that contract, but if I hadn’t, another woman would have. Andrei shouldn’t have had the contract in the first place. Not if his life, and by extension his unborn child’s and the baby’s mother’s, was in danger. He should have taken care of the threat first.

 

And if taking care of the threat first cost Andrei his life? What then?

 

That night, I didn’t sleep a bit.