Chapter 1
Something was wrong.
Not just in a “broken nail” way – but dangerously wrong.
Katia had just sat down with her friends, Hayden and Natalie, at one of the small tables tucked under a window of her coffee shop, all of them needing a coffee break after a hectic morning. Hayden and Natalie had been out shopping with their husbands and Natalie’s son, Alejandro. The males had all headed off to do…well, whatever it was that men do when they are alone…while Natalie and Hayden had stopped by for a moment’s respite.
But something felt…wrong.
Scary.
Katia looked around, trying to determine what was causing that sense of impending doom. Over the years, she’d learned to listen to that sensation.
Nothing seemed out of place when she scanned the area. The air in her cozy café shop still smelled like fresh coffee and chocolate, possibly the best smell in the entire world. The sunshine added warmth to the atmosphere, banishing the aching chill from outside. As she looked around, she didn’t see any shadows hiding skulking demons or…other bad things, something Katia always looked for.
The bad things. Rationally, she knew there weren’t any demons.
At least, no demons of the supernatural form. Her childhood had proven that demons weren’t necessarily spiritual, they could arrive in human form as well.
She surveyed the peaceful street outside of her tiny coffee shop where residents bustled along the sidewalks of the quaint, little town. But the streets of Lisdeer, Virginia were quiet as usual. There were no souped up cars coming down the street filled with bad guys toting machine guns. No dark, trench-coat covered, evil-looking men lurking around the corners of the average-looking buildings that lined the streets.
Everything seemed…normal. But Katia couldn’t banish the sensation that her world was about to explode.
Natalie and Hayden laughed about something Hayden said and Katia turned to look at them, confused that they could be laughing when something was so obviously wrong. Someone came out of the antique shop across the street and Katia’s gaze snapped to the woman. It took all of her concentration to relax. Or at least, appear relaxed.
“You okay, Kate?” Natalie asked, laying a hand on Katia’s arm. Her friends only knew her as Kate, because it was safer if they didn’t know her true identity.
She turned back to her small group of friends, although she had no idea what Hayden had said that was so amusing. “Absolutely,” she replied, forcing a smile. But even she could feel how fake her expression was and her friends knew her well enough to know the difference. Blinking, she leaned forward, trying to appear calm and relaxed, “Why do you ask?”
Hayden’s eyes gentled. “Because you look like you’re waiting for something horrible to happen,” she replied.
Katia forced a laugh and shook her head. “I’m fine.” Inwardly, she cringed at how fake her laugh sounded.
Natalie looked pointedly at Katia’s colorful cup, filled with coffee, that hadn’t been touched. “Kate, if you don’t loosen your grip on that mug, you’re going to break it.”
Looking down, Katia realized that her fingers were white-knuckling the mug. With a sigh, she relaxed her fingers, releasing her grip. “Yeah. I guess I’m a bit tense.”
“Anything we can do?” Hayden asked, rubbing her rounded tummy. She was five months pregnant and looking gloriously beautiful.
“What are you worried about?” Hayden asked.
Katia shrugged, trying to think of a good answer quickly. “My milk supplier hasn’t been delivering on time lately. I think I’m going to have to change.”
That answer seemed to soothe the other three ladies and she relaxed, but that odd feeling, that sense of impending doom wouldn’t go away.
Katia tried to brush off the strange feeling, to rationalize it away.
Unfortunately, she’d learned the hard way to listen to her instincts. The hairs on the back of her neck standing up told her that something was very, very wrong.
But as she looked across the table at Natalie and Hayden, she knew that her two friends were happy – and they deserved that. For so long, they had struggled – Hayden to keep her business solvent and Natalie with raising a son as a single mother. Arianna, Hayden’s business manager, had improved the bottom line for Hayden’s garden nursery and Alejandro’s father had come back into Natalie’s life, easing the burden of raising a child alone.
Happy and healthy and so madly in love that it actually made her stomach hurt, watching them. Katia tried to tamp down the jealousy she felt, genuinely happy for her friends. But…it was hard. The two of them looked like they walked on cloud nine most of the time.
While Katia…she couldn’t seem to push away the feeling that something bad was about to happen. Something…sinister and scary!
“Kate, are you sure you’re okay? Is there something else bothering you, other just a delayed milk shipment?” Hayden asked suspiciously.
Katia forced a smile, trying to keep her calm mask intact. Hayden was one of her best friends and was obviously concerned. Katia knew that, if she didn’t convince Hayden that she was okay, Natalie and Arianna, who had bowed out of the coffee meeting but was the fourth member of their close-knit friend group, wouldn’t believe her assurances either. The three of them would demand to know what was going on and how they could fix whatever was wrong in Katia’s life.
“I’m fine!” she replied, but once again, the assurance sounded false. “Have either of you spoken to Arianna? I tried calling her last night, but she didn’t answer her phone.” She rubbed her finger against the outside of her cup again, trying to distract her friends. They couldn’t know…they could never know! For their own safety, Katia knew she had to keep her precious friends in the dark about…what was out there.
Hayden accepted the change of subject. “Some guy showed up at the garden center yesterday and Arianna got all huffy. There was a bit of a tense moment before the guy left, sort of bowing, which was strange. Then she called in sick today. When I called her, she sounded all sniffly. I made her some soup, but I haven’t brought it over to her house yet.”
“Who was the guy?” Natalie asked, both of them leaning closer in curiosity.
“No idea. And when I asked her about it, Arianna said something about ‘men who thought they were…’” Hayden stopped, shaking her head. “I’m not exactly sure. She was muttering and irritated, but wouldn’t explain. Every time I asked, she started talking about business, sales, and payroll issues, so I stopped asking.”
Katia sighed, rubbing her forehead. Maybe that was what she was feeling. If Arianna was sick…could that explain this sense of doom that seemed to be lingering over her? “Are you sure she was just sick? I saw her arguing with a guy in a dark suit about a month ago as well. It was strange, but when I asked her about it over coffee that day, Arianna changed the subject that time too,” Katia explained.
Hayden gasped suddenly, sitting up straight. “You changed the subject!” she accused, pointing a finger in Katia’s direction. “Kate! What’s going on?”
Natalie’s eyes narrowed on her friend. “Hayden is right,” she said softly. “Something is definitely wrong.” Leaning forward, she placed a hand on Katia’s. “Tell us what’s going on. You know that we can help you.”
Katia shivered, but curled her fingers into a fist. “I’m fine,” she whispered, trying to pretend as if she really was okay. These two ladies had befriended her when she’d been at her lowest. She’d been terrified and she cherished their presence in her life. Even Arianna, the latest of their little group, was a sweet, wonderful addition that they never knew they needed. And Arianna seemed like a kindred soul to Katia. There was something about Arianna that Katia understood. Almost as if Arianna was looking over her shoulder as well. Hearing that two men in dark suits had approached her made Katia wonder if Arianna was in a similar situation.
Another customer came in and Katia stood up, wiping her hands on her apron. “Duty calls,” she joked, but she was actually relieved to have a distraction. She loved Hayden, Arianna, and Natalie, but she couldn’t involve them in her troubles. It would just put them in danger and that was something she refused to do. It was dangerous enough that she was friends with them. If there was one thing she’d learned over the years, it was never to make friends. They’d either get hurt or she’d have to leave them without any word.
Damn her father! Damn him and his pathetic, criminal, egomaniacal, rapacious, repugnant criminal businesses! She wished the police would figure out a way to get to him, to put her father in prison where he belonged. But so far, the man had escaped arrest. Not because he was smart, but because he got rid of anyone that might have evidence against him. He was a brutal man without a conscience.
Pushing her father’s crimes out of her mind, as well as the sense that she was being watched or that something horrible was about to happen, she focused on her friends and the few customers that trickled in now that the heavy morning customer rush had ended.
She served the latest customers, then sat back down with Natalie and Hayden, relieved that they were no longer focused on her, but talking about Alejandro’s new school and something having to do with snakes and snake venom. Yuck!
They chatted for about a half hour until Natalie needed to head off to a meeting and Hayden went back to her garden center. For another hour, Katia focused on her own business, smiling at each of the customers as the lunchtime rush moved through. “What can I get for you?” she asked the current customer, but nothing could completely obliterate her concern for Arianna’s absence or the sense of something bad in the wind, something that would take her nice little world away.
Usually, the four of them met early once a week at her shop for coffee or tea before heading off to work. As she handed the next customer her coffee and scone, Katia made a decision. Focusing on her concern for Arianna instead of that indefinable dread, she decided to head over to Arianna’s apartment, bring her some of the day’s muffins and make sure that she was okay. Then she’d call Nat and Hayden to give them the scoop.
A little bit later, the rush was over and the remaining customers were settled by the windows with their lattes and pastries while she finished cleaning up. Looking around, Katia had a spurt of pride in the small, cozy café with the warm colors and mismatched tables that added to the casual atmosphere. It was a good feeling to know that she’d created this, that she’d built all of this by herself and used the money she earned with this and a few other businesses she’d created over the years since she’d escaped from her father’s home to spite him. It was a small effort, and the man probably knew nothing about what she was doing, but it still gave her a spark of happiness every time she thought about her machinations.
If he ever found out though…Katia shivered, not wanting to think about his fury if he discovered what she’d been doing to him.
Hayden waved to her from the street as she passed by, obviously having come back into town for some reason. A shot of jealousy hit her as she watched Hayden lift her face for a kiss from her handsome husband. Viktor Chekno was tall, handsome, and so incredibly sweet when he laid a tender hand on his wife’s swollen belly. It made her heart ache, knowing that she’d never have that.
Katia knew she should snap out of this…whatever it was. But the sense of doom still hovered over her. Stepping into the back for a small break, she looked in the mirror and sighed, trying to decide if it was time to leave town again or just figure out what was going on. Her normal routine when she felt this odd sensation was to run. To find another small town where she could hide. Over the past several years, she’d lived in ten different cities, both big and small. But…she’d made friends here. For the first time since sneaking out of Russia, she had a life! Besides, Katia was worried about Arianna. It wasn’t like her friend to call in sick. Arianna loved her job, loved working with Hayden, and…well, she never missed their weekly coffee chats either.
Turning away from the sight of her pale features in the mirror, she shook her head as she adjusted her dark hair in the band holding it on top of her head, out of the way. Dark hair and dark eyes…everything still the same. She’d lost weight, which is why her eyes might appear a bit larger than normal, but Katia didn’t always have time to eat and she preferred to save her money for other things…like survival.
Katia was just about to step back out into the main area of her coffee shop when she spotted Hayden again and stopped. Taking several deep breaths, she tried to stop herself from bursting into tears. This jealousy was…it was wrong! She was happy that Natalie and Hayden had found their husbands, had found happiness. Just because she’d never have that family, that sense of security, didn’t mean she wasn’t still thrilled that her friends had found true love.
But…Katia wanted that happiness. She wanted children and a husband, the love and the romance. She wanted to look into a man’s eyes and know that he loved her unconditionally.
Darn it, she’d settle for not having to look over her shoulder any longer.
Wiping her cheeks, she took several deep breaths, trying to pull herself together. She wasn’t under her father’s thumb any longer. She was done. Free.
Sort of.
Free enough, she told herself, thinking of her mother who was still stuck with her abusive husband.
This life…her coffee shop and other small businesses, plus her friends…this was good enough.
When she stepped into the main shop area again, she breathed a sigh of relief. Hayden had moved off, her husband taking her to…well, wherever it was that sweet, wonderful, romantic husbands like Viktor and Javier took their wives and children.
Katia wouldn’t know.
The bell over the door jingled again just as she was pulling cream out of the fridge to fill up the dispensers. She set it on the counter before turning to greet the latest customer.
“He…” the greeting froze in her throat as she stared up at the man. The dark hair, the crystal blue eyes, the intense stare…it was all there and the hairs on the back of her neck weren’t just standing on edge, they were dancing a jig in warning.
Too late, she thought as she glanced at the door. There was no way she could get out of here without the man stopping her.
Slowly, he approached the counter, his broad shoulders and dangerous look telling her that she was in more trouble than she’d ever been in before. “Hello Katia,” his deep voice sent a chill down her spine.
Her whole body went cold. Katia. Not Kate. Everyone in Lisdeer, Virginia knew her as Kate. Her whole body felt as if she wanted to just scream with anger at the unfairness of this life. And it was all because her father had forced it on her. His evil, manipulative, abusive personality couldn’t stand that his daughter had slipped from his clutches!
This was it. This was the end! He’d found her! Her father had sent one of his goons and now, because she hadn’t listened to that warning earlier this morning, she was going to die. She hadn’t heard from her mother in months, and now it was her turn.
Swallowing past the lump in her throat, she glared defiantly back at him. “Are you going to kill me?” she whispered. She glanced over at the customers sitting innocently by the window. They didn’t need to be hurt because of her father’s rapacious need for more money, more control, and more power. She knew the kind, elderly ladies who were sipping tea. They knitted blankets for every new baby that was born in the small town. They also played bingo every Thursday night and baked cookies for the high school bake sale.
She felt hot then cold, her body trying to react. But she was frozen. “Couldn’t you…”
The man’s cold eyes continued to bore into her and Katia noticed a harsh scar that slashed across his cheek, making him appear more dangerous. More deadly.
“I’m not here to kill you, Katia.”
She stared into those emotionless, blue eyes, her whole body trembling. “What are you going to do to me?” she asked, not sure she wanted to know the answer. Even as she stood there, she wondered if this man had stationed someone at the back door. Maybe if she moved quickly enough…?
His smile was just as cold. The devil probably smiled like that, frigid and unfeeling. Katia wondered if she was going to find out in the next few minutes.
“I’m not going to kill you, Katia. I want to marry you.”