After a week, Sean shows up at my house with Ann beside him. She has duct tape over her mouth and her hands are tied behind her back. The poor woman looks terrified. I don’t blame her.
“Hello,” I say, peeling her duct tape off.
“What is this?” she demands to know.
“It’s nothing personal. You’re just a means to an end.” I nod at Sean and he wraps a plastic bag over her head. Ann struggles and kicks and scratches but it’s no use. She’s not surviving tonight. Once she stops fighting, her body goes limp.
“Get her out of here,” I tell Sean. “Make it appear like she chose to leave the city. Do not let her body be found.”
“You got it, Boss.” Sean heads out with Ann’s body in tow to do as I said. A good loyal follower.
That’s what I need in a new housekeeper.
It’s not hard to find women in desperate need of a job to interview for the position. I just need to make sure that Dimitri hires the one I choose without questioning it.
I settle on the perfect woman: Alice. She’s in her forties, so still young enough to need a job but old enough that she has a trusting face.
“So, Alice,” I say after I invite her to my home. She was once a teacher who lost her job and is in desperate need of money. “You need a job, do you not?”
“Who are you, exactly?” she asks, looking around my living room. I had put an ad up on every job site and waited to see who would bite. Alice was the first one which tells me just how desperate she is. It wasn’t hard to look into her and have her come over to my home.
“I’m the one who’s going to make you a ton of money. I have a job for you. One of my colleagues is looking for a housekeeper and you’re going to have an interview for it. And you’re going to get that job like your life depends on it. Because it does depend on it. Is that clear?”
Her eyes widen and she slowly nods. I won’t actually kill the woman but a threat is a threat and she doesn’t know what I know.
“You’re going to get a job working for Dimitri Ivanov. And once you have that job, you’re going to do another favor for me.”
“Why would I do any of this in the first place?”
“Because I’ll pay you a lot of money to make this happen. How does a million dollars sound?”
All the breath leaves her body. “A million dollars sounds perfect. Too good to be true.”
“Because it is. The favor I need of you isn’t exactly… legal.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’ll tell you once you get the job. But if you agree to do this, then there’s no going back. Or I won’t just take your money away. I’ll take your life away. Is that understood?”
She gulps. “Yes.”
“Good. So get the job, Alice. Get the job.”
She agrees to do as I say and practically runs from my house. After she gets the job, I’ll explain to her what else I need. How I need her to find Dimitri’s elusive sister and kidnap her for me. Dimitri won’t suspect his own housekeeper.
Alice will have to gain Dimitri’s sister’s trust to get her to leave but I have faith in Alice because Alice is desperate enough for money to do anything I ask of her.
The more I think about Dimitri’s sister, the more I realize I don’t even know anything about her. Well that will be changed soon enough.
When she becomes my prisoner. When I have beaten Dimitri down and I have won.
Chapter Two
Katya
It’s Sofiya’s turn to try and get me out of my room.
“Please, Katya,” she says from the doorway. That’s the thing I’ve always noticed about my sister-in-law: she’s been afraid to come inside from the first time she found me in here. It’s like she’s worried she’s going to get locked away. I’m not fully sure the relationship she has with my brother but I do know that it’s unconventional. He likes to be stern with her. Discipline her in ways I’m not completely aware of. But I’m aware of something going on. I never ask questions though. It’s not my place. I’d rather focus on my own self than deal with my brother’s marriage.
