Very interesting.I lift my brows. “My father is not known for mercy.”
“It wasn’t mercy. Alexei was shot in public, in clear sight. There wasn’t time to finish him off.”
I cross my arms thoughtfully. “And your brother is not feeling so talkative after taking a bullet in the spine?”
“He’s unconscious.”
“Well, that is not very helpful.”
Sacha bristles, fingers twitching for the gun under his arm, but this time he manages to stay down. I give him a cool, satisfied smile and the massive line of his shoulders stiffens.
Maxim looks out the window. “He may not ever wake. Which is why we need you. Your inside knowledge. Your accessibility.”
“Accessibility?” I laugh, gesturing broadly to the room. “And what accessibility is that?”
“You are a hacker,” growls Sacha. “You do not need to leave the compound to find answers. You find out what your father is up to, where he is weak, where we can strike. And we will strike.”
I regard the pair of them with new eyes. They’re not educated like me. They don’t possess the skills I’ve acquired, or the brain for tech I’ve always had. If I could get a computer in here—well, it’d practically be an open door. It’d be a simple thing to formulate an escape or a rescue. I could be returned, unscathed and untouched, to my children, my precious little girls. To the life I had before this.
No. That life will never be mine again.Seattle, the job, the little house with its photos. But I’ve started from nothing before. I can do it again. All I have to do is convince these men I will help them—and they will help me slip free.
But if I give in easily, no doubt they’ll guess my intentions. I have to play this game. Luckily, I’m quite familiar with it. “And what would I get in return, for helping you overthrow my father and get your revenge?”
“Your fucking life,” says Sacha, voice low and spoken through gritted teeth.
“Ah, but. In here my life is not so valuable, is it? You benefit from my life and death, so it seems only right I secure my own interests, no?” I twist a strand of hair around my finger, feigning deep thought. “And to risk my life by betraying my father…” I cluck my tongue. “The price will be high indeed.”
“You are not in a position to negotiate,” says Sacha sharply.
“And you are a glorified guard dog,” I reply. “Clearly with the intelligence of one.”
He lunges, meaty fist catching me around the throat. He drags me from the bed, slamming me unceremoniously against the beautiful, white and gilded bureau beside it. Fine china—a hummingbird on a stand, a delicate rose and stem the color of fresh cream, a little doll with satin clothes—fall and shatter on the tiled floor.
“We should kill you now,” Sacha snarls, jamming the barrel of his pistol bitingly against my ribs. “Leave your body in the street as he left Alexei’s.”
Even if I had a witty reply, I couldn’t speak it. His grip reduces my voice to ragged, scraping breaths. I attempt to pull his hand free with both of mine, my strength pitiful and futile against his, a bird fighting a bear.
“Enough,” says Maxim, his voice suddenly low and deep, nearly a growl. “Sacha. Leave us.”
Sacha tightens his grip for the briefest instant, the force enough to spangle my vision with white glitter, then slams me against the bureau. I collapse pathetically on the carpet, half-gasping, half-coughing. My body is so weak I can’t even sit up, my face full of blood and throbbing. Distantly, I hear the doors slam.
Maxim kneels before me, touching my elbow delicately. “He’s angry.”
I use what little strength I have to swing for Maxim, palm cracking hard against his cheek. The sound echoes once off the high ceiling, then we are steeped in silence.
Then, “What do you need?”
I glare at Maxim, his cold, handsome, impassive face. His hardened eyes. My throat feels swollen, my heart raging against my ribs. I grip the bureau and drag myself to my feet, careful of the shattered porcelain that surrounds me.
“A computer,” I wheeze, sinking slowly onto the bed. I prod my throat with ginger fingers. “Something fast and new, with a few monitors. Internet. And money. For programs and equipment. Encryptions, firewalls, VPNs.” I wave, hoping the words perplex him, give him an impression how far over his head this work will be.
“You’ll have it.”
A knock sounds at the door. I don’t have to look to know the soft, polite silence is emanating from Lilly.
“Yes?” Maxim prompts.
Lilly replies, voice slightly tinny, “Her bath.”
