I can tell there’s more he’s not saying, so maybe an ex-girlfriend? I feel a little surge of something that’s not good. Jealousy perhaps? That’s ridiculous though.
He brings up a website for shopping and points for me to choose things.
“How will I pay?” I ask.
“You can pay me back when you get paid at the end the month.”
I step back. “I have clothes I already pay for. You can take me to get them.”
“Where are they?”
“I live with dancer. Perhaps my clothes are still there. Or maybe Egorov took them when he dragged me out. I do not know if she will be happy to see me. He was very horrible. As usual.” I shudder, remembering the way he hit her. “But I need my clothes, so I am not buying more for no reason. If you come, she will not refuse to give these clothes to me.”
“How much are you getting paid for this month?”
“A good amount. But some must go to other people, and the rest must last for much time.”
“How much money?”
“One hundred thousand American dollars. But I can only keep one half.”
“Who gets the other half?”
“This is not your business.”
“Not Egorov?”
“No!” I exhale. “To hell with him. He tricks me. Not one thing will ever go from my hand to Egorov’s. Unless it’s poison. This I will gladly pay him back with. I wonder what he puts on Vlad’s hand tape. Do you think it was a drug to make you sleepy? Or to make you die? And where in this country does he get such things?”
“That’s information you don’t need to have yet.”
“Until?”
“Until you’re not sleeping in my bed.”
I glance down the hall. “No. I do not sleep there. You gave me nice room. I will visit you, but not to live.”
“That’s not up to you.” He pushes me into the seat at the computer. “Order some clothes. I’m not running around town to collect your stuff.”
“All right, but only because she might call Egorov, and I do not want to give him the chance to take me. We’ll keep track of the amount, and I suppose I will pay you back.”
“So convincing,” he murmurs. “I won’t stake my life on that.”
White-hot anger sparks inside me. Life has been an unending string of disappointments lately, and I’m tired of it. “What? You just realize I am not lost Princess Anastasia, with lots of money to spare?” Pursing my lips, I shake my head. “I am locked in a cage, naked, for two days. Like animal. Do not dare talk to me as if to be poor and trapped is joke. It is not!”
His expression turns dark. “Lower your voice,” he says, his own voice gruff but quiet. “For your information, I know what struggle is like.”
“Oh, yes? You do?” I wave my hand dismissively and then gesture to his apartment. “With your marble and gold? Tell to me when you live in building with no heat, where walls are covered in ice. Tell when you live on broth for two days, and your stomach is so noisy it wakes you from sleep.” I shove my chair back from the desk. “My mind is changed. I will just wear this until I get my clothes I already have.” His hand reaches out, but I jerk back. “No, do not touch. Pets do not always want to be petted.”
We both know he could stop me, but he lets me storm away. I sit alone in the corner of the kitchen, on a small bench in a nook with a window. I look down at the street, working my lip with my teeth. Tears get in my eyes, which infuriates me. I rub and rub, trying to get them to go away. Finally they do.
Alexei comes into the kitchen, but I keep my back stubbornly turned away from him, even when I hear the water boiling on the stove.
“Come to the table.”
His voice doesn’t sound like he’ll let me ignore him. I stand and turn. There is a place set with tea and cake.
“You think you will make my mood happy with dessert?” I wrinkle my nose, but go to the chair. “Perhaps you are right.” I sit down and drink the tea. Then I take a bite of the soft yellow cake that has crunchy veins of nuts, cinnamon, and brown sugar in it. It’s very good. “Where is your cake?”
