“You won’t let them because that was our deal.” And Glass is a man of his word, or he’d be dead long ago. Agents who approach people like me have done this before and survived. Besides, I know his brother, and blood is not water.
He hands me my rifle. “Don’t forget that Ivan is mine.”
We’ll see.
Chapter 36
Hellbringer
Dina
Waking up from being drugged feels like swimming in mud. If my head wasn’t hurting before, a headache pounds in my temples now, making my entire scalp contract. I feel like I’ve been hit by a ton of bricks. Given the fact that the ceiling and the walls of my hair salon collapsed on me, the saying isn’t too far from reality.
I lick my dry lips and rub my eyes.
Something scratches my cheek. It’s the IV port they moved from the crease of my elbow to the top of my arm. Thankfully. Now I can move my hand better.
“Hey,” Sergei says.
Unease that he’s at my bedside tickles at the center of my chest. Anxiety. I recall what happened before the nurse put me out like a stray cat who tried to claw its way out of a box. Sergei is still here because the chief of police asked him to babysit me. I’m sure he’s annoyed that he’s having to babysit me, and I worry he’ll actually follow through on the threat he made.
I remember he said he’d suffocate me with a pillow.
Sergei has places to be and people to see. Also, he’s a smoker, and I bet the nicotine deprivation is making him antsy. He’s been sitting here for a while.
I hope he got a puff or two in while I slept, but I doubt it since I assume the police are stationed at my door to ensure I stay inside and also to make sure he’s complying with the chief’s request.
“What time is it?” I ask.
He tells me the time.
“You’ve been here all day,” I say.
He grunts.
“We haven’t spent this much time together in…maybe never.”
“Thank God,” he says.
I smile. “I’m not going anywhere, Sergei.”Go grab a cup of coffee and a cigarette.
He shows me his teeth. “That’s up to me.”
“What do you mean?” I look more closely at him. Strands of hair stick out every which way. It tells me he’s run his hand through his hair multiple times.
He puts his phone away, and we look at each other. Really look at each other. Is this the guy I spent half my life with? What the hell was wrong with me? Is whatever was wrong with me still wrong with me?
“You could join the departed any time you fall asleep. Nobody would know.”
“My nurse would.”
“She’ll be next.”
“You’re a bad man.”
“You were married to me for nearly two decades. What’s that say about you?”
“Touché.”
