It was the normality. People with regular lives, with wives and husbands and kids. Guys buying lingerie for their girlfriends. Fathers buying toys for their kids.
I wanted a taste of that. Maybe, unconsciously, I always had. The Bratva, building the Aristov empire, everything I’d poured my soul into for years...it wasn’t enough anymore. I wanted more. I wantedher.
But, God, how was that going to work?! She was a cop, at heart. A good person. Becoming part of our world would taint her, corrupt her...and even if she was willing to go through that change, I wasn’t sure I wanted her to. Her goodness was one of the things I adored about her.Blyat’,I just wanted to lock her in a room in my mansion,away from all harm...except she’d karate kick me in the balls, if I tried it. I closed my tired eyes for a second and rubbed at them. This relationship stuff was complicated.
Time to get going.I took a sip of my coffee, steeling myself, opened my eyes and?—
On the other side of the food court was a face I recognized. It was impossible. But it was him.
“Hello, Gennadiy,” said Viktor Grushin.
44
ALISON
I figuredthe FBI would be tapping my phone by now, so I used a burner phone to call Calahan. That meant that I must have come up asUnknown Calleron his screen, but he still answered with a frantic, “Alison?!“
My stomach lurched. Time had sort of gotten away from me since I went on the run. It had been almost two days. “Yep,” I said guiltily. “I’m okay.”
Calahan gave a groan of relief, and I heard him yell to Yolanda thatshe’s okay.Then he tore into me, which, to be fair, I deserved. “Where have you been?!” he yelled. “You couldn’t havecalled?I thought you weredead!”
“Sorr—” I started, but he wasn’t done.
“There was a car chase through the middle of Chicago, a BMW got swiss-cheesed, the FBI arestillpicking through the scene, a woman with dark hair was seen riding off on a motorcycle, I was hoping it was you, but I didn’t know?—”
I tried to get a word in. “I?—”
“The FBI has been all over me, but I told them you hadn’t contacted me. Except in this case, it wasactually truebecause you couldn’t be bothered topick up the phone!”
Calahan finally finished his rant and panted for breath. And I closed my eyes, chastened. He’d always been protective of me and I’d left him terrified because I’d been too busy solving the mystery, as always.Solving the mystery...and fucking Gennadiy.I winced. “I’m sorry, Sam. I should have called.”
“You think?!”But I could hear that he was simmering down, and I knew the anger was just because he cared. He sighed. “What the hell is going on, Alison?”
I looked around. I was standing in the living room, right where Gennadiy and I had kissed for the first time. “A lot’s happened,” I admitted. I took a deep breath and moved outside, into the mansion’s gardens. Wandering across the manicured lawns, I told him everything, from the night I’d confronted Gennadiy about burning down the theater all the way up to now.
There was a long, slow rasping. I imagined Calahan rubbing his stubble. “You fell for him?” he asked disbelievingly.
I opened and closed my mouth a few times. “Not all at once. It took months. It sort of...snuck up on me.”
“Alison, the man’s a killer. How many guys has he killed, now?”
One more, as of last night,I thought.To protect me. “A lot,” I admitted.
“And from what I hear, he’s getting worse,” said Calahan. “He’s out of control.”
He sounded just like me when I’d been convincing my boss to let me go after Gennadiy. I closed my eyes. So much had changed in the last few months. “He’s not just some monster,” I muttered. “He’s…” I sighed. “I think there are reasons he is how he is. Maybe I can…”
“Change him?” asked Calahan.
I closed my eyes and said nothing. I knew how it sounded.
“I don’t want to fight,” Calahan told me. “And I’m not here to lecture you. I just want you to be safe.”
“I know. Thanks.” I meant it.
“How can I help?” asked Calahan.
I looked at the piece of paper that held Grushin’s phone number. “I have something I could use Yolanda’s help with…”
