“Put this on.” He leans past me to snag a gym bag with a hooded sweatshirt and tosses it my way. “You can shower and get clean for real when we get there.”
“Um, where is ‘there’? You know you don’t need to take us anywhere, right? You can just let us go home. I won’t say anything about any of this.”
My promise might as well be spoken to a brick wall, for all the consideration he gives it. He just shoves the collection of used wipes into a bag labeled ‘discard’ and leads me by the hand to the back seat door opposite Dru.
“Figure you’ll want to sit in back with the girl since I don’t have one of those kid car cage things.” His dark eyes flash with annoyance when he realizes he has no idea what to call a car seat.
The tiny hint of imperfection in his otherwise robot-like demeanor humanizes him just enough to settle some of my anxiety. I’m pretty sure the events of the night have me in shock because why else would I be looking at him with anything less than revulsion?
They killed that dude right in front of us, and I know the other guy won’t be alive much longer either, if he even still is. That should have me grabbing for Dru and making a run for it, dialing nine-one-one along the way.
“Seriously, where are you taking us?” It’s the not knowing that stresses me out. It’s long past Dru’s bedtime. And if there’s one thing nobody needs, it’s Dru when she’s overtired and outside of her routine.
“Someplace safe,” is all he says.
“Okay, well, your opinion of safe and mine are probably not the same considering…” I peek at Dru to see how much attention she’s paying. She’s dialed in. Because of course she is.“…you know.” I wave my hand toward the diner, unwilling to say more while she’s obviously listening.
“What I know is, I want you two in a place I’m sure is secure until I know exactly what that was all about,” he says with a finality that makes it clear he’s not negotiating.
“And you just magically have all the things two girls will need for the night at this mystery place where we’re going?” Maybe, I should be more grateful, but I didn’t ask to be in this situation, and I didn’t ask to be rescued like some damsel in distress.
The danger is over. The scary guys are dead. Now, I just want to lock my daughter and me away in our apartment and have the adrenaline crash I’ve earned. That doesn’t seem like an unreasonable expectation to have.
He opens the center console to pull out a small notepad and pen before handing them back to me. He didn’t even had to rummage around for them. Seriously, who has this much organization in their cars? Psychopaths. That’s who. A shiver of foreboding ripples through me at the thought. No one knows where we are, aside from Petal, and to be fair, she’s not exactly in a great position to ride to our rescue if necessary.
“Make a list. Whatever you need will be provided. I will see to it.” His jaw ticks with determination in the blue glow of his dashboard lights.
“I need a lot of things I don’t think I’ll get from you, dude. Like a name. You haven’t even told me who you are. Or why I should trust you. Besides, that was just some random j-u-n-k-i-e-s doing a-d-d-i-c-t stuff and you know it,” I argue.
And yes, I spell out the words because I don’t want to draw Dru’s attention to that shit. She’s too young to know about drug abuse and how dangerous people can be when they’re in the grips of addiction. I want her to experience the kind of happy childhood I never got the chance to have.
“Until I’m sure of that, I will not risk your safety. Or hers. And my name’s Feliks. Feliks Rykov.” He tacks his last name on as an afterthought.
I’ve never known anyone named Feliks. It sounds really sexy bitten out in that clipped way he enunciates his words. And on that absurd thought, I set my brain to thinking about the things Dru and I will need if we’ll be away from home for a night. A thought occurs to me, and I tumble through everything he’s said so far.
“Wait, how long are you planning to keep us?” I demand. The automatic locks engage with a snick as the SUV pulls smoothly onto the deserted street. His eyes meet mine briefly in the rearview mirror before he returns his attention to the road ahead.
He doesn’t answer my question. Less than an hour in his presence, and I’d somehow already guessed that’s how it would be. I’m not sure who he really is, or where he came from, but it’s obvious he’s the kind of man who likes to be in control.
Right now, he might have the upper hand. He might be the one in charge given the absolute chaos that’s happened tonight. But we’ll see how long it takes for him to realize Hollis McCrae isn’t a woman who lets a man control her for long. And then? We’ll see who is in the driver’s seat for real.
Chapter
Five
Feliks
I never answered her question. How long am I keeping her and the kid? It makes no sense, not even in my own head, but the answer is, I’m not giving her up. She belongs to me, and so does her little girl. From the moment I laid eyes on her, through the plate glass window of that dingy diner, the certainty of it snapped into place.
When Zinovy lost his mind and fell for that Petal girl, I was fully confident I’d never be such a weak mess, running around putting everything on the line for a woman who didn’t even know he existed. Now, I’ve got a woman and child I damn near kidnapped upstairs in my house and no real idea how I got to this point.
Sin- Alevtina is my employee. Not your errand runner. Get someone else to fetch your list of shit. You dumb mudak.
Dumb asshole? I’m a dumb asshole? Sanctimonious prick thinks just because he had a head start in the ‘obsessed with a woman’ race he can cockblock me. He would have shot himself in the foot and been a pennilessduraka hundred times over were it not for me.
Me- Next time your investments are at risk, I am going to watch your portfolio crumble. I will curse you with poverty, brother.
Sin- You are lucky my Petal cares for your woman. I would not like her to worry that her friend is doing without. I will send Alevtina to help you. One time.
