Returning her would only be a short-term solution. It might put out a few fires that raged right now and gain me some favor, if I survived the transaction, but it wasn’t the magic bullet Luigi and his gang thought it would be. And the part that had me really dragging my feet on making that decision?
I’d have to give her up. And that just wasn’t happening.
I looked out the window since I had failed to pull the curtains shut, hoping for some inspiration. Maybe make a wish on a falling star. An obnoxious, dull haze slowly turned the sky outside from pitch-black to a murky predawn. After spending more than three hours with Lilia after dinner, I spent the rest of the night hashing over what to do with her. What I wanted was off the table. What I should have done wasn’t going to happen. Now the day crept up on me with all its responsibilities and new decisions, and I didn’t get a wink of sleep.
I still wanted the problematic woman, resting peacefully alone in her own bed. It was clear to me that simply returning her would gain me nothing in the long run, and I’d lose her on top of it. I didn’t like losing what was mine. The longer I kepther hidden away, the more antsy Luigi and his crew would get, demanding action and wreaking more havoc.
Maybe Lilia was right about bringing the rope to them and wrapping it around their necks. That was a nice, relaxing thought until my phone rang shrilly from the bedside table. Ah, just as I was thinking about the even bigger thorn in my side, he called.
I answered pleasantly enough, just because it would needle him more than letting him know my true feelings, which were that I’d happily end him now if he didn’t have so many of our men on his side. A major coup was the last thing I needed, and if the Petrovs somehow got word their cousin was with one of us, we’d need to maintain a united front in the face of their wrath.
“I didn’t expect to hear from you so soon,” I said.
Luigi sputtered about the guy I killed—was that only yesterday? “Is that little tart really worth it?”
“Be careful. You’re speaking about my wife, remember.”
He laughed bitterly, and I could picture his face turning purple with rage that I was still spoiling his fun. “Don’t think for a minute I believe that shit you tried to sell me about marrying her. You’d have to be fucking insane.”
I actually somewhat agreed with him on that. “I sent the necessary proof with Meathead,” I told him, still maintaining calm, though the image of the rope around his neck seemed better and better. “The marriage is legal.”
“So that’s it, then?” Luigi whined. “I pull off the steal of the century, and you’re just going to live in marital bliss with our best chess piece?”
That didn’t sound too bad, actually, with last night still fresh on my mind. What was I thinking? Lilia despised me. She might be able to hide it for a few hours to save her own hide, but she probably scrubbed the feel of my hands off her body as soon as I left her on her own. That image stung, and I shoved it aside, replacing it with anger at Luigi.
“I’ve thought this through. We’re not rushing into anything.”
He hissed into the phone, and I could hear him slam something down onto a hard surface. Maybe he just burned himself with hot coffee. I could hope.
“Still waiting,” he said. “You’ll never stop waiting. I say we either sell her to the highest bidder, turn her family against them, and use the distraction to bring them down.”
My fist curled around the phone. “The same way we brought them down during your last brilliant distraction?” I asked. My voice might have been calm and cold as ice, but I was boiling inside. “Or the time before that? Kidnapping their family members has done nothing but lose us men. And money.” Based on the caliber of men, the money was more important.
“Then I’ll think of something else,” he said, recognizing the quiet fury in my voice and backing down a bit. “You know as well as I do that we need to get this done, sooner rather than later.”
“When you have a more solid plan for what to do with her, and how to deal with her family, I’ll hear you out,” I said as a concession, all while not meaning a word. “Don’t hurt yourself, though.” I ended the call.
I was appeasing him as much as he was appeasing me, all while plotting the other’s demise. It was a precarious position to be in, but for the moment, I wasn’t the least worried aboutmyself. That was all for Lilia. My first priority was to keep her safe; it was a damn shame it was from my own people.
It didn’t matter if it was the entire world trying to take her from me, for whatever reason. No one took what was mine, and shewasmine. Soon enough, she would know it.
Chapter 15 - Lilia
I could barely sleep, tossing and turning and unable to stop thinking about that kiss. It was more fiery than the first one, and even the fear I felt as Gavril dragged me upstairs couldn’t blot it out. It was barely dawn when I gave up trying to sleep and got dressed in one of the new outfits in the closet.
I tried to pick the least expensive thing, but for all I knew, the simple jeans and sweatshirt could have gone for the price of a used car. My door wasn’t locked, and it appeared that no one was lurking in the hall to keep me in my room. Since I was allowed to go down to the library the day before, I decided to head that way now.
There was absolutely no way of escaping this opulent fortress, so that wasn’t on my mind. However, there was a chance I might find a phone or a computer to get a message out to my family. And snooping around was something I liked to do, starting from when I was a little kid and obsessed with detective stories. I wanted to be like the intrepid sleuths in those books, and my family never lacked secrets I wasn’t supposed to know.
Sometimes I found out things I wished I hadn’t, which was what made me back off from snooping, but now this was life or death. Funny how I wasn’t so afraid last night when Gavril’s hands were all over me. Not scared at all.
And that was foolish.
No one stopped me when I left my room, and I peeked into the other bedrooms on the floor whose doors were ajar. They were only guest rooms, not quite as lovely as the one I’d been consigned to, but still very beautifully decorated.
Don’t start thinking you’re special just because he put you in the best room.
He also married me. To keep me safe, like he purported, or to better use me as a pawn? And really, why did I care? Right now, I had one objective. Not be here long enough to find out his true reasons.
