21
TATI
The only clue I had to finding Viktor was what he said about meeting up with Teddy. I knew Teddy through Nicki, and while I’ve never actually been to any of their parties or been more than just casually acquainted with him, I’ve always known who he was. And more importantly, I know where his gang meets up.
My first stop, then, was to the clubhouse, which sits only a few minutes away from my father’s house. I got there in record time, flooring it all the way. The moment I walked through the doors, I felt out of my element. Several members of the gang looked up at me casually from their places around the bar and in the back at the pool table. The bartender was the first to ask, “You lost, honey?”
“I’m looking for Viktor?” I swallowed hard. My throat was as dry as the desert. “Viktor Morozov? He’s supposed to be meeting with Teddy.”
The bartender smiled as snickers from the others meandering around the bar rose up. “Sorry, but he’s not here. Maybe I cantake a message.” The one closest to him sitting at the bar spat out a short laugh.
I stiffened my stance and said, “Tell him Tatiana’s looking for him.” Then I added, “Aronin? As in Nikolai Aronin?”
Just like that, the tone changed around the room and the bartender’s smile dropped. “Right.” He cleared his throat and his face flushed. “Last I heard, Teddy was going to meet him at his place.”
Viktor’s apartment. A place I’ve only been once. “Thank you.” I pause for just a second, then I realize that the last thing I should be doing in my addled state is relying in my memory to find his apartment. “You wouldn’t happen to have an address, would you?”
He gave it to me, and now I’m on my way there. This whole way, I’ve been looking in the rearview, wondering how long it’s going to take Yanov and my father to get together and start looking for me.
I hope beyond hope that he doesn’t suspect me and Viktor. If he does, then his apartment is going to be the first place he looks.
Maybe I can convince Viktor to leave with me. I don’t know where the fuck we’ll go from there, but he’s got to have some better ideas than I do at the moment.
I get to his apartment and park Yanov’s car on the street. Then I grab the journal and dart across the street to the door of the apartment building.
The bartender said that he lived in on the fifth floor. I hope he’s here. I didn’t see his car, but there was a motorcycle out in front of the building. Maybe it’s Teddy’s. Maybe… maybe…
The elevator door slides open, and as I step out into the hallway, a dreadful feeling that I’m being watched suddenly surrounds me. Paranoia, maybe? Or maybe my instincts are trying to warn me.
I knock on the door and wait. Suddenly, I realize that my hands are shaking… and my legs… My eyes are starting to burn. If he doesn’t answer the door…
It opens, and he’s standing before me. A wash of relief comes over me the second I see him and a sob rises in my chest. I manage to get out, “I got it. I got the journal,” before the tears come.
He reaches out to me and pulls me inside, looking out into the hallway before closing the door behind me.
“He had it,” I tell him, trying to get the sobs under control. “Yanov had it in his car. I thought about it and I figured he would have it with him if he was going to talk to my father about me. I mean, just accusing me would be hard to do if he didn’t have evidence, so…” I stop my babbling the second I see Teddy standing in the living room.
Viktor just looks at him and says, “I’ll call you.”
Teddy nods and walks up to me. “Nice to see you, Tati.” Then he passes us by and leaves. I’m just standing there stunned for a second, my hands sweating. It’s not until Viktor takes me by the shoulders and leads me to the couch that I start to come back to myself.
“Did he hurt you?” he asks me, and it sounds like a ridiculous question in this moment. Didn’t he hear everything else I just said?
“Viktor, I got the journal,” I say, holding it up. “Who cares about that right now?”
“I do,” he says, his face hardening. “Did he hurt you?”
The coolness in his eyes sends a wave of calm over me. He’s just grabbed my focus with his voice.
I shake my head. “H–He tried, but… but I got away from him. I stole his car.”
His eyes widen slightly. “Okay,” he says. “Why don’t you go into the bathroom, wash your face, and get yourself together? Then we’ll talk about what’s next.”
“My father is going to be furious, Viktor,” I say, and the sobs bubble up again. “If he finds me here?—”
“Let me worry about that,” he says. “Go on and get yourself together.”
I stand up and walk away, down the hallway to the bathroom at the end. I get behind the closed door and take a breath. The moment I do, I break out in shivers and goosebumps from the top of my scalp to the soles of my feet. We’re in so deep. We’ll have to run. But where? I don’t have any money and we have no plan.Shit…
