“Mr. Giordano… please, wake up. I don’t have much time.”
I will my eyes to open and take a deep breath. I peer over to the set of familiar brown eyes and see Alice for the first time without a mask. Wearing a maid’s uniform. There’s a stack of linens on the corner of my bed.
“Did you see her?”
She nods. “She gave me something to give to you. Said it would be important in order for her to get to you anywhere.”
“How did she look?” I croak. She knows I live for news of my wife. “Are they treating her well? Not being… forced to do things? Are they feeding her?”
“Sit up. I brought a few supplies. I need to get this in you before they do their rounds. Please,” she says in a rush, eyes a bit panicked.
I do as I'm told and sit up. A chill goes down my spine when I feel the cold swipe of an isopropyl alcohol pad on my fucked shoulder. I then hiss when it feels like I've been stung by a wasp. She puts something else on me that I think is a band-aid. “The fuck is that?”
“Your wife said it’s a bio chip. She’s fine. She looks sickly, though. I’m not sure if she’s usually that pale or not, but she was in bed when I took her tea so I could tell her you’re here and give her directions on how to find you.”
My heart contracts again, beating erratically. “How many guards are in the halls?”
“Six.”
“And the rest?” I implore, already trying to calculate just how the fuck to get out of here and how many motherfuckers I need to kill on my way out.
“Twenty.”
Fuck. “And the cameras?”
“They’re back up and running, but there’s one in every corner of the corridor. I have to go now. The guards will begin to wonder why I’ve been in here so long. Get some rest. You're going to need it.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Parker.
“What’s wrong with him?” I question Aleksi, using my head to point in Niko’s direction, who’s currently staring at his phone groaning like he’s gonna be sick.
Aleksi chuckles. “He’s loooovvve sick.”
I quirk a scarred brow and let my head fall back to look at the young giant.
“Few weeks ago Niko was out by Boston on a lead for the rest of the Rogue Bear idiots trying to percolate the clubs. But he ended up in a weird standoff with one of them in an alleyway behind Inferno and… well, you ever seen Nikolai in action?”
I shake my head.
Aleksi’s eyes darken and there’s an edge to his voice as he lowers it. “Let’s just say… Niko likes red. Anyway, he’s fists deep in this guy's viscera, and he hears a little squeak, looks over… it’s a woman holding a trash bag that had gone to throw it out and saw everything.”
“Oh shit?”
“Yup… she ran away before he could get to her cause he was still busy with the uhhh…”
“Viscera,” I interject when he trails off.
Aleksi snorts. “Exactly. Well, he figured her out. Followed her around for a bit. Found out where she moved to, her new job, broke into her new place when she moved, and had cameras put up everywhere. Now he’s watching her all the time. Not really doing much of anything but keeping a close eye on her, really. Make sure she ain’t talking. He won’t admit it, but he's gotten obsessed. I catch him just watching her with a smile on his face when he thinks no one is watching. It’s cute.” He whistles lowly at him. “Ey, Niko. How’s she doin’?”
“She’s got some fucker at her apartment.” Niko growls, getting up and paces the library like a nervous animal, mumbling to his phone like it’spersonally offended him. Then flings his phone at the wall, shattering it into a million pieces. His chilly blue eyes go wide. “OH FUCK! Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Aw, geez. Why did I fuckin’ do that?!” He marches toward it, hands visibly shaking. He bends forward to pick up whatever is left of his shattered phone. “Kristos, she’s driving me up the fuckin’ wall. First, she don’t talk to me. Now she’s got some mutherfucker—aw, Jesus, I’m going fuckin’ nuts over some broad that’s scared of me.” He clicks his tongue at the ruined phone, walks over, and throws it into the trash.
Shaking his head, Niko sits back on the small leather loveseat in the middle of the room, throwing his legs over the arm and laying down, fingers on his forehead, aggravatingly contemplating his entire existence. He throws his other hand up in the air and makes a swiping motion. “It’s fuckin’ fine. I’mfine. I don’t gotta watch her. I got shit I gotta do.”
Aleksi peeks over at me, clearly amused, lips rolled in, trying his damndest to hide his smile. I don’t know if Niko’s talking to us or himself at this point.
Niko sniffs, sits back up, lies down, then sits up again, putting his elbows on his knees, grimacing. If he wasn’t around me for the last few days, I’d swear he was going through withdrawals and aching for another fix. He scrubs his hand over his face, but more like he’s annoyed with himself. He lets out a frustrated groan, mutters something I can’t understand in Russian, swipes at his mouth, and then practically shouts at us. “Aleksi, you got an extra phone?”
