Page 48 of Lilies from Hell

“What have you done?” I ask, getting up from my chair and motioning to Lance.

“I’ll tell you later,” she says, not giving me time to put down the five-hundred-dollar bill before she’s gone.

Once we’re in the car and Lance is in the driver’s seat, she leans over and whispers in my ear.

“I managed to get his wallet and cell phone, don’t ask how. Now at least we have clues to investigate.”

“What? Are you going crazy?” I reply in a muffled shout, forcing a smile when Lance looks at us sideways in the rearview mirror.

“Do you have a better idea? Look, if it turns out to be a nobody, the man will think it was just a simple robbery. And if it’s someone dangerous, by the time he wants to hurt us, we’ll have already hurt him,” her words sound so convincing that for a moment I believe her.

For a moment.

When we get to her house and Lance left with the promise of coming back for me in the morning, we go to her room and start inspecting the man’s belongings, finding an ID.

“Sergei,” Grace scoffs beside me with a mocking smile. “What a horrible name.”

17

“Okay, I give up. I have no fucking idea who this guy may be,” Grace says in a defeated tone. “What if we ask someone for help?” Her eyes sparkle with another of her magnificent ideas.

“Who?” Her gaze is all I need to know who she’s referring to. “No.”

“Why not? He’s dying to sink his teeth into you, he won’t hesitate for a second to help us.”

He’s dying to fuck me and then push me aside again. I want to correct her, but I just shake my head and bite my lower lip.

“I don’t even know him well enough to ask him for this kind of favor.” She lets out a weary snort. Then sits down next to me and looks at me with those brown eyes.

“We won’t get anywhere on our own, we’d better talk to him. At least to find out if this Sergei guy works for him or one of his friends. With that clue, we’ll know how to proceed.” I purse my lips and look away.

With how nosy he is, he will want to find out every little thing that happened between me and that man. I don’t feel like explaining what happened to anyone. My fingers move on their own when I hold my phone in my hands and my heart starts beating faster. I want to think it’s because of the adrenaline and not because I’m using this chance to hear his voice again. Admitting that I miss him is more painful than remembering our nights together.

Denis lets out a loud laugh catching Sergei’s attention, who gives him an angry look before resuming his pacing around the room.

“I swear I’m going to kill them,” he mutters through clenched teeth, his fists balled tight.

“You won’t do anything. If you touch a single hair on their heads, I’ll cut your fucking head off,” I say as I zoom in on the screen to see where in the city she is now. The tracking points shows she is still at Grace’s house.

“Like hell I will! Those people fry my brain, steal from me, and you expect me to just stand by and do nothing?” I refocus my attention on him in the blink of an eye, leaving my phone on the table with the screen locked. Denis tries to hide a laugh with a cough, failing miserably and earning another angry look from Sergei.

“Don’t look at me, I’m not the one to blame,” he says amusedly, raising both hands in a gesture of peace.

“Fucking calm down. You won’t achieve anything by thinking in the heat of the moment,” I murmur in a tired, flat voice.

“I want revenge.”

“I won’t grant you that.”

“Then find another idiot to watch your little princess’s ass,” he spits, turning away with the intention of walking to the door.

“Fine. Do whatever you want with the blonde, but don’t touch the red head. I mean it,” I say.

“Thanks,” he replies in a dry, mocking tone, continuing toward the door.

“Don’t be too hard on her,” I warn dismissively, wanting to check again if she is still in the same place.

I wanted to continue with our nightly routine and apologize for being away these past few days, but because of someone else that wasn’t going to be possible. If I’d let Sergei erase her, I wouldn’t have that problem now.