“What does that mean?” I gasp. “Everleigh duty?”
“Like fuck you didn’t,” Ryan growls. “You’re careful about every goddamn thing you say, but that…thatyou let slip.”
“I’m under a lot of pressure at the moment. Sorry if I didn’t think through your menagerie of lies before speaking.”
“Menagerie of lies?” I turn toward Ryan, panic in my voice. “What is he saying? What is Everleigh duty?”
The truck is silent.
“I’m serious! Someone speak!”
Ryan sighs long and hard as though the weight of the world was just tossed onto his shoulders. He reaches for my hand, but I recoil.
“Just talk. No funny shit. Just tell me whatEverleigh dutyis.”
He glares toward Viktor, then toward me. “When Max disappeared, Viktor asked me to watch over you. I was just graduating, you and I were the same age, so it was a natural fit. I agreed to watch you for a stipend.”
I’m too shocked to comprehend what he’s saying.
“It’s not what you’re thinking, though. It started as something I was doing for money, but as I got to know you, things changed. I changed. I fell in love with you.”
I turn toward Viktor, my voice calm but firm. “Let me out of the truck.”
“Do you understand what you’re asking?” It’s the first I’ve seen him with tense shoulders. “You’re asking me to stop in the middle of a four-lane highway so you can what… run across traffic and into the nose of a gun? Max is back for something. We can’t trust anyone now.”
“Exactly, I’m not. Stop the fucking truck.”
“Do you honestly believe that I can do that? That I’d ever put your life at risk like that?”
“Why did you ask Ryan to watch me? What was he watching for? Did you think I had the money Max took?”
Viktor shifts his elbow to the door of the car, resting his body where he can. “We knew Max wouldn’t be dumb enough to leave you the money in cash, but you were a liability.”
“So what then?” The words linger in a long heavy silence until it clicks. I turn toward Viktor. “Oh my fucking god. Oh my fucking god. You were supposed to kill me.”
He runs his hand down over his beard. “I’d never have touched a hair on your head. You know that.”
“So you were supposed to kill me, but you couldn’t, so you hired Ryan to make sure I didn’t leave, or worse, that I didn’t tell your family secrets. Newsflash, Max didn’t tell me anything, and I only know where the stupid money is because he left it for me in that safe deposit box.”
Viktor shakes his head. “Ryan should’ve taken that envelope from you, then maybe half this shit wouldn’t have happened.”
“So you agree you should’ve kept lying to me?” I’m seeing red.
“I’ve never lied to you, Everleigh. I promised you I wouldn’t. You ask a question and I tell you the truth.”
I scoff, folding my arms over one another, my stomach in knots. “Please, you’re both liars, and the second this fucking truck stops, I’m getting the hell out.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Viktor
We’ve been driving for hours, so many now that the blue sky has turned to black, and the moon has risen just beyond the horizon. I’m starting to see pines, so that’s positive, even if the rest of the day has been a shit show.
I glance toward Everleigh. Her eyes got heavy a bit ago, and though she’d been fighting it, her head has fallen onto Ryan’s shoulder. Blonde hair spills down over onto her chest as even breaths lift her stomach up and down. She’s beautiful there, peaceful even. It’s a moment she deserves after the day we’ve had, and I’m not sure it’s going to get much better.
“I’m going to pull off for a minute,” I say to Ryan. He hasn’t said a word in hours, though I don’t much blame him either. I shouldn’t have been the one to tell Everleigh about the arrangement we had.Fucking hell.“I want to gauge what the fuck Max’s plan is and grab a coffee. You want anything?”
He shakes his head. “Just leave the truck running. I don’t want her waking up.”
