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“Hannah, there has to be a reason for this. Nikolai is obsessed with you,” I said reassuringly. It was true, Nikolai adored Hannah—there had to be a rational reason he was there.
She nodded, not looking the least bit appeased. I was going to suggest she actually call or text Nikolai, but she looked so paranoid and distraught, I knew it wouldn’t be enough to put her at ease.
We drove down to the River North neighborhood of Chicago. A ride that normally took forty-five minutes took thirty, as Hannah flew down Lake Shore drive.
“Jesus, Hannah, you aren’t going to solve any mysteries if you kill us before we get there,” I griped as I held on to the little handle above the passenger door.
She shot me an apologetic look. “Sorry, Em, I’m fully freaking out. When we were first dating, Nikolai went to a strip club. He explained why he was there, sort of, but it’s always been a sore spot with me.”
I looked at her in surprise. I hadn’t known this before, but I could now understand why him being at the Trinity Club was a trigger.
Soon we were pulling up, possibly parking illegally, and running into the club. The guys standing in front of the door immediately stepped in front of us.
Oh, right. This was a bar, and I was only eighteen. Only Hannah was over twenty-one, but more importantly, none of us were in the Russian mob, which I actually think was the more relevant criteria for entering.
Hannah frowned up at one of the bouncers. “We can go in. I’m best friends with Katya. Do you want me to FaceTime her so you can hear it from her?” Hannah asked pugnaciously.
The guy nodded his head. “Yes.”
She gave a theatrical sigh and pulled out her phone, quickly getting Katya on the phone.
“Tell this guy we can go into the club,” Hannah said and flipped her phone so the guy could see Katya.
“Uh, she can enter,” Katya said with hilarious awkwardness, like she was a queen and Hannah was trying to enter the gates of the royal palace.
It worked because the guy rolled his eyes, obviously not too pleased to be dealing with our bullshit today, and let us in.
We barreled in the door and Hannah quickly spotted Nikolai at the bar. She walked up to him and gave him a rough smack on the shoulder while Laney and I stood there silently.
Nikolai whirled around, a ferocious scowl on his face until he saw Hannah. “Hannah? What are you doing here? Is something wrong?” he asked, his scowl of anger transforming into a frown of concern and confusion.
“What am I doing here? What are you doing here?” she asked belligerently, her arms folded over her heaving chest. Only her face didn’t fit her aggressive body language. Her face looked…crushed. Distraught. Devastated.
Nikolai’s expression transformed as he read her expression and he reached out for her, but she stepped back, practically vibrating with outrage and pain.
Nikolai looked over at us and blew out a breath. “Hannah, you have the wrong idea. I’m here to talk to Pavel. He knows…” he glanced again at us, and we took that as a hint to give them some privacy.
Laney and I looked at each other and walked over to the other side of the bar. Laney looked around like a kid in a candy store. “Are there actual strippers here?” she whispered, like we were in a library and not a strip club.
I shrugged. “I guess. I think there’s a room in the back where they go, but it might be too early for them to start dancing. I mean, it’s only eleven thirty in the morning.”
Delaney’s eyes roamed around the room, until they stopped in one spot. “What about her? Are the ladies here…sex workers, too?” Laney asked diplomatically while pointing to a woman sitting next to a man in a booth by the stage.
“I don’t know. I’ve only been here once…” I trailed off as I stared at the couple in the booth.
My brain attempted to process what I was looking at, but I kept shaking my head as my body rejected what my mind was trying to tell me. Horror ricocheted through me as I finally allowed myself to recognize the man.
Ivan.
I watched the scantily dressed dancer rub Ivan’s arm, my stomach churning with nausea and my cheeks filling with heat. His face was in the shadows, and it honestly felt like a blessing.
I didn’t want to see his expression as he flirted with this striking, barely dressed blonde woman. He quickly pulled her hand off him, and I was sickeningly gratified that he still maintained his rules about touching.
I heard Laney gasp. “Is that…Is that Ivan? What is he doing here? Is he friends with Hannah’s boyfriend? Why are they all here? What’s he doing with that woman?” Laney fired questions at me, but I was paralyzed. My vocal cords were frozen, and tears pricked my eyes as I stared at the man I gave my virginity to the night before flirting with a stripper.
“Emmy!” Laney said in a louder voice when I didn’t respond.
The volume caused the twosome in the booth to look over at us. Ivan immediately jumped to his feet and stormed toward us, his expression tight with shock and confusion.