Page 29

Andre sat outside, but even though anyone who didn’t know why he was there wouldn’t suspect anything, he kept a watchful eye on me. Of that, I was certain. He was one of the less insufferable guards in Dima’s crew, but he was still completely loyal. There wasn’t a snowball’s chance in hell that I could ever flip him to my side.

That left Zoey.

I was impatient, but I had to bide my time to get my new friend on my side. As I sipped on my cinnamon cappuccino, it was hard not to burst out with pleas for help to sneak me out through the back and into Zoey’s rental car to get far, far away.

Acting too rash might get me caught and then Dima’s trust would be lost forever. I couldn’t risk that because then I might find out what it was like to be really locked up.

“How’s the writing going?” I asked instead of begging for help like I wanted to. And I was curious, since I never knew a writer in real life.

She frowned. “Don’t ask, because it’s not going at all. Every time I sit down to start, Ivan shows up and suggests something more fun.”

“Yeah, he’s fun all right,” I said, but she missed the sarcasm, smitten by my brother-in-law. I couldn’t exactly warn her not to get involved, though. Or could I?

“They’re an … interesting family,” I started, feeling a twinge of guilt for the massive way I was about to throw the Fokins under the bus.

The family that had been nothing but kind to me would have been hunting my father and me to the ends of the earth if Dima hadn’t paid the debt my father owed Aleks, though, so I guessed it was fair.

Zoey didn’t rise to the bait the way I wanted. “So, how did you and Dima meet and fall in love?”

Ugh, of all the things for her to be curious about, this nearly broke me. I wasn’t expecting the pang that hit as I struggled for a way to answer. If only I had a real story to tell. If only I weren’t really Dima’s prisoner, indebted to him for life. And also, if only he was actually the cruel monster I was about to make him out to be in order to free myself once and for all.

It wasn’t just my beloved mother’s dying wish. It was the life I’d been dreaming about for years that he stole from me.

So, I very slowly and subtly laid a trail of breadcrumbs for her to follow and come to her own conclusions. Kind of the truth, because he was pretty controlling, and did make plenty of demands. I just twisted it a little bit to make it seem much worse.

Who would feel sorry for someone living in a luxurious mansion, even if she wasn’t there by her own free will? I had to embellish, conveniently leaving out the parts where he rode in on a white horse and saved me from exile in the wilds of Russia.

Thankfully, we changed topics to her hometown, which she was missing terribly, even though it was so beautiful and peaceful here.

“I’d never get anything done if I had to go to work every day, and I was involved with our church’s charity for the homeless, too, so that took up weekends.”

“It’ll all be worth it when the book is done,” I said.

She got a faraway look in her eyes like she wanted to believe it, but didn’t, and before she could answer, Dima stormed in, looking like a demon was after him. His hair stood on end from scraping his fingers through it, and his face was pale with what looked like terror until his frantic gaze settled on me.

“Let’s go,” he said, covering the length of the coffee shop in a few quick strides. He grabbed my hand and pulled me up. “Now, immediately. No arguing.”

His eyes cut to every corner of the place, and I saw Andre standing at full attention outside, his hand resting on the place where his sidearm was hidden beneath his jacket. I pulled back a bit, exchanging a glance with Zoey, who was horrified, but trying to remain polite.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” she asked, giving me a pointed look.

What the hell was going on? I was a bit frightened by whatever had Dima so on edge all of a sudden, but I managed to return Zoey’s look, trying to convey that this was what I had to go through on a regular basis.

“The best thing you can do to help is stay out of it,” Dima told her, adding to my case without even meaning to. “In fact, it might be wise to leave town.”

Zoey gasped. The poor girl was terrified. I understood that Dima was honestly warning her out of fear that anyone who wanted to harm us might come after her if they thought she was involved, but it came across as a threat.

That meant if Zoey wasn’t scared off completely, it came across even further that Dima was the monster in the situation. I had no choice but to be dragged off by him, but as we sped off toward home, I couldn’t help feeling a little bit guilty for what I led Olivia to believe.

More than anything, I wanted to get away and get my own life back, but painting Dima in that light went against my innate sense of fairness. I saw plenty of real monsters in my life. Hell, I was raised by one, and Dima wasn’t one of them.

At home, he gruffly told me to throw a few things in a bag. “We need to get somewhere else in a hurry.”

“What’s going on?” I asked.

He only gave me a look that had me running to pack, and his refusal to answer infuriated me. Before I knew it, we were on the road again, and he kept ignoring my questions for the hour-long drive, which ended at a fancy, bustling resort hotel.

The huge, pink stucco building glistened in the sunlight and as he drove through the ritzy gates to the valet parking station, I nearly exploded.

“Is this some kind of a joke?” I asked, fully expecting we’d end up hiding out somewhere even more remote than the mansion in the jungle.

He handed off the keys to the valet and led me into the lobby, where we were surrounded by other guests and hotel workers.

“Someone might be targeting you,” he told me in a low voice. “Because of me.” He closed his eyes for a second, like he was in pain, and I noticed a new bruise on his jaw. “Staying in a place like this that has so many people seems like the safest thing right now.”

“What? Who’s targeting me?”

He shook his head, brushing off my questions. “It won’t take me long until I find out the depth of the threat, but I’m not taking any chances. We can load up their vacant rooms with my guys disguised as tourists, and the chances of anyone attacking us in such a populated area is lower than staying in the middle of nowhere.”

I was pissed. More pissed than when he demanded I pack up with no explanations. Once more, I was in danger. This was exactly why my mother never wanted me to marry into the Bratva. Enemies always targeted loved ones. Or, perceived loved ones in my case. Didn’t matter. I was married to Dima; that was all his rivals needed to know to come after me.

Also, my plan with Zoey was going well. I might have been able to convince her to help me get away within a few short weeks. Now my new ally might be gone if and when we returned to the village. I’d have to start all over again with a new plan.

What could I do, though, except stew and glare? Exactly nothing. Not with my overbearing husband determined to keep me safe at all costs and half the resort about to be filled up with his guards. I sighed, and then shrugged, waiting for further orders.

“Ivan’s looking into the problem,” he said. “For now, let’s just act like tourists.”

“Fine,” I said, turning away. “I’m going to drink a margarita on the beach.”

“That sounds like a fantastic idea,” he said.

That was how we ended up watching the waves roll in and out while sipping on icy, blended cocktails and soaking up the sun as it made its way closer to the watery horizon. He kept me from overthinking about anything as he regaled me with stories about his brothers when he was younger. An especially sweet one about how they all banded together when their surprise baby sister Mila was born was touching enough that I finally gave in and smiled.

“She had to be born just as the Vasilievs were staging a concerted attack on three places at once. We were so pissed, because Mama went into labor and we were determined that Papa should be there, but we wanted to be the first to welcome her into the world, too. And all the while, our buildings were literally on fire.”

“So you had to miss out because of the fight, or did you concede?”

He snorted. “Concede? What is that? We just kicked their asses faster and got to the hospital as they were wheeling Mila to the nursery. She was an ugly baby, but she aged up all right.”

I laughed at his assessment of his gorgeous sister, who was around my age. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard Max mention the Vasilievs before.”

“I told you we were pissed, didn’t I? There weren’t any of them left after they nearly made us miss Mila’s birthday.”

I countered with my own story of when I was around ten and three of the kids of my dad’s associates convinced me to sneak into one of the boss's offices and steal from petty cash. We made off without about fifty bucks, too afraid to take any of the big bills after we pried open the locked drawer, and gorged ourselves on candy.

“We got caught when we still had chocolate all over our fingers, but we all puffed up our chests and pretended we had nothing to do with it, all the way up to the point we were watching security cam footage of ourselves in the act.”

“What happened?” Dima asked, as rapt as if this were life and death.

“We had to scrub toilets in every dive bar your father owned at the time. It was only because of him we didn’t get beaten to an inch of our lives, though. Strangely enough, I think my father was actually a little bit proud of me.”

“Yeah, well, look at how he’s been living, pilfering from everyone who’s ever tried to help him out. Thankfully, you didn’t go down his road.”

“Uh, not after cleaning all those filthy urinals for a week. I never stole again.”

We ended up laughing, and Dima took my hand. I didn’t yank it away, but tried to ignore how good and right it felt. I fondly told him a few stories about my mother, unable to keep from wondering what she would have thought of him.

“One time, we had to leave in the middle of the night to hide out from my father’s bookie, and she made it seem like a game, to the point it’s one of my best memories. She was so brave and smart.”

“Just like you,” he said. “See, life wasn’t all bad in the Bratva. Admit it.”

“No, it was all bad,” I said. “But yes, it was exciting sometimes. Your childhood seemed a lot more interesting with all those siblings. I wish I had a brother or sister.”

“You’ve got a bunch now,” he reminded me.

Well, that didn’t warrant thinking about, since I didn’t want to think about my plan of escape that would sever those ties. I was tipsy from the margaritas, and the warmth of his hand as the temperature began to cool off with the setting sun made me feel cozy and relaxed, like I was on vacation.

“This is a nice time,” I said.

“And you’re getting chilly.” He smoothed the goosebumps on my arms and stood, leaning down to lift me into his arms. “Let’s check out our suite.”

Switching altitudes made me realize I had at least one too many of the delicious drinks, and I let him carry me without fuss. The suite was every bit as beautiful as the beach outside the windows, and the bed was huge and luxurious. After tucking me in with a pile of pillows behind me, Dima found the remote and plopped down beside me.

I wrestled the remote from his hands, and we pretended to bicker about what movie to watch, when in reality, as soon as we chose, we ignored it to keep talking. He pulled up the covers around our legs, and we traded stories. The light outside the balcony window went from deep blue dusk to midnight black and slowly faded back to light again.

“No sunrise over the mountains today,” I said sleepily.

“Sure there is,” he said, whipping back the covers. “It’ll just be farther away.”

We went out to the front terrace, which overlooked the pool and the front of the resort. Dima was right; if you squinted, you could see the faint outline of our mountains in the distance. The sun made a big show of coming up to start a new day, and we settled into one of the wide loungers to watch as the sky got lighter. No one but a few workers appeared by the pool, which was many floors below us, and our terrace felt like a nest far from any prying eyes or ears.

As the pale gray horizon became bluer and the orange line became a blazing ball of yellow, Dima put his arm around me with a soft sigh. There wasn’t a single thought in my head except for the beautiful scenery and the warmth of Dima’s strong chest under my cheek.