Page 7 of The Brutal Arrangement (The Ivanov Syndicate #2)

LUCY

T hat peace and quiet I began this job with was gone.

Every day, more arguments ensued. Anton Kozlov was a hotheaded jerk, and whenever I heard him ranting at someone, I couldn’t help but flinch and want to hide.

Staying out of the way was one thing, but with how naturally furious he seemed to be by default, I wanted to stay completely invisible.

Just in case he would notice me and turn his wrath on me.

Worst, though, was when I overheard him fighting with Katerina. Those arguments came more and more often with every passing day. While I heard their raised voices constantly, they were typically in another room and I couldn’t follow precisely what was said.

Maybe he’s pissed that she’s sneaking out in the middle of the night.

A few more times, I’d caught sight of Katerina tiptoeing down stairways in the mansion or dashing out into the darkness.

Joann had never told me what the other buildings were on the property.

I never asked because I wanted to mind my own business.

But now that I realized my almost-friend had an interest in exploring outside this mansion, I became awfully curious.

Katerina never went anywhere else. She was a homebody, often on her laptop. The only times she seemed eager to leave were the oddest hours in the middle of the night.

This sense of kindred spirit between us kept me worried, though, hating how constantly stressed she seemed to be.

With the increase of her arguing with her uncle, I stayed away from her.

But one night, when I couldn’t stop thinking about how secretive she was being, I set out to approach her and at least let her know that she wasn’t alone.

That I cared. It seemed like such a trivial thing to say, but sometimes, it was the thought that counted.

To my surprise, it seemed that she had the same idea. She was coming to me .

I opened the door and reared back in surprise at the sight of her stealthily walking toward me.

“Katerina?” I whispered it, but with her scowl and firm shake of her head, she acted like I’d shouted her name. Pressing a finger to her lips, she narrowed her eyes and gestured for me to follow her.

What the hell is going on?

It was easy to assume I was crossing lines to befriend her. The lines between staff and client were clear. But her sneaking out of her room to find me at mine was another transgression of a different manner.

Following her toward her room, I kept my eyes wide open and watched for anyone who’d notice us.

Guards stayed at the doors near the points of egress to the mansion, not up on her floor, but still, I was nervous just to be out of my room and speaking with her.

This wasn’t normal. This wasn’t part of my job.

If she needed something cleaned, she’d contact Joann.

I’d never experienced a late-night adventure like this at any other places where I’d been a maid.

Instead of going into her room, though, she had me follow her to a library on the next floor up. Questions flooded my mind, but following her lead and staying silent, I kept them in.

As soon as we were alone in the room, I couldn’t handle it. “What is going on?”

“I need your help.” She was dead serious, looking at me solemnly.

Shit. She was in trouble. I cringed at the idea that she was risking trouble for me, too. “Help with what?” What can she possibly think I can do for her? I was a nobody. Powerless. Useless and replaceable as a dime-a-dozen maid.

“You need to be sent to another house.”

I blinked, not expecting her to announce a reassignment. Or that she’d be the one to direct where I was a maid. And especially how that would help her at all.

“What?” Shock and confusion kept me from being any more eloquent.

“I need to send you to another house.”

“Another house your uncle owns?”

She shook her head. “No.” She swallowed, seeming nervous yet stubbornly confident. It was an oxymoron that set me further on edge. “I need to send you to marry someone in my place.”

Stepping back was the only way I could react. Her words, as ludicrous as they sounded, struck me as an attack.

Send me to marry someone?

Did I hear her right?

Is she insane?

What kind of a world does she think ? —

I reared back in alarm, knowing damn well what her version of reality she worked with. The Mafia world. The criminal realm of life.

For her, forcing someone into marriage was probably the norm. These people likely made their own laws and enforced them, separate from the normal society ordinary citizens like me lived in.

“ What ?” I was so stunned that I had to believe my ears were playing tricks on me, that I hadn’t heard her correctly.

“I need you to go marry someone. In my place.” She licked her lips and winced. “Okay?

“No!” Fear crept up my spine, making me feel cold and tenser than before. “You—I— No . Not okay. This is so far from okay.” I backed up, circling away from her as she stuck with me, not losing that worried wince as I reacted.

“No way. Katerina, no freaking way. I’m not going to let you tell me who to marry or what to do or?—”

She cringed. “Just?—”

“No!” I kept my voice down, but I couldn’t help the shrillness of my reply.

“I won’t just do anything, Katerina. This is insane.

Crazy talk. I get that we’re from two totally different worlds, but you can’t choose me to marry someone and expect me to…

” Shaking my head faster, I tried to avoid the instant visions that came to me.

Being kidnapped and raped.

Being sent off to a hidden location, never to be found again.

To be murdered by these Mafia men.

Manipulated and involved…

“I don’t want to get involved.” I slashed my hands in the air, then held my hands up as if to ward her off. “I don’t want any part of this. Kat, I’m just a maid. I’m just… I only work here as a maid, and I’ve got a life, and no. Uh-uh. No.”

“I need you to take my spot,” she insisted.

Backing up and needing to keep distance from this worried woman whom I almost wanted to consider a friend, I damned myself for ever caring and being concerned about her.

This always happened. That damn bleeding heart of mine never stopped.

Being empathetic to others’ woes never ended well for me, but it was how I was wired.

“No,” I repeated.

“Help me, Lucy.” She narrowed her eyes, not cruelly but like she had to be calculating in this situation. “And I’ll help you.”

“By sending me away so a man can force himself on me?” I huffed an incredulous laugh. “Nothing is worth that!”

“Not even your mother?” she challenged.

I stopped still. Ice ran through me, chilling me from the inside out.

This was what I got for almost seeing her as a friend.

“You’d blackmail me? You’d use my mother against me?

” I hated that I’d been so dumb as to think she merely cared about getting to know me a little bit, asking me about my family and all.

“No. Not against you.” Katerina growled, frustrated. “I’ll help you. I’ll help her . I can handle all the outstanding bills. I’ll handle the entire amount. All twenty-one thousand of it. And I’ll get her to that better facility that you’ve been wishing to get her into. The Dream Garden place.”

My mouth hung open. I’d told her some things about my mom, but not that many details. Not the amount I owed or the name of the facility I daydreamed of putting my mom in.

“How the hell do you even know that?” I demanded. She’d invaded my privacy, snooping about me, and I once again felt so dumb to think she’d be a friend of mine.

“Because I have resources to obtain information.” She stated it matter-of-factly, but that didn’t change how unsavory it was.

Because she’s in the Mafia, you moron. They can find out whatever they want.

You are so stupid.

Of course she doesn’t care about being your friend.

She cares about using you!

“I only looked up more about your situation so that I could offer you something in return for doing this favor for me.”

“No.” I panicked, feeling too stuck and claustrophobic in this room as she continued with this crazy scheme. “No, Katerina. Hell no.” Rushing backward to reach the door, I dared to turn my back to her.

“Lucy. Please !” She followed me, so desperate.

“No!” Terror claimed me. I saw no way to reason with her. No option to get her to realize how wild this sounded. Logic wouldn’t work here.

All I could do was get away from her and her nonsensical plot.

I wrenched the door open and ran. Not caring about anyone seeing me in the house this late, not worrying about someone calling me out for screwing around and being a naughty maid, I bolted.

I knew better.

I was supposed to keep my head down.

I should’ve been minding my own business.

Not borderline befriending a woman entrenched in the Mafia.

Distance was the buffer I had to rely on now. And I sought it more than ever before, darting all the way through the mansion until I pushed open the doors to get outside.

I was trapped. I was suffocating under this instant panic attack. Just the idea of being shipped somewhere and forced to marry someone sickened me.

Slowing for a ragged inhale of the sweet, fresh air outside, I scrambled to understand how in the hell I’d gotten into this situation at all.