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She glanced up at me. “Whatever for?”
I took a seat by the island. “My papa,” I started. “I know there’s no way you can forgive him for the pain he’s caused, and I’m not going to ask you to.”
She leaned on the other side of the island. “Then what?” Animosity edged in her feminine Russian accent.
“I’m going to help you seek your revenge, that I promise.”
“And how are you going to do that?” she asked doubtfully.
I bit back my lips and chose to be honest with her. “I don’t know yet, but I’ll find a way.”
Something that appeared like a smile moved Maria’s face just a tiny bit, but it didn’t feel genuine. “I know a way,” she said.
“Do you?” I opened the can of soda and drank to quench my sugar cravings. “Pray tell.”
She placed a full raw chicken on a wooden cutter and took a butcher knife from the set of knives on the counter. “Die.” She buried the knife in the chicken, her gaze steady on me. She looked like she was crazy. “Die.” She unburied the knife from the chicken and then stabbed it again.
“I-I don’t understand that.”
“Don’t you?” She rubbed her bloody hands on her white apron. “Your papa took everyone I cared about away from me. If you want to help me, all you have to do is die.”
I fidgeted on my stool. Okay, this whole conversation was getting awkward.
“Don’t you see?” she asked. “The only way to make him feel pain is to inflict the same pain he caused others on him.”
Laughter itched the back of my throat at how wrong she was to assume my papa would feel the slightest pain if I somehow ended up dead. The most he’d do would be to start a bloodbath, not to avenge me, but for the sake of his own ego.
For some reason, I felt it would be useless explaining that to Maria since she’d made up her mind that I need to die for my papa to feel pain. There was no way I’d be comfortable eating her food now, not with the way she was thinking. I hated that Andrei wasn’t here at a time like this.
I quietly emptied the remaining soda down my throat, threw the can into the trashcan, and was about to leave the kitchen when Camilla walked in, as if I hadn’t had enough weirdness for one day already.
“You’re still here,” Camilla said, rolling her eyes in disgust as soon as she saw me.
It wasn’t my job to deal with the other women in Andrei’s life—or maybe I was the other woman—so I tried to pass Camilla and leave but she intentionally moved to stand in my way.
“Still being Andrei’s whore?” she asked. “I heard he’s been out of town for a week, don’t you think maybe he is tired of you?”
I’d always been disgusted by women who chose classlessness over dignity, like Camilla, for example. I pondered on whether or not she knew how embarrassing her attitude was. I let my eyes scrutinize her. She was wearing a green tank top with a V-cut on the cleavage area, jean shorts that barely covered her ass, and a green pair of designer sneakers. Truthfully, she wasn’t looking bad—I wished I could say the same for her attitude.
“Move out of my way, Camilla. I’m not in the mood for this.” Then I wondered if she was the woman who drew Andrei’s tattoo. Did he tell her he’s not been in for a week? “By the way, do you stalk Andrei? How did you know he’s out of town and how long he’s been away?”
“I told her,” Maria said indifferently. “Do you have a problem with that?”
I suddenly felt like I was in a place where I was unwanted, between my own enemies. “Maybe you should have asked if I had a problem with it before you told her.”
“But she didn’t,” Camilla chimed in. “You must be forgetting you’re nothing but a prisoner here.”
I smiled. “Am I?” Unpleasantness ran through my veins. “I bet Andrei would disagree since I have his ring.” I waved my finger for her to see.
“He’s fucking you now just for the feel of it and I know you’re aware he married you just to get to your asshole of a father,” Camilla spat bitterly. “He’ll get tired of it. He eventually does. And considering you’re his enemy’s daughter, you might just end up in a shallow grave somewhere around here when he is done with you.”
Her words were full of venom, and as much as I pretended they didn’t affect me, they were infecting me with uncertainty that soon began to fester. “Then so be it.”
“What?”
“I do not see how what Andrei does with me should concern you.” I shifted my weight to one leg. “Don’t meddle in other people’s business or I may really have to cut your tongue off.”
“I’d love to see you try.” Camilla sneered at me, crossing her arms over her chest and tapping her feet. “What? Don’t have the guts to do it now that Andrei isn’t here?”
