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“Before Loch found me, the Stefanov gang trafficked me here from Bulgaria.”
My heartbeat picked up at her sudden statement.
“Ivan Kolev ran their operation, and he used to visit the house where I was trapped. He was a monster and deserved what Loch did to him.” Her chin jutted out, and my stomach turned, remembering the images splayed across the bed.
“Niko, I didn’t know as well, but we saw him sometimes.”
I shuddered at what she must have endured.
“Loch tells me Boyan Stefanov killed your mother with the help of Ivan and Niko.”
I nodded jerkily. “At least, that’s what I heard them boasting about. They took their ‘fun’ too far and killed her.”
“Then you should be glad there’s less scum on the streets,” Rada spat.
“I am, but it shocked me to see a head in a gift box.” I wrapped my arms around myself and glanced around. Mercifully, it was no longer here.
“Your fiancé is a crazy man,” she said.
It took me a second to realise she meant Sean. I looked down at the engagement ring on my finger.
“He is.”
Sean was a force of nature.
“I don’t know how to feel about it. Every time I think I’m okay, the ground shifts.”
“My mother used to say, ‘You can’t wait for circumstances to improve to be happy. You must choose that for yourself each day.’ You have a powerful man willing to do anything for you. Two of your mother’s killers are dead by his hand. These things are reasons to be happy. Everything else will fall into place.”
The weight of her words settled around me.
“Are you happy?” I asked, wondering how she lived around all this violence.
“My sister was trafficked with me, and until we find her, I won’t truly be happy.”
“Oh.”
“I fear what she’ll have endured by the time we get her back.” Rada shook her head. “But I love Loch with all of my heart. He is a fierce protector like Sean, and I’m happy with him.” She smiled again, but this time, it was dimmed.
I couldn’t imagine what it was like knowing your sister was in the Stefanovs’ clutches somewhere.
Trixie returned then with two mugs of hot chocolate.
“Here you go, dearies.” She passed us both a drink, then disappeared again.
“She’s sweet,” Rada said, blowing on her hot chocolate.
Sweet and also crazy. Did Trixie know about the heads in boxes? She’d probably tell me that the sentiment would flatter most women.
“I’ll let you rest. Sean’s office is the third door on the left.”
When the door clicked closed, the silence was deafening. I hardly felt like the girl I’d been a few days ago.
How much work had I missed? Was it still the weekend?
I guessed Sean had sorted work, but I was behind on uni studies. I sighed as I realised I couldn’t return, not with the Stefanovs sniffing around. Maybe I could get an extension? A mixture of anger and sadness washed over me. They’d taken the one thing I had left of Mamá and ruined that, too. I squeezed my eyes shut against images of her. Pictures of Ivan’s body and Nikos’s head swam into my mind this time. I could almost smell his flesh in my nostrils, but I didn’t hurl this time. There was a different burn in my stomach.
I spent years fantasising about killing those hijos de putas, as Mamá would have said. Wishing they would die agonising deaths. Well, two of them had.
