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While she may be right, that doesn’t change that this situation could go from zero to one hundred in the snap of a finger.
She needs to stay close. Her life may very well depend on it.
21
Lily
The flashlight helps me find the light switch, which I flick on despite Ivan’s warning. He’s just not quick enough for my wandering hands.
“You need to be more careful,” he says, clamping his hand down over his heart. “You have no idea what’s dangerous in here.”
I wrinkle my nose at his reaction. “Um, Ivan, it’s just a light switch. I feel like you’ve been doing this Bratva thing for too long, and besides, I know my uncle Dimitri. He wouldn’t rig explosives to a light switch. Too easy to kill yourself by accident.”
“You thought you knew him,” Ivan corrects, moving in front of me and scanning the room. “But you didn’t even know he was a member of the Bratva.”
I shrug. “Okay, so there were a few things he didn’t want me to know, but that doesn’t mean I don’t know him. I spent tons of time with him, even when I was going to school.”
“I spent decades with him,” Ivan grumbles. “Please don’t sass me.”
I laugh. “Where did you learn that word from?”
He turns to me, his eyebrows drawn together in a deep from. I can tell he’s offended. “Stop acting like I don’t know English. I moved here from Russia before you were even born.”
I smirk. “Then why is my English better than yours?”
He rolls his eyes. “Okay, princess. You win this time, but you’re setting yourself up for another round of spankings when we get home.”
I bite my tongue before I can say anything that will dig me any deeper into this hole. I don’t altogether mind the spankings, especially when they end the way the last ones did. I get goosebumps just thinking about it.
“Get a look at this,” Ivan whispers, grabbing my attention from across the room.
I hurry over to him, looking around Dimitri’s lab for the first time. It’s a surprisingly simple room, with four steel walls and a similarly metallic floor. There’s a cabinet on the far side of the room, where Ivan is standing, and a desk with a computer at it a few feet away.
“I think we hit the jackpot,” he says as he opens the cabinet doors to reveal a stack of manila folders. He pulls one out, leafing through it for a moment before jumping up. “Lily, this is it. This is the good stuff.”
My blood pressure spikes, and I try to keep my voice from shaking as I meet Ivan’s glowing eyes. “How… how far along is the research? Can you tell?”
“I’m not sure,” he says, his voice shaking just as much as mine is. “It’s… shit, where was that. Ah, yes, it’s here,” he says, opening one of the folders and thumbing through it for a moment. “Okay, it looks pretty complete. I’m not going to lie, I think he might actually have finished it. We’ll have to take it to some experts to know for sure.”
“That’s great news!” I say, jumping up on my toes and grabbing Ivan in a tight embrace. I press my face into his chest, smelling his comforting scent and sinking into his warmth. His heart is beating so fast in his chest it’s almost concerning, but mine is doing the same.
Ivan wraps his arms around me, holding me in place for almost a minute as we both retract into our heads for a moment. I don’t know what he’s thinking of, but I’m imagining a future together where we don’t have to worry about anything ever again. If he really was so rich, beyond his wildest dreams, even, he would have more time to spend with me.
It’s a selfish fantasy, but one that stays with me, even as our embrace ends and we continue pilfering through the lab. I want to have a life with Ivan, even to possibly get married one day. I’d never admit it to him now, since I’m sure he’d think I was getting ahead of myself, but I’m so obsessed with him it’s becoming difficult to contain.
“I’m taking the hard drive out of this computer,” Ivan says, moving over to the desk. “Could you turn your flashlight on again so I can see in here?”
“Yeah, sure,” I say, rushing over to him and pulling it out.
Just as I’m clicking the button, a noise from outside causes us both to freeze.
It’s the sound of a car engine, and we’re supposed to be alone.
“Be prepared to run or possibly shoot. Both, if necessary,” Ivan says, his voice deepening as he walks past me. “There’s no way that’s good news.”
“You think it’s the Red Hitters?” I whisper, my skin crawling at the thought of facing those corrupt cops again. They give me the creeps.
“It could be, or could be some kind of local security. Either way, it’s not good. We’re technically not supposed to be here because it’s not our property, which means we’re at risk of arrest at the very least.”
