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“Our money? What money? We didn’t have a goddamn lek. They are going to kill me, Alek.” I persisted, my composure spinning out of control.
“No, they won’t. Tomorrow we’ll get the money waiting for you in Montenegro, and then you and I will disappear.” His expression changed the more he spoke, the unease and doubt subsiding. Arms crossed in front casually, nose tilted slightly up. His arrogance, unable to stay hidden too long, came up for air in its full glory.
“Did you say Montenegro?” The last shred of hope I held that I could change his mind went down the proverbial crapper.
“Banks are funny like that. They won’t give access to a bank account worth three million to just anybody. You were meant to be my wife.”
“So this was your master plan all along?” I accused, my voice rising, rage and dismay taking turns flashing in my eyes. He met my accusation without so much as a hint of remorse. His unflinching expression not only confirmed it––the smug bastard actually seemed proud of his accomplishment.
“I underestimated how impulsive you could be,” he said, his countenance pensive as if I was a riddle he couldn’t quite figure out. “Running away? In the middle of the night? You surprise me. Wish you would’ve been that adventurous when we were fucking.”
“How?”
He shrugged. “It was absurdly easy. He trusted me with the combination of his safe. I ran his errands for years. I transferred money all the time for him. He never assumed anyone else ever gave a shit about money because he didn’t. Very small minded of him, I always thought. He disappointed me in that.”
A dormant volcano of rage exploded within me. “You betrayed a man that treated you like a son––loved you like a son.”
“Do you remember what we did on our first date?” The bastard had the nerve to smile wistfully, as if this was some pleasant trip down memory lane.
“I’ve worked very hard to forget everything about us,” I ground out, straining not to lose it completely on him. I had to keep him talking, stall him. I needed time to assess my surroundings, if I held any chance of escape.
“We pretended we were in Paris,” he continued, unaffected by my contempt. “We both wanted a better life.”
Shocked by where this line of thought was headed, I practically shouted, “Yes! But not at the cost you’re willing to pay––let me rephrase that––you’re willing to cost me. Your greed killed my father!”
“No.” He charged forward, stopping close enough that I automatically shrank back and curled into myself, afraid he would hit me; I didn’t put anything past him any more.
“Good old-fashioned pride killed your father,” he drawled in an awful voice. “He couldn’t bear to let his friends see him as anything less than a bastion of moral rectitude, of everything good. He could have told the authorities, he could’ve turned me in. He and I knew I had access to the money. But he didn’t,” he chuckled darkly. “He didn’t because he was ashamed, of what it said about his judgement.”
I stared at him with pure hate in my eyes.
“We all could’ve done a little bit better. Except for your father, and the high fucking horse he rode in on,” he shouted, his hands curled into claws that looked ready to choke the life out of me.
And then a monumental realization crashed down on me. My mind finally caught up with my gut instincts. The knowledge crawled over my skin like an army of red ants. “Oh my God…was any of it real? Did you ever love me, or were you going to marry me only to get access to the money?”
“Of course, I loved you. I was even faithful in the beginning.”
His dark eyes fell on the diamond cross peeking out from my half open coat and narrowed. I knew what was coming. His face screwed up in a snarl and he yanked the cross off my neck, the thin platinum chain digging into my skin before breaking free.
“You won’t be needing this. I’ll buy you a new one once we get to Russia.”
Russia?
Muscle man suddenly appeared in the doorway. “We have company,” he announced, his tongue tripping over his accent.
Our Father
Who art in heaven
Hallowed be Thy Name
Thy kingdom come…
I prayed and prayed and prayed…the cavalry had arrived.
“In here!!” I screamed at the top of my lungs. A coughing fit followed, my throat still raw from the chemicals they had used to knock me out when they took me. Muscle man stepped closer into the room. He reached behind him and pulled out a serrated hunting knife as long as my arm.
“Make her be silent, or I will,” he barked at Alek while his cold, dead eyes remained on me. Alek bravely stepped in between us and held his hands up. “I will, I will.” No doubt he couldn’t afford to lose his golden goose.
