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“Just give me a minute, will you?” I asked as I walked back to the kitchen, flipping through the bills as I did so. “God, whatever man takes you on is going to need the patience of a saint.”
“And whoever you take on will end up starving at this rate,” she shot back, sticking out her tongue at me. “You move like a turtle, Naomi. I swear.”
Grinning, I came to the last envelope, surprised to see a handwritten address. Maybe it was a receipt or something. I doubted anyone still sent letters.
I sliced it open with my nail and pulled out a single sheet of folded paper, opening it up and immediately dropping it on the floor with a gasp.
“What is it?” Ilsa demanded immediately, going into full cop mode.
I couldn’t speak, my shaky hand covering my mouth as I stared down at the smiling photo. It was a picture of an ID badge with the letters ‘FBI’ written across the top of it and his face plastered on the front.
No, no, no! This couldn’t be happening!
“Shit,” Ilsa replied as she picked up the photo. She had just completed the police academy and earned her first rotation as a beat cop, so there was no doubt she knew what she was looking at.
And the horrific power behind it.
“I have to go,” I started immediately, my mind racing at what I could fit into a duffel bag. I had just gotten settled in this apartment, but nothing in my life was to last forever.
Not with him. If I didn’t move now, he was going to find me, and there was no telling what he would do.
“Naomi, calm down,” Ilsa was saying, grabbing my shoulders and forcing me to look at her. “You aren’t going to run this time. I thought we agreed.”
“He’s a fucking FBI agent!” I cried out, all the anger and fear bubbling up inside. “Ilsa! This is on another level.”
She only gripped my shoulders tighter, her jaw set. “You have me now. You are stronger than he could ever be. Don’t let him chase you out of another life.”
I collapsed against her, sobs coming unbidden from somewhere deep down. This wasn’t the first time Ilsa had seen me ugly cry about this, and I doubted it was going to be the last.
“Why can’t he just leave me alone?” I asked against her shoulder as she rubbed my back. “Why does he feel the need to taunt me like this?”
I hadn’t attempted to press charges against him, but maybe I should have. Maybe he saw me as the same weak, love-minded girl that would never stand up to him.
“Hey, we will figure this one out too,” she was saying. “Don’t worry.”
There was plenty to be worried about.
***
Now Jon had nearly unlimited power to go after me however he saw fit.
It terrified me, and for years afterward, I waited for the day that he would come to “arrest” me so that he could get his hands on me again.
Apparently, Jon hadn’t been so stupid to do something like that, but every time I saw a police car, I clammed up, reducing myself to using public transportation or hitching rides from friends in case he was biding his time.
“He’s obsessive,” I continued, forcing past the horrible memories that Jon had forced on me. “Methodical. Patient. He’s everything they could ever want in an agent.” And every quality that made him a good stalker as well.
Gavril’s jaw tightened, and I waited for him to say something, anything as to what he was thinking and why he was so upset with me.
“I’m sorry,” I added quietly. “I shouldn’t have kept it from you.” I meant the words, even if they sounded hollow to my own ears.
He held up a hand, silencing my words, and the look on his face was of pure disgust, only adding to my misery.
“You should have told me,” he bit out. “You should have fucking told me from the beginning.”
A spark of anger rose inside me.
“Why?” I fought back, hugging the blanket closer to my body. “Why should I? So you could toss me aside and let him snatch me up? You don’t know what he’s capable of. You don’t. Even if you think you do.”
I let my words die off, feeling both angered and just plain tired that Jon was once again inserting his presence into my life. I was so sick and tired of it, of him.
Something in Gavril’s expression shifted, and a glimpse of exhaustion came across his face before he covered it up.
“Because,” he said through gritted teeth. “I could have handled this shit differently. Now this has become a hell of a lot more complicated than you realize.”
“Tell me what happened,” I begged, tired of being left in the dark. I didn’t know what Jon had done or how he had gotten underneath Gavril’s skin, but if Gavril was worried, then I needed to be as well.
I needed Gavril to protect me from Jon. I needed for him to stand up to the agent and force him out of my life for good.
Somehow, I didn’t think that was going to happen now, and a whole new version of terror wrapped itself around my heart.
“They know,” he finally said, his words even harder than I had heard from him before. “The Krasnaya Bratva. They know that Sveta is dead and that you are a fake.”
My breath caught, and now I understood why he was so upset. Jon had done this. I knew it in my heart. There was a small measure of relief that I wouldn’t have to pretend to be Sveta any longer, but I also knew there would be implications for them knowing.
After all, I had been the bargaining chip between him and those men. Gavril had told me he wanted them to join his Bratva.
Did that mean that they were backing out? Was that why he was so upset?
