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I pulled up the form in the system and began to fill in the easy parts. Names. Dates. Where I’d been and what I’d done, everything I could remember up to when Markos captured me. In an effort to come up with a plausible story, I made up quite a bit. I had attended a party at Markos Varela’s villa on Antonio’s arm. Markos had taken an interest in me and had me thrown out of his party when I rejected his advances. Antonio had backed him up and tossed me out on my ass.
I read it over and over, trying to memorize the story I’d mostly made up. Lynn would question me later and I couldn’t mess up the little details. I’d fuck myself over if it came to that.
My ears hummed for a moment, and I shook my head.
“I can’t wait to tie you to my bed and fuck that tight little ass again. I’m going to whip your disobedient backside and then, you’re going to beg me to taste your blood,” Markos growled.
I jumped up with a startled scream, pushing my chair backwards in the process. I looked around, trying to see where he was hiding but there was no one here. I was alone.
My blood raced, heated with fear.
Outside my office, through the glass wall, I could see other agents staring back at me.
Quickly, I sat back down and tried to act normal. If anyone asked, I’d just say I saw a spider or something. I stared at my keyboard, hiding my face behind the monitor as I flicked my eyes side to side.
He wasn’t here. I was safe. Why had it sounded like he had said that right next to my ear? Why had he sounded so close?
In an attempt at self-preservation, I focused on work as much as possible. I studied different reports on criminals or persons of interest for hours, until Lynn sent her assistant to fetch me. I logged off my computer then and followed him, trying to quell the anxious churning in my belly. Shoving my fingers in my pockets, I tried to appear normal and as though I wasn’t hearing strange voices in my head.
My ears whirred once more, feeling hollow and I pawed at them.
“I’m going to consume you, Kassandra. You’re going to be mine, forever.”
It was him again and I tried not to flinch. He wasn’t here. He couldn’t be. He was somewhere in Mykonos, on his villa tending to his vineyard. He wouldn’t waste his time on someone as meaningless as me.
I was at work. I had to focus and ignore whatever was happening to me. I was just tired, or jet-lagged or something. It had to be that simple.
“Kassandra. Listen, I read your report and some things just aren’t adding up,” Lynn said curtly, gesturing to the chair in front of her desk. I sat down and nervously picked at my nails. Her assistant closed the door, rushing out to give the two of us privacy. I swallowed apprehensively.
She questioned me for what felt like an hour. What I saw at the villa. Why Antonio had brought me to the party in the first place. Detail after detail she pulled from me until I began to feel exhausted and I was beginning to question my own story. The longer I was with her, the more her face looked suspicious. Eventually she gave up and shook her head.
“Listen, Kassandra. You’re not yourself. Go home. Take the rest of the day off and don’t come back tomorrow. I’m mandating that you take some vacation time and figure out some things before you return on Monday,” she said, and I knew better than to refuse.
I nodded. I must have looked dejected or something because her face drew tight with concern.
“It’s not a punishment. You’re just not yourself. You look strung out, to be honest and if I had the funds to pay for it, I’d send you to a spa for the weekend. Just go home, get some sleep, and come back fresh next week. I’ll put you to work on profiling someone else, without connections to Antonio. Whatever he did to you, you’re different. You’re one of my most valuable agents, Kassandra, and I want that woman back,” she added, much more gently than before. She looked really worried and it saddened me that I had disappointed her.
“Thanks, Lynn. I appreciate everything you’ve done for me,” I replied quietly, and it was true. She’d helped me rise in the agency and I wouldn’t have gotten to where I was now without her. Sure, she was a hard ass sometimes, but it was really for my own good. She pushed me and that’s what I needed.
She shooed me away and I left her office. I returned to mine and gathered my things, before leaving for the day. It was only two o’clock. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Nicole watching me and I decided then that I was going to lock my door this evening and not come out. I didn’t want to deal with any more of her questions. At least not tonight.
But first, I needed a fucking drink.
In a rush, I hurried to the subway and then to the nearest bar only a few blocks from my apartment. Finley’s. It was a small Irish pub, but the bartenders there were good at making any drink you wanted. The beer was good, but their cocktails were even better. And cheap.
My friend Donna was already there. It wasn’t even happy hour yet. She grinned when she saw me and winked, her expression salacious.
“I’m skipping class, but what’s your excuse? Aren’t you supposed to be somewhere in Europe on some secret world-saving mission?” she teased, her mouth tipping up in a playful grin.
I laughed. Donna was a good friend. She was a grad student at the nearby university and knew only very vague details about what I did for a living, which is all I could really share. She understood I worked in a highly classified position for the government and that I helped persecute dangerous criminals, but that was pretty much it.
I sat down next to her.
“Two shots of tequila. Chilled. With a lime, please,” I said.
“Damn, that kind of day, huh. What happened, you get fired?” Donna asked, her face quickly turning serious. “You know, if you did, I could always use another roommate. We could share my bedroom. There’s easily room for another twin bed in there.” She was sweet. I could always count on her to listen and I needed that from her today.
The bartender slammed two shots down in front of us and I grabbed both of them, downing one after the other before sucking hard on the slice of lime. The tequila burned going down, but I relished it because it felt normal. I needed something normal.
