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“Probably no later than eight. Can’t you at least tell me some of what the hell you’ve been doing?”
“Trust me,” I say. “You’re going to need a stiff drink when you get here.”
“I’ll bring the drinks. You get the stiff, as in Huey and Duey.”
“Oh God, will you shut up!” I laugh. I’m so glad to hear her voice. “Just promise you won’t hate me, or at the very least, promise that you’ll hear me out.”
“Kat, I could never hate you,” she says earnestly. “I’ll be there. And Monique was asking for you.”
“I can’t tell her this,” I whisper.
Monique is a good friend; she knows about my family ties, but she isn’t privy to most of the things Ana is, for her own protection. I couldn’t keep anything from Ana as much as I tried. She always has her nose in, no matter what.
A few hours later, after Aleksi said it was okay for her to come to dinner, Ana is sitting cross-legged on my bed and staring at me.
I tell her everything.
Every damn detail.
She hugs me, and I feel the tears welling behind my eyes.
“It was so awful, Ana. I didn’t know if I was going to live or die.”
“I’m so sorry,” she says. “That is so fucked up.”
“The only saving grace was Marco.” The words leave my mouth, and it feels like a relief to tell someone.
She knows what we did and what I wanted him to do more of.
“Rewind,” she says, shaking her head and sipping the vodka from the shot glass. “You fucked Marco Medici. I want to hear that part again.”
“I was also kidnapped, Ana. You remember that part, right?”
“I can’t believe it,” she throws the shot back and winces. “You almost got sold…to a sex trafficking ring? Do those things really exist? I thought that was just in the movies.”
“Yes,” I whisper, pain hitting me in the chest. “They exist, and that’s where I was headed.”
“What did they want, like a ransom or something?”
“That’s just it, they didn’t want anything. They were bribing this other girl, Mia, for her sister to kill Angelo Medici.”
“Holy shit. I saw on the news that he was pronounced dead, then a few days later, he’s made front page news; his death was some huge fucking hoax. What is it with that family and bad omens?”
Oh yes, we have those too. Russian Orthodox is no joke.
“Tell me about it.” I make the cross sign across my chest.
“That is so fucked.”
“I know.”
She shakes her head, assessing me, then says, “Tell me that part again, when Marco carried you out of that horrible place.”
I shoot her a look. “You’re not helping, Ana. I need to know what to do.”
“I’ll tell you, but you’re not going to like it.”
“You’re going to tell me to never see him again, aren’t you? That it’s all in my head.”
