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I shook my head. “I don’t understand what you want from me. I already told you I barely know Adrian, and Marco is a client. I’m not his woman. He comes to the club, and he pays me for my time. He doesn’t know or care how I live.”
The words came out so fast that I was glad I remembered to talk about Adrian in the present tense. His death hadn’t been in the news or on the internet despite a thorough search.
I knew that the man didn’t believe me, and I sent up a silent prayer to whoever had been watching my back that these two would simply leave my house.
“Vlad,” the leader called. “Let it go. You know what the boss said.”
Vlad, who looked exactly like a Vlad, sneered, but he backed away from me enough that I couldn’t smell his hot breath on my face. “Fine. Looks like you’ve bought yourself a reprieve.”
I let out a small breath of relief. The two men turned their backs and started for the door. I closed my eyes for a brief moment. I could hardly believe that I had somehow managed to save myself…again.
“Don’t get too comfortable,” the leader said, as he pulled the apartment door open. “I’m sure that we will be back here before you know it.”
His words were definitely a threat, and they sent a chill down my spine. I stood there completely stiff as I watched the door close. I felt like I couldn’t breath even as the door clicked shut, and I knew that I was safe.
I wasn’t sure how long I stood frozen at the door, but the sound of Nikki’s voice calling my name broke me out of my stupor. “Ivy?” Nikki asked. She rushed forward wrapping me in her arms. The warmth of her embrace was calming. “Are you alright?”
I nodded. I wasn’t sure that I could speak yet. My tongue felt numb as the reality of my situation became clearer. “I’ll be okay,” I told her once I could feel my face again.
She turned me around, and her blue eyes searched my face for signs of…I didn’t really know what she was looking for. She was probably just as freaked out as I was. “I’m sorry,” I breathed out.
I pressed a hand to my face, pushing back the curls that had escaped my bun.
“You have nothing to be sorry about.” Her embrace tightened around me, and while I normally wouldn’t allow myself to break down in front of anyone, especially not Nikki, but I couldn’t help myself. This was all too much.
“Tell me what is going on,” Nikki pressed.
I pulled away slightly, wiping the tears from my eyes. “I can’t,” I told her.
“You can. You can tell me anything.” I knew that I could, and if it was anything else, I would have told Nikki without putting her in danger.
“You are already in enough danger because of me.” I pulled myself completely out of her arms. “I need to go and check on Mikey.” What I really needed was an out. I needed to find a way to get away from Nikki before I spilled everything. If I did, I would be signing her death certificate.
“He’s fine,” she said.
I raised a brow. He couldn’t be fine. Mikey was only thirteen, but he wasn’t stupid.
“He’s got a lot of questions, but he’s resting right now. He kicked my ass in Call of Duty, so he needed a break.”
I laughed slightly and reached out for Nikki’s hand. “Thank you.” I squeezed her hand, and for a moment, I worried that she hated me when she didn’t squeeze mine back. “Nik?” I asked. I pleaded with her hoping that she would realize that as much as I wanted to tell, I couldn’t.
“I’m scared for you,” Nikki said. Her voice was small in a way that I had never heard her before.
I didn’t want Nikki to be scared, but I couldn’t tell her that she had every right to be terrified. So instead, I did something that I had only done once before, which was lie to her. “I promise that I’m okay.”
Nikki bit her bottom lip, and I knew that she was trying to keep from telling me that she didn’t believe that everything was okay, but I appreciated her attempts to keep it together.
“I have to go give Mikey his medicine,” I told her. “Then, I can make you some cookies.”
Nikki gave me a small smile. “Sounds good.”
Releasing a breath, I started to walk towards Mikey’s room. The exhaustion that I felt was deep in my bones, and I wanted nothing more than to lay in my bed and catch up on my sleep, but I couldn’t.
I was on high alert as Marco’s words from the night before played in my mind. He had warned me that people would be coming after me. I’d thought that he was just trying to scare me, but now, I knew that he wasn’t. He’d been correct. Those men found me in a little more than twenty-four hours, and though I managed to keep them away for now, I didn’t know how much longer my luck would hold out.
Sighing, I leaned against the wall outside of Mikey’s room. There were too many problems in my life, and I had no idea how to deal with them. I needed help, but there was no one to turn to.
I was alone, and I needed to figure out how to keep myself and my family safe. Unfortunately, I had no idea how to do that.
