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“Thank you.” She started sipping the water.
Next, I gave her some cough syrup. “Uncle Vik is downstairs, entertaining our guests.” I made a face. “He’s entertaining one in particular. Annika. She’s a snooty piece of work, just like her big sister. My uncle normally wouldn’t give her the time of day but they’re engaged, so he has to spend some time with her. Of course, Annika isn’t as horrible as her sister, Anastacia. That one has been trying to get her claws into Kristoff forever. Who even calls their daughter that these days, anyway? Men are so dumb. They can’t see what’s right in front of them.” I fluffed up the pillows behind her. “Lay back. You’ll feel better soon.”
“Thanks, that’s nice of you. It’s refreshing not to be treated like a backstabbing bitch.”
I chuckled. “Oh, I never said I don’t think you’re a bitch. I just never bought the whole ‘Church Bells’ story.”
Her eyebrows squished together. “Church Bells?”
“An Etta James song,” I explained. “Though I like Beyoncé’s version better.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Elena said with a slurred voice.
I frowned. “How can you not know? Everybody knows the story of how Viking saw you getting hitched to another man the day he was released from jail. And not to just any man, but his enemy. His heart turned into stone when he saw you leaving the church together. Ringing any church bells?”
Elena’s eyes closed, and she slumped back into bed. The syrup must have kicked in.
I sighed. It seemed that getting the details on this epic love/hate story wasn’t going to be easy. It was time to go back to the original source of the tale, the one who had told me about it.
I found Kristoff in the gym. He lay on a bench, lifting weights.
I sat on a bench next to him. “What’s going to happen to Elena?”
“That’s Viking’s business.”
I snorted. “You might not want to say that out loud. His fiancée might overhear.”
Kristoff didn’t look too worried. “I think she can handle it. Their marriage is one of convenience, after all.”
“Like yours will be?”
His head whipped in my direction, but he didn’t deny it. He just kept pumping iron.
“I want Vicky to stay,” I said, changing the subject. “I like her.”
“And for her to stay, her mother needs to stay,” he surmised.
“Exactly.” I made a gesture for him to get on with it. “So do your thing, make Viking release Elena. I know you have the power to do it.”
He gave me an incredulous look. “Make a man who has claimed a woman let her go? A man like Viking?”
I huffed. “Claimed? Locked up, you mean.”
“For a Bratva man, that’s the same.”
I didn’t like where this was going. “That’s ridiculous.”
“It’s a fact.” His gaze casually swept over me. “Be glad you’re not on the receiving end ofVorylaw.”
The way he said it, the tone of his voice, sounded as if he wished things were different. And they could have been, if he hadn’t been so adamant about keeping me out of his life.
I sauntered over to him and placed my hands on either side of his body. Then I leaned over. From here, I could see the sweat on his chest, smell his spicy aroma. My stomach fluttered, and hot images from that night in his car flashed into my mind. My heart raced a million miles an hour, which was saying something, since it was taped together with duct tape.
Kristoff’s pupils dilated and his nostrils flared. I couldn’t hide a smile of victory. I still affected him.
“You don’t have to warn me again,pakhan,” I whispered. “I got your message loud and clear. You don’t consider me forever material. I have moved on. In fact, I’ve decided to start dating again.” I debated patting him on the cheek, just to bring my message home, but decided not to poke the beast any further.
I pulled away, still smiling. Oh yeah, the big bad Kristoff Romanov seemed to have frozen in place. Yet his gaze was as hot as a blue flame. A flameIhad put there.
