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“Did the new girls stop by yet?” Viking asked, in an obvious attempt to change the subject. Two new potential strippers had applied last night and were supposed to be coming in for an audition.
“Don’t know. I’m sure someone will send them over to you when they arrive.” I looked him over. “Married life doesn’t seem to suit you.”
“You’re not going to let this go, are you?”
I leaned back in my chair. “I see you struggling with your prickly bride, so I’m going to help you out.” Because I was generous like that. “See, life is actually very simple. You make choices and they have consequences. For example, my mother chose to sleep with her boss, a married, American politician. The result was that when she got pregnant, he kicked her out of his life. Action, consequence. You locked up the woman you claim to hate.”
He gave me an acid look. “There’s no ‘claim.’ She betrayed me, so yeah, I do hate her.”
“You kidnapped her,” I said, ignoring his rant. “And kept her under lock and key. You could have killed her. Could have handed her over to Vasili when he asked for her blood, but you didn’t. Instead, you made her your wife. You would have rather put a bullet into your brain than give her up. That’s how much you wanted to keep her. Now you look like a man slighted. Like a man stuck in the past, though he wants to keep going forward.”
He looked at his watch. “You done?”
“Ever thought about why people find the Joker so fascinating?” Heath Ledger’s version was my favorite. Dark as hell, yet realistically honest.
“Can’t say I have.”
“Because he’s insane, absolutely certifiable, yet also cunning, and he makes no excuses about any of it. People want to be him, even if only a little, even if they would never admit it out loud. Just imagine the life you’d have. Doing what you want, whenever you want, and not giving a fuck about the consequences. That’s freedom. That’s power. If he were real, we’d either be mortal enemies or great friends.” We could watch the world burn together.
“Is there a point to this story?”
I gave him a look. “Isn’t it obvious? Sometimes you need a bad guy to make a good story. Maybe Elena is your bad guy.”
He raised a brow. “So you’re saying it’s up to me how my story ends.”
I’m saying you’re a goner for this new wife you claim to hate.
I didn’t think he’d appreciate my honest opinion.
“I’m saying, I think you’re keeping her in your life ‘cause she’s not boring. If you wanted predictable, you would’ve married an accountant or something. So stop whining about it and take it like a man.”
Viking’s phone rang, and he pulled it out of his pocket. “I can’t wait until the day you get hitched.”
An image of Katya in a white veil popped into my head. “I’m like Teflon when it comes to marriage.” The corners of that Utopian image quickly turned red with blood.
Viking put the phone to his ear.
“Your bird ran,” Baran snapped on the other end of the line.
“What the hell do you mean, she ran?” Viking snarled.
“Bring Kristoff with you.”
“What do you need him for?”
“Trust me. He’ll want to be here.”
***
I followed Viking in my car, thinking he’d want to collect his wife and drive her off into the scorching sunset. More importantly, I wanted to take Katya home with me. Katya, who had ended up in a car by herself in the middle of the night.
Recognizing Baran’s BMW at the end of a cul-de-sac, I parked behind it. Viking was already out of his car, rushing into a house with its door already open.
I heard Elena’s booming voice. “This is for Katya! And this is for all the other women you’ve hit before her, you jackass.”
I got out and opened the passenger door of Baran’s car. Katya looked as white as a sheet, her long locks of hair drooped over one shoulder.
I held my hand out to her. She took it without hesitation and followed me to my car. I’d noticed her little black dress and single, sparkly high-heeled shoe. My eyes narrowed at the redness on one of her cheeks.
