AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Even more concerning is how difficult it would be for me to adapt to his lifestyle. The wealth would be easy to get used to, sure, but the constant threat of his enemies trying to gun us down in broad daylight terrifies me.
Not to mention how terrified I would be that any day could be his last. I’m sure that there are many women who experience this with men in all kinds of professions, but there’s at least some kind of recourse for fatal injury for those men. If Saint were to die or become seriously injured, his family wouldn’t have the same kind of safety net that a normal family gets to have. I would be completely on my own with our children, fending for myself in a world far more dangerous than I had ever known before.
“Hey, you’re up,” Saint says as he turns toward me in bed. “Didn’t think you’d be the type to sleep late.”
I stretch slightly, my eyes still adjusting to the light from his phone as he scrolls through it. “Yeah, usually I don’t, but I’ve been feeling a lot more tired than usual for the past few days. I’m not sure why, though.”
Ihavebeen questioning why I’ve been so fatigued, but I’ve chosen to ignore it and blame the cold weather. It’s not that unusual for people to sleep more in the winter, and I’m typically far more active in the summer, so the change in activity makes sense to me. At least, that’s what I’m going to tell myself for now. I’d rather focus on Saint than an imaginary problem like oversleeping.
He leans over and kisses my forehead, which I find to be unusually intimate for knowing each other so briefly. It sends flutters through my stomach that I wish I could keep in a jar forever.
“So, here’s some bad news. Vadik showed up last night, and he was going to try to break into your house,” he begins, placing his phone on the bedside table as his expression turns serious.
My stomach drops. “What? How do you know? Did he get in here?” I ask, uncertain as to how alarmed I should be. I’m pretty damn scared, regardless. “How did he know where I live?”
“Okay, calm down a little. I caught him, and he’s dead in the back of my SUV. Not the first body I’ve had to transport in the damn thing, so don’t worry about that,” he explains.
I’m definitely still worried.
“As for how he knew where you live, I’m not certain. It wouldn’t surprise me if someone in his bratva family must have seen us together and gathered information about you based on that. They have very sophisticated technology for shit like that,” he continues as he sits up to get out of bed.
“Oh my god, they can really find you that easily? Like, my address and everything?” I ask, doing the best I can to keep my nerves from taking over. I’m pretty sure I’m failing.
“Yeah, but Vadik is dead. So far, he’s the only one I can imagine has any sort of vendetta against you, no matter how unwarranted. We should be fine for a little while, but you should still move in order to throw them off your trail,” he replies.
“Where am I supposed to go? I have a mortgage here. I can’t just pick up everything and move into an apartment until this all blows over,” I reply, feeling a twist in my stomach at the prospect of being watched by such dangerous people.
“Well, they know that you’re affiliated with me, so you might have to. You can stay with me if you need, since that’ll be less of a hassle for you. Not to mention, they’re a lot less likely to try to break into my place. They came here first for a reason.”
The prospect of staying with Saint is alluring, but I feel like I’d be making a big decision with too little time to think it through. On one hand, the sex we’ve had and the connection we share could make it a really easy transition. On the other hand, I don’t know him that well, and he’s the reason my life is being threatened in the first place.
I never believed that people could get along in the same house if they had known each other for less than six months at least, but then again, I’ve been breaking a lot of my previous standards. I was never the type of girl to have a one-night stand before, and certainly not the kind who would let a man into my house without at least two good dates. Saint has been showing me that the right person really can become an exception, though I’m not sure if this is a wholly good thing yet.
“Really, it’s not a good choice to stay here. You don’t have to stay with me, but your family is a state away, at least. It would be easier if you stayed at my place. You’d be safer there than anywhere else,” he continues.
I’m hesitant, but I know he’s right. How I got into this situation isn’t important anymore. Whatisimportant is making sure that my parents don’t have to find out about me being found hacked to pieces by the Russian mafia. Maybe if I had tried dating an accountant or a salesman, my biggest concern would be a dead bedroom and his terrible sense of personal style. I guess that what I’ve gotten in sex appeal with Saint, I’ve also gained in danger.
Is that really worth it? Or is it stupid to pretend that it’s not?
“Alright, fine. But I need some time to pack. If you write down the address, I’ll meet you there in like an hour or two. Can we do that?” I ask, still nervous as I talk myself into this plan.
He gets up to put on his pants. “Yeah, I still need to get rid of the body, anyway. Hopefully, it’ll snow again before anyone sees the blood in the backyard. Don’t take too long, though. I don’t like the idea of you being out here alone.”
The fact that he’s so protective of me makes me wish he would just pick me up and carry me everywhere. “Alright, I’ll let you know when I leave, okay?”
He leans in for another kiss, and a temporary but intense warmth fills me before he prepares to leave the house.
I feel an ache in my chest as I hear the door close behind him, but I’ve started to notice a pointed, unforgiving nausea forming in my stomach. It’s the kind of thing I’d expect to feel after taking one too many shots in a short period of time, but there’s nothing I can think of that could cause me to react so intensely.
Being sick has never slowed me down before, and I’ve always taken pride in my ability to work through the worst flu imaginable, even if I have to do it at home. However, I’m starting to worry that this sickness might have a little more staying power behind it than other illnesses I’ve had before. It’s coming on so rapidly that I hardly have the chance to even think of a source for it before it begins to intrude upon any other thought I might have.
I begin to put together a bag of essentials, hoping that I don’t look too slovenly compared to the rest of the company that Saint keeps. I can’t imagine how self-conscious I would feel if I saw a woman who looked much better than me, glancing at me here and there to dissect my inferiority.
After tossing some clothes into a suitcase, the nausea has started to take over, demanding my immediate attention. I wonder to myself if there’s some kind of quick fix – I really don’t want to be dealing with the flu on the day that I’m running from the mafia again. It’s truly uncanny that the weirdest thing that had ever happened before this was getting my appendix out when I was fourteen.
I try my hardest to suppress it, but over the next ten minutes, a thin sheen of sweat forms across my forehead, and I realize that I’m going to lose this battle.
I sprint to the bathroom, barely making it to the toilet before I vomit all over the back of it. Fuck, now I have to clean this before I leave!
