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“He’ll kill you. Please believe me,” I urged the man as he helped me up. “Go! Floor it, and don’t look back,” I begged him before I staggered away.
I looked around, scanning the area. Shadows sat along the edges of the parking lot where a big square building housed the diner and toilet block. A few trucks were filling up at a gas station off to the side. I wasted precious moments agonizing over where to go. The building? Nikolai was undoubtedly inside. The bushes? The first place he’d look. The gas station? I risked him shooting up the place to find me.
That left the trucks. I started toward the lights of the gas pumps and looked back to see that the older man had taken my warning seriously and pulled out. I could have asked him if I could go with him, but I didn’t want to endanger him anymore.
I crept up behind a truck with an open back and peered around the side. I must look a fright. My head was bleeding, and my hands were red, raw, and sheathed in blood. I needed to sneak inside somehow.
I had just found the latch to open the back when a tutting sound sent nerves scrambling through me. I froze, tears springing to my eyes. I stared hard at the dents and scratches on the surface of the metal before my face as I waited.
“Well, Mallory, this isn’t what we talked about, is it?” Nikolai’s voice was an amused drawl.
My rising hope stuttered and died in my chest.
He came closer, taking my arm in his. I struggled and smacked him on the head, biting down a scream at the pain it caused my injured wrists.
“Stop this unless you want me to put a bullet in the head of every single witness here, then get in my car, drive down that truck that just left and end him, too.”
I had no doubt he would do it. Something was broken inside Nikolai that I wasn’t sure had ever been normal in the first place. My eyes fell on a camper van fueling up a few pumps over. A mother walked around with her sleeping baby snug in a baby carrier, humming gently, while the dad pumped gas.
“Okay. I’ll go. I’ll go with you.” My voice was a pained scratch.
“That’s what I thought. Good girl,” Nikolai said, tugging me toward the car.
The window was still rolled down, and there was blood on the window ledge from when I’d crawled out.
Nikolai put me in the passenger seat, then rounded the car. “Thanks to that little stunt, we’ll need to change vehicles again,” he sighed as if my escape attempt was just a minor inconvenience to him. He got in on the other side and turned to me. “Where would you like to be tied this time?”
“Please, not my wrists. It hurts,” I admitted.
Nikolai tilted his head, considering my plea. He reached behind him and emerged with a thick length of rope instead of the zip ties.“This is the best I can do. I suggest not wriggling too much or pissing me off further if you know what’s good for you.”
He made me lean forward and tied my hands at the small of my back. Thankfully, it didn’t pull my shoulders out of place or hurt too much. He guided me back so my arms were securely tucked behind me and fastened my seatbelt. “Safety first, Miss Madison,” he quipped, his good humor seemingly restored.
“What happened to you?” I murmured when he reached across me to fasten my seatbelt. “What made you like this?”
“Why? You think something can fix me?” Nikolai asked, meeting my gaze. “I could say it was my past, my fucked-up childhood, my father, Kirill . . . or just bad blood.”
“Is it? Is that why?”
He paused before leaning out of the car and shaking his head ruefully. "Plan B isn’t going to work if you’re hoping to endear yourself to me, Mallory. I don’t care about you, my brother, or your fucking star-crossed lovers deal.”
“What do you care about?” The words were forced from my lips before I could consider if it was a good idea to push Nikolai like this. Maybe I had a death wish, but I couldn’t seem to shut up.
He ignored me as he rounded the car and got into the driver’s seat.
“Well?” I pushed. Yep, death wish confirmed.
He started the car and pulled out, spraying gravel in all directions.“Enough questions or I’ll gag you. You’ve been warned.”
He turned the radio on. Heavy rock music pounded through the speakers, and I turned my face toward the window. It was smeared with blood, where I’d hit it with my head. I willed my eyes shut and tried not to panic.
Kirill would come for me. If I wasn’t sure about anything else in this life, I was sure of that. Kirill would come for me, and God help Nikolai when he did.
* * *
I must have driftedoff again. When I woke, we were moving slowly, rocking back and forth on a dirt track. I’d lost track of how long we’d been on the move. It could have been one day or three.
My head pounded. I probably had a concussion, and my body ached. I’d been to the bathroom a few times by the side of the road while Nikolai held a gun trained on me, and I’d eaten the odd banana he’d tossed my way. I was no stranger to hunger, though the last few weeks at Kirill’s with Olga’s cooking had spoiled me.
