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“I quit.”
“Really? You quit? How convenient. Could it have something to do with you being caught with your hand in the cookie jar?”
Her jaw dropped. “Excuseyou?” She stared at me in disbelief.
I stood, leaning forward with my hands on the desk. “I know.” I said, looking her in the eye.
Her lips twisted derisively, arms folded, head tilted. “What is it that you know, Alexei?”
I straightened up, mirroring her pose. “Why are you here, Nora? What are you looking for?”
“What do you mean by that? Why am I here? I came to get my bag and my bike.”
I clenched my jaw rapidly losing my patience. “Don’t play coy with me.Who sent you?”
All the attitude disappeared from her stance, and she paled. She looked trapped, lost. My heart sank. I’d been hoping she was innocent of Kirill’s accusations. I took a deep shaky breath. “Why? Why would you even try to come for me? There’s only one way this ends.”
If she was pale before, now she was white as a sheet.
“How does it end?” she rasped. “Tell me.” She was curiously intent.
I rounded the desk, walking over to her and pulling up her shirt. I stared at her chest as she stumbled backwards, struggling to pull her shirt back down. “What the fuck?” she gasped.
“Just checking if you’re wired. Relax.”
“Relax?” she practically screeched, “Have you lost your mind?”
“Have you? Who do you work for?”
She gaped at me then threw her head back and screamed with laughter. “Who am I working for? That’s rich.”
I was fed up and losing patience. My hand reached up of its own volition and closed around her throat. “Quit dicking around and give me a straight answer.”
“Oh, you want a straight answer?” she rasped through the grip I had on her throat. “I’ve been asking for a straight answer formonths—all the while just hoping that it wasn’t you, that you weren’t involved. Guess I’m the chump.”
“Oh yeah? You were hoping this was some kind of fairy tale, and I was some misunderstood murderer with a heart of gold?” I laughed, hauling her closer by her neck. “Well, news flash, baby. I own all this shit. Nothing happens around here without my say so.”
Her already flushed face grew redder and suddenly contorted with rage. Her hand came up and scratched my face. “You sick bastard! What did you do with her?”
I dropped her, reaching for my injured eye, stumbling backward. “Fuck! What thehell, Nora?”
I couldn’t believe she’d done such a vicious thing. The kitten had claws after all. She’d scratched deep enough to draw blood.
My eyes were closed as I dabbed at my wound, and I heard running footsteps and the door open. By the time I’d gotten my vision back, I realized she’d run off. I stood in the middle of the room, panting with rage as I held my arm up to cover the wounds on my eye.
This isn’t over.
CHAPTERTWENTY-NINE
NORA
Igrabbed my shit as fast as possible and lit out of there. I didn’t know how Alexei had found out who I was or what I was doing, but I had my suspicions.
Blood was thicker than water, after all.
I still had a shift at the hospital, and I could not afford to miss it. Alexei knew where I worked now, and apparently, he was also on the board. I figured it was just a matter of time before they fired me, but I wasn’t going to give them an excuse.
My shift was beginning at noon, and I had thirty minutes to get there. I decided to take a bus, hustling my bike into it with great difficulty. Happily, my stop was just outside the hospital, and I made it with ten minutes to spare. I was able to park my bike, get to the locker room and change in time.
