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“I don’t know what to say.” She lowers the boots, and now there’s obvious suspicion in her eyes when they meet mine. “Other than to ask what this is all about. You bought me an entire outfit.” She nudges a slim box next. “I bet there’s underwear in here.”
Evan chuckles. “Told you she’d see through it.”
When her face falls, I want to murder him. The pain in the ass couldn’t be bothered to play along even for a little while.
“See through what?” Frankie asks in a much smaller voice than before. All the light, all the happiness. It’s gone.
Evan blurts it out before I can find the words. “We’re visiting our mom tomorrow, and you have to come with us. You and Mason will have to pretend to be a couple, so Mom doesn’t get the wrong idea.”
She blinks rapidly. “The wrong idea? You mean the right idea. You don’t want her to know the truth.” Her gaze swings my way, and I can’t believe how much I want to shrivel under it. “This was all your way of buttering me up, so I’d agree to go along.”
“You don’t have to go along.” Evan takes a slow step toward her, then another. “We can leave you here tied to the bed all day… or even better, we can take you back to your apartment and do what should’ve been done last night.” I understand why he said it, even if I know he doesn’t mean it. Or does he? She’s obviously done something to piss him off.
“Listen.” I hold up a hand to stop him from scaring her worse than she already is. If there wasn’t so much hanging in the balance, I might feel differently. “We did you a favor last night by sparing your life. I don’t think you understand the risk we took. If Dimitri catches even a hint of you being alive, he’ll track us down.”
“Not to ask if we wanna go out for a holiday drink, either,” Evan adds in a low voice.
“The least you can do is play along tomorrow,” I finish. “End of story.”
Her gaze drifts down to the gifts, the crumpled paper. “Got it. You didn’t have to go through all this trouble. I’ll do whatever you need.”
Hearing her sound that defeated wouldn’t sting the way it does if I hadn’t already heard her sounding so happy.
8
FRANKIE
Merry Christmas to me.
At least nobody tried to have sex with me last night. Thankfully, because my pussy is still sore. Every step I took yesterday, I could feel how they fucked me the other night. I still slept between them, this time with my ankle tied to the footboard instead of my wrists. I pointed out how uncomfortable it is to sleep that way, and Mason didn’t put up an argument. I think he feels shitty after last night.
Which he should. Bribing me like that. For a second, I thought he cared. I thought maybe Evan told him how sad I was, and they were making it up to me.
Stupid. So stupid. They don’t care about me, just their own needs.
But Mason made a point, too. They didn’t have to let me live. And if Dimitri ever found out… yeah, we’ll all be screwed. They had to know that since I doubt I was their first assignment. Not if they can afford such a nice house, not to mention the gifts Mason picked up.
Like the leather jacket I shrug into before leaving the house. It’s as soft as butter, just like the knee-high boots I’m wearing. He picked up three pairs, and the smallest are the ones that fit. The red sweater is actually one-hundred-percent cashmere. I can’t even imagine how much money all this cost.
“Ready?” Evan looks me up and down and gives me a single nod. “You look good. She’ll love you.” He then hands me a stack of festively wrapped packages for her. He and Mason are holding bags and boxes, too. They must really spoil her.
This is going to be interesting.
“Remember what we talked about.” Mason loads his packages into a car way nicer than the one they used last night. He then takes the ones I’m holding and closes the BMW’s trunk. “We’ve been dating six months now. We met at work. You’re an assistant.”
“At an investment agency.” What a joke. They kill people for a living, but she thinks they’re investment guys.
“Right.” He strokes his freshly shaved jaw. I almost like him more when he’s scruffy, but both brothers have cleaned up big time for today. I wish they weren’t so hot. I wish I didn’t want to lick their abs and other parts whenever I get a whiff of the cologne they wear. Two different brands, but both are musky and spicy and capable of making me want to forget how they kidnapped me.
Mason drives with me in the front seat. Neither of them trusts me, even with the doors locked. All I can do is look out the window as we roll down the road, noticing how many homes are fully decked out today. One house has a driveway practically overflowing with cars. People greet each other, hugging and generally being happy.
I wish I was one of them. Any of them. I have to fight the tears threatening to well up in my eyes. Wouldn’t want to upset Mom.
“This is the place?” I ask when we pull into what looks more like a luxury hotel than a nursing home.
“What? You think we’d put our mother in some shithole?” Evan sounds like he’s insulted.
“No, it’s just I never saw a nursing home this nice. You don’t visualize someplace like this when you think about a home.” The sprawling yard is sparkling with lights in all the trees and bushes and a huge nativity scene out front. Fresh wreaths decorated with big, sparkly bows hang on most of the windows.
