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I shook my head vehemently, and he fell quiet again. His lip twitched like he was holding back a scowl, and his eyes searched the crowd behind us, watching us curiously and murmuring to each other. It put me even more on edge, too many people who might be able to identify me. I whimpered, curling in on myself a little, while still keeping my attention on Viktor and whatever he was doing. He growled, stepping closer, and I flinched at his harsh tone.
Before he could speak, his phone rang and I let out a small breath when he answered it. He made an irritated sound and hung up without a word, tucking the phone into his pocket.
“Here. Take this. If you have trouble, you can call me. Understand?”
He held out a little flip phone, giving me a significant look. He wasn’t going to let me say no, I knew that, so I took the phone to appease him. He waited until I tucked it into my pocket before stepping away from me.
My heart beat heavily in my ears, blocking out the murmurs from the crowd. I held my breath, waiting for him to walk away. Once he climbed back into his car, I made a beeline for the alley, skipping my normal spot and disappearing into the shadows.
* * *
It took me a few days to work up the nerve to go back to my spot. I would’ve avoided it completely, but there was food there, and water. I couldn’t leave that stuff behind. I waited until the cover of darkness and snuck back over, letting out a relieved sigh when everything was where I left it. I wouldn’t have been surprised if it had been stolen, but I would’ve been disappointed.
Viktor was nowhere around from what I could see, so I sat down and opened one of the cans of food, using an old plastic spork I kept in my jacket to eat the contents. Viktor’s phone and money remained untouched in my pocket since the last run-in I had with him. He looked sincere, but I couldn’t rely on looks, not after everything I’d been through. He was still a man cornering me in an alley, trying to get me to go home with him.
After I’d finished and cleaned up, I took a minute to sit and think. When I started coming back here, I’d wanted Viktor’s help. I figured I might get lucky, and he’d toss some money my way if he was in a good mood or something. I didn’t mean to catch his attention to where he felt he needed to rescue me. That wasn’t what I wanted. I trusted a man once and look where it got me. Viktor may be a generous person, but that didn’t mean I was going to trust him.
The door to the club flew open, and I ducked automatically. Tiffany had taken to leaving the bags of trash next to the dumpster since it was full and waiting for pick up, so I hid behind them, worried that it was Viktor again. It wasn’t, but I didn’t move from my hiding place. Not after I heard what they were saying.
“He needs to die.”
“Just say when, boss, and I’ll take care of it.”
The boss shot the speaker a dirty look. “Yesterday. I am tired of dealing with his bullshit. Volkov thinks he can come into my territory and just take over? He is even working with the O’Connors now. It’s an insult and I won’t allow it. This is my city. I want his head on a platter.”
One by the door frowned deeply. “He is attempting to be diplomatic. You don’t think–”
The boss bared his teeth. “I do not bow down to street filth.”
The man next to him grinned evilly. “Excellent. How are we going to do it? Hell, it all sounds fun, but I call dibs on the bodyguard. Viktor, isn’t it? That asshole is mine.”
I stifled a gasp, my body trembling. Whoever these guys were, they planned on hurting Viktor. And even though I didn’t want to accept his help, he’d saved my life, and it felt wrong not to do something about it. As carefully as I could to not draw attention to myself, I pulled the phone Viktor gave me out of my pocket. It had a tiny camera on it and I flipped it open carefully, pointing it at the group as I hit record.
“We need a plan. Volkov is not this feared without reason. We need to hit him when he least expects it.”
The one behind him made an irritated noise. “That is the coward's way. We should attack him head on. He thinks we are allies. It should not be hard to surprise him.”
The little one who said he wanted to hurt Viktor made a face. “Agreed. We should meet him out in the open, show the city who is truly in charge. Why not set up another meeting here? There are no cameras in the club. We can take him out publicly and still get out before we are caught.”
The boss looked furiously between them, obviously unhappy about their arguing with him, but he eventually bobbed his head in agreement.
“Fine. Set it up. And soon. I want him dealt with. Make it sound worth his while to get him here. It’ll be sweeter to see the look on his face when he realizes he is nothing.”
They finished up their cigarettes, not even bothering to stomp them out before all but one headed back inside. I waited a moment before I ended the video. Keeping the phone tucked against me so the man left behind wouldn’t notice, I pulled up the one number that was saved in the contacts. It'd been a while since I used a phone, so it took me a minute to figure out how to send the video. I sent it off without adding anything else and tucked the phone away again. Whoever stayed outside pulled out another cigarette while talking on his phone, so I laid my head down, trying to stay out of sight. I figured I’d wait him out before sneaking away.
ChapterFour
It didn’t take longfor me to figure out that the guy was left outside as security. He looked like he had no intention of leaving, so I was stuck where I was. I couldn’t crawl away without being noticed, and he didn’t move aside from pulling out cigarette after cigarette. He went through like three in an hour, which seemed extreme. I watched him through a space between the trash bags. He never once looked in my direction and I felt okay as long as he stuck to playing with his phone.
A familiar rumble overhead made me hopeful that he would go inside. It didn’t take long for the rain to start falling and the man grumbled to himself, putting his phone in his pocket. He stood outside for a few minutes, but eventually he got irritated. My heart picked up when he turned toward the door. So close. Just go inside, and I can get away.
He’d pulled the door open when the phone Viktor gave me buzzed in my pocket. I jerked, curling around it to muffle the sound, but the man swung around, his eyes narrowed suspiciously. I held my breath when he looked in my direction. He looked like he was going to step toward me when screams filtered out of the club. He whipped his head around and ran inside without checking on me first.
A whoosh of air escaped me and I squeezed my eyes shut for a second, willing my heart to stop racing. A second too long, it seemed, because he was back a second later, followed by a few of the men he’d been talking to earlier. The boss had his arm around one of their shoulders, a grimace on his face as they dragged him into the alley.
“What the fuck is happening? Why is he attacking us?”
“I don’t know, but we need to move,” one man urged, his accent thick and rough.
