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Olivia’s fear-filled blue eyes flashed through my mind unbidden, and I stopped. I straightened my cuffs, smoothed a hand through my hair, and continued to look straight ahead.
“Do not question me.”
“But, boss—”
I walked out without a word, with only one question floating through my thoughts on repeat.
Who?
Chapter 20
Olivia
Michael was sleeping with his tummy full of dinner, and I was up on the couch, trying to read a cozy mystery but unable to remember anything on the page.
I was still toying with the idea of whether I should tell Viktor about Luis knowing the man who had killed his friend. So much had happened over the past few days that I was getting antsy about everything. I really didn’t want to pile more trouble at Luis’s door, the killer was a childhood friend—someone he probably hadn’t seen in years—and he seemed to be having enough problems with his other friends. Just because Luis was Puerto Rican, didn’t mean that he knew people who was involved in any of this.
I smiled, thinking about my friend’s older brother. He would lift Michael onto his shoulders for a ride every time he saw him. Once at school he punched a guy five years older than him when I was thirteen, to protect me from his sleazy advances. I grew up with Luis, he was one of the closest things to family I had. I hoped that he would sort out whatever was going on with his friends soon, he’d been so stressed out recently and I knew Anna was worried about him. That guy Paco was a total asshole, I could imagine someone like him hurting people.
My thoughts drifted back to Viktor, and I wondered how good a judge of character I really was. Viktor didn’t strike me as the kind of man who would shoot down three people without even blinking? No. No, he didn’t. But he had, right in front of me.
***
At midnight, I was tossing and turning in my bed when my phone buzzed. It was Viktor.How are you doing?
I didn’t know whether to be scared or relieved or horny.
Can’t sleep, I texted finally, feeling my cheeks heat up with embarrassment and sudden desire.
That’s common in these situations, I’m afraid. Is there anything I can do?
I should have come out and told him everything. My fears, my worries, the way I couldn’t get that insane half hour of running from gunmen out of my head. But instead, I just wrote the one thing that came into my head,Come over.
That’s a surprise. Earlier, you were too upset.
I’m still upset. Something else happened today after I left. It’s too much to talk about over text.
There was a long pause, long enough to make me worry a little. Then he replied,This isn’t going to be a breakup conversation, is it?
I stifled a laugh. After all the crazy things that had happened today, his first concern seemed so ordinary that it was almost out of place. Yet I was flattered. Men had tried to kill him today, and his first concern was me. And not losing me.
Tears leaked out of the corners of my eyes. For the hundredth time, I wished he was in some normal job, with a normal life, where compatibility and breakups and all of that were the worst things we had to worry about. But I knew that wasn’t true with us, and there was no choice but to deal with it unless I tried cutting him out of my life entirely. Which wouldn’t work particularly well being that he was Michael’s dad.
No! I just don’t want to text about… you know. All the things that happened today.
Understandable. I can be there in half an hour. Are you sure?
I smiled. I wasn’t used to anyone outside of Anna and Luis, when he wasn’t working, prioritizing me like that.Yes, I’m sure. Michael’s sleeping, but maybe you can meet him, you know, in the morning.
Another pause as he digested the implications.I’ll be there in twenty minutes.
That made me laugh out loud.Okay. I’ll see you then.
As soon as he went quiet, I jumped up, suddenly frantic. Should I dress? Dress up? Get a shower? Did I have time?
I finally just brushed my hair out, realized I’d made my waves super frizzy by brushing them, then put my hair into a braid three times, before I was satisfied that it looked effortless like I’d just naturally had a perfect look by accident, and then threw a silk robe over my short nightgown. By the time I had that done and was deciding on whether or not to put a little concealer under my eyes to hide my tired circles, my phone signaled that someone was buzzing the intercom downstairs.
Oh God, I hadn’t even figured out what to tell him!
