Chapter 31 Episode 31
1662 Words
But I can’t ignore it anymore.
“It wasn’t a date,” Nikolai barks. “I was there to gatherinformation. Belle knows too much.”
The word flashes in my head, a neon warning sign telling meto turn and run.
“I have to get out of here,” I gasp, trying to convince my legsto get with the program.
My body feels off balance. Panic constricts my lungs, and Ifeel like I’m running in a nightmare, my feet trudging throughquicksand.
The conference room is straight ahead. I need to hold my shittogether until I can grab my laptop and then I can get out ofhere. Away from the murderous businessman.
Fuck, how did I not see it sooner? He kidnapped Elise. He toldme he is God in this city. Why didn’t I listen?
He said I know too much. Does that mean he plans to shut meup? How far will he follow me? What will he do when hecatches us?
A fresh wave of panic washes over me, and I reach out tosteady myself against the wall.
And as I do, I hit a light switch.
The lights above me flicker on.
Then, my worst nightmare, the entire hallway buzzes to life,the fluorescents cranking on to full brightness and droning likea swarm of bees.
“Who the hell did that?” Arslan asks.
The lights in the hallway just flashed on and then off again.We’re supposed to be the only two people on the entire floor.Two of the only people in the building.
I stand up and stomp across my office. “I don’t know. But Ithink I have a pretty good f*****g guess.”
I step into the hallway and look both ways. It’s seeminglyempty, but I can feel we aren’t alone.
The tingling in my chest is a sensor drawing me closer andcloser. To her.
Because of course it is her. It is always her. Listening whenshe shouldn’t be, lurking outside of my office, stealing my car,following me through the restaurant kitchen while I’m tryingto commit a murder.
Belle Dowan does not know when to give it a goddamn rest.
“Come out, Belle,” I call, my voice echoing down the longhallway. “You don’t have to hide.”
“Belle?” Arslan hisses behind me. “I don’t know, man. Thiscould be Giorgos. Any of the Greeks. We just left a dead manon his doorstep, so—”
“Enough,” I hiss. Arslan shifted into Russian, but I have afeeling that doesn’t matter with Belle.
The little kiska knows more than she’s let on.
We both stop moving and hold our breath. The silence aroundus seems to amplify. Every creak of the building, everybuzzing electronic, every thump of my heart. It all feelsimpossibly loud.
And then a door squeaks.
I spin around. Belle’s frightened face stares at me through thegap. As soon as our eyes meet, she takes off running.
“Belle!” I roar after her, but she doesn’t slow down.
She’s heading for the staircase. I give chase.
“I’ll cut her off,” Arslan yells, heading the other direction. Nomatter what happens, she won’t get out of this building. Notuntil I’m ready for her to leave.
That is, if I let her leave at all.
Belle rips open the door to the stairwell and disappears. Ilower my head and book it.
As soon as I’m in the stairwell, I can hear her footfalls on thesteps. Frantic, fearful. I’m only half a floor behind her now.Every time I round a turn, I see her auburn hair dancing behindher.
Then I hear a shriek, followed by low thumps and grunts.
I round the next corner and see her sprawled out at the base ofthe stairs. Her hair is fanned out like flames, her right leg bentawkwardly beneath her.
I take the stairs two at a time and drop down next to her.“What hurts?”
“Everything,” she growls. “Don’t f*****g touch me.”
I roll my eyes. “Still too stubborn for your own good. I guessthat means it isn’t a head injury.”
“Let me go,” she says again, trying to crawl away from me.Her ankle is already starting to swell and purple. “I didn’t hearanything.”
I snort. That guarantees she definitely did hear something.“Come with me.”
I reach for her arm, but Belle swings at me. Her fist barelymisses my nose.
“You lost, Belle. Give it up.”
I grab her around the waist, pinning her right arm to her side,and I realize she’s trembling. Her entire body, head to toe, isshaking uncontrollably.
She may act tough, but she’s terrified.
“You’re going to kill me, aren’t you?”
“I should,” I admit. “You’ve been a real pain in the ass.”
Suddenly, I hear a door further down the stairwell open. “Allgood?” Arslan calls up.
“Yeah, all good,” I say.
“Okay, I’ll meet you back in your—”
“Actually,” I interrupt, “go home for tonight. I’ve got it fromhere.”
Belle snaps her attention to me. Her hazel eyes are wide,searching. She’s trying to guess what’s coming next. But it’san impossible task.
Because even I don’t know what’s going to happen.
“Uh, roger,” Arslan says. “Hasta mañana.”
I wait silently. A door swings open, clangs shut.
Once Arslan is gone, I hitch Belle up and over my shoulderwhile she struggles the entire way.
“I can walk,” she argues, slapping my back. “Put me down.”
“So you can fall all the way down the stairs?” I ask. “Nothanks. I can’t interrogate a dead woman.”
“You’re going to… interrogate me? About what?”
I pat her ass, earning another slap to my back that only makesme chuckle. “Come on now, Miss Dowan. Let’s not ruin thesurprise.”
Tying Belle up is more fun than it should be. The rough ropelooks so coarse against her smooth skin, a deliciousjuxtaposition. I find myself staring at the way it tugs across herwrists rather than finishing up my knots.
She tries to fight, but she never stood a chance. As soon as herarms are strapped to the chair, there isn’t much she can do. Shethrashes side to side, wobbling the chair onto two legs.
“You’re going to tip over,” I warn, “and when you do, I won’thelp you up.”
She huffs and sinks down into the cushion. She knows I’mright. “Why do you even have ropes in here?”
“Don’t ask questions you already know the answer to.”
She shakes her head. “I don’t know the answer. I don’t knowanything about you.”
“And don’t lie to me,” I growl. “Don’t you ever f*****g lie tome.”
My voice is vicious enough that she jolts. I’m used to havingattention on me, but something about her eyes pinned on me isextraordinarily intoxicating.
I back away and pace slowly across the room. “I think it’s timefor the two of us to be honest with each other.”
“That’s a lie,” I snap. “I just warned you not to do that.”
“I have been honest,” she insists. “When did I lie?”
“When you told me you didn’t want me. When you said youdidn’t want to f**k me.”
Her cheeks flame. “I don’t want to want you. I wish I didn’t.That’s the truth.”
Her honesty is surprising, but it’s not the revelation I’m herefor. “You told me you didn’t understand Russian.”
Her frown shifts. She blinks. I can see the fear in her eyes. I’veseen that emotion on enough faces to be intimately familiarwith all its many forms.
“Izhets,” I hiss. “You’re lying.”
“I’m not lying.” Her voice cracks. She’s near tears now,straining against the ropes around her wrists. “Whatever youthink I know, I don’t. I didn’t hear anything. I don’t knowanything.”
I stroke my chin. “You’re a smart girl, Belle. That’s whyyou’re playing dumb. That’s why you’re pretending you don’tknow that Giorgos Simatou is a mafia boss.”
Her eyes flare wide. “Stop it!”
“Stop what?” I ask with a smirk. “Stop telling you that I’m notjust a businessman?”
Belle whimpers. Her wrists are straining so hard against theropes that her fingers are turning white. She wants to plug herears, to bury her head in the sand. “Nikolai, please. Don’t tellme anything else.”
“I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know.” I pacein front of her. “How much have you figured out on yourown?”
“Just let me go home.”
“You mean back to the hotel I own?” I ask. “Or to your two-bedroom apartment in Oklahoma City? The one on LincolnBoulevard with the glamorous parking lot view?”
She gasps. “How do you—”
“I know everything.” I lean forward, studying the dark wave ofher hair over her shoulders, the way her lower lip is juttingout, puckering as she fights back tears. Her scent floats at the
edge of my perception, intoxicating. “And I know youunderstand me when I speak Russian.”
She shakes her head. “No. I don’t. I don’t know—”
“I’m the leader of a Bratva,” I say, whispering the words inRussian in her ear.
Her entire body goes rigid.
“And I killed a man with my bare hands at the restauranttonight.”
“I knew it, beautiful Belle. You can’t hide anything from me.”
The clock on the wall tolls out the seconds one by one. “Whyare you doing this?” she whimpers.
“Because you lied and now, I can’t trust you.”
- Writer
