24. Olive

24

OLIVE

I t’s quiet in Alik’s apartment when we step through the threshold, neither of us feeling the need to fill the silence. His hand leaves mine to flip on the light, and I wander inside, my lips spread in a woozy smile without a drop of alcohol in my blood.

What a night.

What a perfect, perfect night.

Alik shuts the door while my eyes land on the new chair at the table, mismatched with the first.

“Have you had company?” I ask, trying to keep my voice relaxed, but I can’t help the accusation when it slips.

Alik’s palm caresses my lower back while his lips press against my ear. “No. Why?”

I open my mouth to reply, but then I just point to the chair to let it speak for me. He follows my finger, and when he seems to understand my meaning, he comes around to face me, his eyes roaming my face while he plays with a lock of my hair.

“I got some new furniture this morning,” he says, meeting my eyes. “I told you, I’m confident I’m going to be able to leverage the mob boss’s arrest to take the target off your back. You don’t ever have to stay with me if you don’t want to, but soon enough, it should be safe. If you want to.”

I look at the chair again, leaning forward as the tension in my chest unwinds. “You got it for me…”

When I meet his gaze again, his eyes are slightly constricted like he’s confused that I could think any other way. “Of course.” He scratches the back of his neck. “Olive, I…”

His lips stay parted, frozen with the unspoken words.

You what, Alik?

Please, say it.

It’s killing me to say it back.

I stare at him during the seconds that tick by, my heart pulling toward him, my heels rocking with anticipation.

I love you .

A bubble of tension seems to wind around us, pulling us closer, locking our eyes, our souls . I changed my mind. He doesn’t have to say it. With his eyes on me like they are right now, nothing in the world could ever tear us apart, could ever make me feel his love any less. I close my eyes and arch my neck when he goes to kiss me.

And then, with a rap on the door, the bubble pops.

I jump and grip his arms while he turns to face the door as the pounding continues.

“Alik, It’s Sergey. I found the bitch. Open up.”

Alik tenses beneath my touch while I freeze.

“Come on, man. I’ve been waiting outside your apartment all night. I know you’re in there. Ditch the tail and let’s go.”

Alik doesn’t move.

I don’t move.

But my heart… It doesn’t know whether to stop beating or to beat faster. It’s as confused as I am.

The man outside speaks with the same accent I heard the night my killers came for me. I recognize it. More than that, I recognize his voice .

He was there that night. He tried to kill me.

We didn’t lock the door when we came in, so it opens for the man when he turns the knob and bursts inside. His image plays from when he walked past me by the vending machine, so confident, so deadly.

He doesn’t seem to even notice me when he kicks the door shut and faces Alik who’s tensed in front of me.

The man, Sergey, breathes heavily with what looks like excitement, his eyes wide. “She’s staying at her parents’ lake house. Fox and I found all her shit there. She was gone when we showed up, but we’re confident she’ll be back, so come on, we need you.” He jerks his head to signal toward the door then turns halfway but stops when our eyes meet.

His face scrunches with confusion before he looks to Alik for answers. Alik, his friend. His partner .

The Bratva.

That’s who Alik has been protecting me from. His own people.

My feet shuffle backward, suddenly not feeling so safe near the two men.

“ You ?” Sergey says, his gaze trained on Alik. “You killed Pavel?”

“I’m sorry,” Alik takes a step toward his friend while shaking his head. “That was never my intention. I didn’t know Nikita sent you to hurt Olive. I assumed you were the Irish.”

“ What ?” Sergey asks, incredulous. “It was your job to kill the cunt.” He waves an angry hand at me. “We were cleaning up your mess, and you fucking shot at us?” His voice raises as his face reddens, his wild eyes ping ponging between Alik and me.

I take a few more steps back while my ears ring.

Alik was supposed to kill me?

“She was useful to us in ways Nikita didn’t understand.”

“Useful to us ?” Sergey laughs while running a hand through his brown hair. “You’re the only one fucking her.”

“That isn’t what I mean.”

“What the fuck do you mean, then?”

Alik is quiet for several moments, but I don’t think he’s trying to find words to describe my usefulness.

I’m not useful. I’ve never been useful. Maybe that’s something he told himself at one time, but it’s never been true.

They wanted him to kill me.

Was it a coincidence that he lived next door? Or did they put him there on purpose, just to wait for the perfect opportunity to use me as they saw fit?

That night when I blacked out… When I wound up at the Irish drug house…

No.

I bump into the kitchen counter and grip the base while my knees threaten to buckle.

That night in the alley, when he showed up just at the perfect time, claiming people wanted to hurt me…

Was he there to hurt me?

What if I hadn’t had that video? That was when things changed, wasn’t it? He told me it would keep me alive. If I hadn’t had it, would he have killed me?

Oh my God.

“I love her,” Alik admits at last. I wanted those words so badly, but now all they do is close my throat and block the sob that tries to push from my chest.

Sergey’s face twists with pain. “You betrayed your family, killed your brother…” He shakes his head. “You’re a disgrace.”

Alik nods. “I know. Nikita will know everything before he gets released. You have my word.”

“Ah, your word.” Sergey bursts out a dry laugh and pulls out his gun. “Well, I’ll let him know what you said.”

“You don’t want to do that,” Alik warns.

Sergey points the gun at Alik’s head. “Fuck you.”

I drop to the floor as the gun goes off. My lungs suck in a gasp that my ears don’t pick up over the ringing in them. Alik has Sergey pinned against the door, the gun dropping to the carpet, and with a quick jerk of Alik’s hands, Sergey’s neck twists awkwardly.

My eyes clench shut as I scream and wrap my arms around my knees. A voice whispers something in my mind that I can’t place.

“ You’re going to sleep now, gorgeous .”

It’s Alik’s voice.

I hear it over and over. I don’t know where I heard it or when, but it’s so clear, so menacing.

And then it hits me.

That night he came to my apartment. He put something in my drink. I told him to leave, demanded it, but he just smirked at me. He caught me when I fell and laid me on the couch.

“ You’re going to sleep now, gorgeous .”

He was there to hurt me.

I let out a whine as my heart expands until it ruptures, and I break into little pieces on the floor. My chest physically aches. My mouth dries. My legs feel unbearably heavy.

I can’t be here.

“Olive,” Alik gently says, his voice near. “It’s okay. It’s over.”

When his hand cups my knee, I jerk away from him, my eyes flying open. “Don’t touch me.”

He flinches like I’ve slapped him and pulls his hand away. His eyes flicker like he’s searching for the right words to say, but there are no right words. Only truth. And I’m no longer too blind to see it.

“Please,” I rasp out, pressing myself against the bottom cabinet to get as far away from him as possible. “Please just go away.”

He stares at me a moment before his eyes lower in defeat and he stands. He turns to the door, but before walking away, he looks at my feet. “I would never hurt you, Olive.”

He drags the body away from the entrance and stuffs it into the utility closet before he leaves me cowering like a frightened animal in his kitchen, the door softly clicking shut behind him. I don’t know if I’m truly frightened or if I’m just heartbroken, but I know one thing for certain.

I can’t stay here.