Chapter Seventeen: Sophia

This is the first time since last night I’ve felt safe. I should have felt safer lying next to my rescuer, but knowing what Andrei does for a living kept me anchored on the edge of my sanity. I wanted to cry, but the acute trauma of having Chris’s bodyweight on me is playing like a scratched record through my head. His gropey hands all over my body, and his hands scraping around inside my shorts…. I must have gotten up a thousand times throughout the night, but Andrei slept soundly most times I did. The one time his eyes did open, he peeked, and it prompted him to open his drawer, and take his pistol out of his drawer, setting it on the nightstand.

Next to it, he dragged the same knife he was about to jab Chris with, putting it on the bedroom dresser. He crossed his arms, my nerves still shot, crossing his arms and going back to sleep. I didn’t know how to reconcile all the violence and the web I’d innocently found myself caught up in. Violence. His soul is riddled with it, and as much as I wanted Chris to stop, to watch him being killed in front of my eyes would have tarnished my soul and my life for good. I already knew too much about death.

I made a cup of tea, standing near the window, trying to make sense of it all. I couldn’t go to the police, because what would I tell them? That a Mafia boss saved me from being assaulted, only to find cops being paid off in the city? Something else to consider is the fact Chris was partner at one of the most high-powered firms in the country? No. I was trapped, having to keep the event to myself. Except for Ava. Shuddering, I thought about how I recommended her to him, literally walking my best friend into an apex predator’s trap.

I would tell her as soon as I saw her face-to-face. Finishing my tea, I slipped back under the covers, the weight and heat of Andrei’s body next to mine disconcerting. I wish it could have been someone else that saved me, but would it have worked? Sleeping in fits, I found myself looking at the hotel door, thinking Chris would come back for revenge, but what’s worse is nobody came. The hotel remained dead quiet with only the air-conditioning humming. If I wasn’t so na?ve, I would have known he was lying about the air-conditioning, and that there probably wasn’t another person on the other end of the line.

I thought about the other people I knew who worked at the firm. Both were women. I wondered if they had to “pay the price” like Chris wanted me to. He had done it before, and it killed me on the inside to know he’d been getting away with it for so long. Did Dr. Perri know about her brother? Surely, she couldn’t. Not with her research, but if I told Andrei, he would likely tell me I was blind or na?ve again. I cuddled up into myself, feeling as if my world had imploded. It wasn’t until the wee hours of the morning that sleep called and I found rest for a few hours. The next morning, I could barely keep down the breakfast Andrei literally forced me to eat.

“You must eat. Even if it’s a little something. You’re safe, Sophia. If it makes you feel any better, I have eyes all over the hotel, and I have two of my associates here, ready when I make the call. Relax for me,” he told me with such confidence, I was able to nibble a little on the croissant and coffee. His concern for me didn’t marry up to the man I knew him to be—publicly at least.

Now, as I sit silently on Andrei’s private jet with all the trimmings, do I feel some sort of relaxation, but it’s not going to be the end of it. I’m going back to Chicago, and that’s where he is, and now any chance of a law career feels as if it’s dead. Chris killed it.

Taking a sip of my sparkling water, I stare out at the clouds, stretching my legs out in the open pod next to Andrei. The guy I met with him in the alleyway is here as well, but he’s on the phone speaking in Russian. It must be their mother tongue.

There’s a certain degree of trust I have for Andrei, and it’s confusing as hell. It has me questioning my own moral code. How can a savior be so evil and cruel, but protective at the same time? He’s a Mafia boss, and I saw the slain bodies in the file. I know from last night that he’s capable of it. I watched it play out with my own two eyes.

Andrei is sitting next to me in his pod, refreshed and as dangerously sexy as he was the day I met him. He’s dressed in all black, his hair gelled back, his face relaxed as he reads the paper with great interest.

Wanting to scrub last night from my memory, I hear my own cries gurgling in my throat, tears threatening to come. I stop them just in time, wanting to capture Andrei’s attention. He saved my life in so many ways.

Clearing my throat, I cough catching his attention as he drops the paper, his intense gaze hooking on to mine. “Thank you,” I say in a humble voice as his mouth grooves into a smile, the glint of I-told-you-so reflecting back.

“I didn’t quite hear what you said. Do you mind repeating it?” He grins playfully, a string wrapping around my aching heart, but I don’t want it to. I want distance from all of it. Dr. Perri, Christopher, the research assignment, and him. I want a do-over, and to go back to the way life was before them—but it’s too late. I’ve walked into a minefield of a world so multilayered I wouldn’t know the first thing to do to dismantle it.

Rolling my eyes, I humor him. “Thank you, Andrei for rescuing me last night,” I repeat, thinking he has reason to gloat. He warned me off at the gala, and I didn’t listen.

I’m going to have to tell him.

“I’ve always got eyes on you.”

“My pleasure. I hope your eyes are wide open now.”

“They are,” I tell him, gulping hard. I watch as he’s about to pick up the paper again, and if I don’t say something now, it’s only going to make it harder down the line. The plane dips and trembles for a second as we hit a patch of turbulence. It steadies, smoothing out again as I face my fears. Keeping the baby is what I’m choosing to do. I can’t abort it, especially after hearing its faint heartbeats of life. It wants to live, and I have to give it a chance.

“I have to tell you something.”

Andrei sighs, folding the cover in half, placing it on the trestle table, his full attention on me. “What is it?”

I try to read his expression, but his face reads blank as I take the plunge. “I’m pregnant.” A weighted pause hangs inside the plane as Andrei’s eyes carve daggers into me. I can’t tell what he’s thinking, but from the twitch around his mouth, and the tension between us, I know it’s not good. He continues to stare so much it puts me into a state of discomfort. “Hello? Did you hear what I said?” I ask, desperate for any response.

“Is it mine?” are the croaky words that exit his mouth, and probably it’s a valid question, if it weren’t for the fact he asked if I wasn’t a virgin the night we slept together. I roll my eyes, irritated by his question and answer back, “Yes, you’re the only person I’ve slept with. Of course, the baby is yours.”

A haze of darkness shapeshifts in Andrei’s eyes, the space growing cold as his hard gaze controls mine. I know I’m not lying so why are his intimidation tactics working?

Goose bumps prickle over my arms as he leans closer, the scent of his cologne marinating into my clothes. “How fucking long have you known about this?”

Nervously, my eyes dart as I think about moving. His darkness is too much to bear. Avoiding eye contact, Andrei barks. “Eyes here, Sophia,” he directs, gesturing to his face.

I have no choice but to express the truth. “I’ve known for the last six weeks. I had an ultrasound before I came here. I wanted to get away so I could think about what to do with the baby. I had it in my mind to abort it. I’ve got my whole life in front of me,” I ramble, trying to make sense of everything I’m feeling. Andrei says nothing, but the pressure of his gaze makes me spill everything all at once. “I’m only twenty-two. I feel too young to have a child,” I confess.

“Six weeks you withheld this information from me.”

“I was scared. I was told something about the Russians,” I add, recalling what Dr. Perri said to me.

“What were you told?” Andrei pushes, his breath close to my face.

“I was told you could take my child away from me because of your Russian culture. I heard it was the Russian way to raise children,” I blurt out, and as I hear myself say it, I realize how dumb it sounds.

Scoffing, Andrei corrects me. “Whoever told you that is feeding you a pack of lies. There’s your naivety showing again.”

“I was told from a source I believed I could trust,” I tell him, doubtful now of what Dr. Perri told me. Who is telling me the truth?

“Your source is full of shit and doesn’t have their facts straight. We would never take mothers away from their children. It’s the opposite, darling.”

“Really?” Baffled by Dr. Perri’s statement, I think it over. Why would she tell me that? She’s done so much research in her field, so how could she get it so wrong?

“Mothers are the nurturers of the child. Russian men don’t do such a thing,” Andrei clarifies.

Crippled by the decision I’m making, I concede a little, trying to think of the best solution. “Can we co-parent the child together?” Mixed emotions are running high because I have no idea what to do about my college degree. I want to be able to attend classes, but my future’s tainted now….

Andrei’s mouth breaks into a heartwarming smile. “Here’s what we’re going to do.” Relaxing, I fall back into myself, thankful I don’t have to come up with everything myself. “We need to attend a ceremony first to seal things if we’re having a child together.”

Intrigued, I dig deeper. “Why do we need to have a ceremony?”

Straight-faced, Andrei answers, “A wedding ceremony.”

Feeling dizzy, my head spins as I breathe shallowly. From one hot frying pan to another….