Chapter Seven

CHAPTER SEVEN

Lenin

Something is amiss.

I do not like it.

Sweat rolls down my spine as the elevator climbs toward the correct floor. In seconds, I will have Margaret in my arms and all will be well. I just need to see my angel.

There should have been someone staking out my apartment, but I surveyed the area from a nearby rooftop and saw no one. It is unheard of for a hitman to disregard a task so delicate. Once I shirked my responsibility, my employer should have put a price on my head. I know too much and have no skin in the game. I’m a liability to the man who hired me. Yet there was no one waiting in the shadows of my closet. No one lurking in the parking garage.

I was fully prepared to make short work of whoever they sent to kill me.

Yet I wasn’t even challenged.

Something is definitely amiss.

As soon as the elevator doors open, I lunge through the opening, key already in hand. She’s on the other side of the door. I’m going to kiss her and take her on a date. Maybe I’ll find a Russian restaurant in town and show her some of my culture.

No, I will let her pick.

After asking her to stay trapped inside all day, she will make all the choices tonight. If she wants to go to the fucking moon, I will find a way to bring her there.

As soon as I open the door, I know she’s gone.

My roar makes the window panes rattle across the room.

“Margaret!”

I’m dizzy and lacking in oxygen as I stumble into the room, turning in a circle. Looking for clues. There are no signs of a struggle and it’s the only reason I maintain my sanity. Her bag of clothing has been moved, some of the garments are missing. She left of her own accord?

Did she decide to leave me after what little I told her of my life?

“Angel,” I shout hoarsely, noting her toothbrush is still in the bathroom. Did she plan on coming back? What if she went out on an errand and I’m overreacting?

No.

No, something is wrong.

My gut is on fire and I want my Margaret.

I sit down on the edge of the bed where I can still smell our lovemaking and it turns me into a fearsome animal. If someone has my mate, they are on borrowed time. Before this day is over, I will grind their fucking bones to dust. To Margaret, I am a lover. To them, I am Satan.

Though it is almost impossible, I force myself to fight the fear and nausea and rage. To focus on what I know. Her stepfather is the only one who harbors ill will toward Margaret.

I will start there.

On autopilot, I check my weapon and return it to my shoulder holster.

I’m coming, angel.

Margaret

It’s a sadday in a woman’s life when she realizes her mother is flawed.

I mean, I always knew she was imperfect. Everyone has their faults. But I thought she had honor. More than that, I thought she would do anything to protect me. Even after she left me with Hank, I carried that belief. For the last six months, I had this fabulous fantasy that she’d had no choice but to leave Baltimore and she was building the perfect home for us in Mexico She would bring me there one day and we’d lie on the beach laughing.

Instead, I’m in the cold basement of Hank’s All Nude Review, my knees on the filthy concrete floor. My mother kneels beside me crying, but I’m too numb to comfort her. Or myself. She hasn’t even apologized to me. All I can do is stare into space and pretend the gun pointed at my head isn’t going to fire any second.

Lenin’s voice whispers in my ear. My Margaret. I love you so much.

Salty moisture stings the backs of my eyes.

Why didn’t I just stay in the stupid hotel?

Two men are with us in the basement. Hank and the unfamiliar man who drove us here in the van. My stepfather is pacing back and forth in the near darkness, sucking down a Camel cigarette. He keeps checking his cell phone as if he’s waiting for something. Anger at myself roars up inside me and I can’t keep quiet any longer. I don’t want to wait to know my fate.

“What are you going to do? Kill us?” I swipe at my eyes. “Why?”

Hank’s upper lip curls. “I don’t owe you an explanation, you mouthy bitch.” I simply wait, knowing he won’t be able to help himself. “I haven’t decided if I’m going to let your mother live yet. The regulars upstairs still ask for her. I’d love to put her back to work after she walked out on me. It would serve her cheating ass right.”

Beside me, my mother starts to cry softly.

“What about me?”

Hank laughs and lights another cigarette, taking his time on the first drag. “After you left last night with the Russian, I got to thinking. Something didn’t sit right about him. I’ve been looking over my shoulder ever since I cut my business partner out of this place and I knew. I knew that big Russian fucker came here to do me in.” He looks me over and I’m grateful to be wearing a hoodie. “Maybe I should thank you for distracting him. How long did it take you to spread your legs for him, Margaret? A couple of hours? Like mother like daughter.”

I refuse to let him make Lenin and my relationship something dirty. I know better. I know it was created in love. If my life ends here, I’ll keep that truth alive until I can’t anymore.

“I confronted my ex business partner last night and after some convincing…” Hank smirks, and I have a feeling his convincing involved torture. “…he confessed to hiring the hit through a third party. That third party is a nasty son of a bitch and he doesn’t like when he hires someone and they don’t deliver on time. He’s looking for the Russian now and he’s willing to forget about the hit if we bring him the Russian. Dead.”

My blood freezes. “How are you going to do that?”

“Oh come on, little Margaret.” His laughter makes my insides shrink up. “I know the look of a man who has been hypnotized by pussy. He’ll show sooner or later.”

Hank nods at the other man in the room and he brandishes a gun.

They both laugh.

A sob climbs my throat and bursts free. They’re going to kill Lenin.

Because of me.

Tears blur my vision as Hank continues to talk. “You sure know how to pick them, Margaret. Your first man and he’s a world-class killer for hire.”

I’d already pieced together what Lenin does for a living and this confirms it. He was at the club last night to kill my stepfather, and on top of that he already told me he’s not a good man. I’m in love with a hit man.

But that’s not all he is.

He’s caring and thoughtful and passionate.

He had a nightmare about me crying, for crissakes.

He saved me from this place and treated me with respect.

Restrained himself until I was ready to go further.

He fed me, promised me a future—and I believe him.

Tears track down my cheeks. Now he’s going to get ambushed—

There’s a precise crack and the man holding the gun drops into a heap on the floor. A shadow appears within the shadows at the edge of the room. There, but not there. Hank scrambles to draw his own gun, but he yelps in pain and a red stain blooms on his thigh. His gun clatters on the ground and he stumbles.

Lenin steps out of the shadows. His gaze is murderous, directed at Hank.

My heart cheers like an audience of thousands.

“Angel, please dry your tears before I look at you.” His voice resonates, deep and livid in the cold room. “I’m trying very hard not to scare you, but if you cry right now…” He stops for a shuddering breath. “When we leave, I will have to burn down this building with everyone inside.”

I use my sleeves to mop my cheeks. “Let’s not do that. It’s mean.”

“Stop crying and I will consider it.” He makes a miserable sound. “You are not harmed?”

“No. I’m fine.”

He squeezes his eyes closed, briefly. “I will double check later.”

I have the sudden urge to laugh, I’m so relieved and happy. “Okay.”

Hank dives for his gun, but Lenin fires and hits him in the arm with a bullet before he can grasp it. My stepfather wails and rolls into his back, cradling his bloody forearm to his chest. “Jesus Christ. Help me.”

“You thought I would be trapped by two filthy vermin?” Lenin stops beside Hank and points the gun at the center of his forehead. “You use my angel as bait?”

“I’m sorry.” Hank holds up his hands in surrender. “I’m sorry.”

Lenin’s expression is pure disgust, his finger turning white on the trigger. “You would already be dead if she wasn’t watching, you piece of garbage.”

“I can turn around,” I suggest.

“Margaret,” my mother gasps, nudging me with an elbow.

Swallowing, I turn to her. “You don’t get to question me anymore.”

“Did she help lure you here?” Lenin asks, his expression darkening further. “I am sorry, angel. Nobody deserves you.”

I tear my eyes off my mother and look at him. “That’s not true.”

“Yes, it is.” His throat works. “They told you what I am?”

“Yes.” I come to my feet and go toward him. “But your past is only one part of who you are, Lenin. You showed me the rest and it’s beautiful. My heart told me to trust you and I’m so glad I listened.” I splay my fingers on his arm, soothing the tense muscles with a massage. “Let’s go find out who you’ll be in the future instead. Who we’ll be together.”

“I will be everything you need me to be, angel,” he vows.

“That should be easy.” I kiss his bicep, his shoulder, his mouth. “You already are. And you don’t need to kill anymore. You just need to love me. Starting now.”

Lenin collects the weapons in the room and with one final menacing look at the occupants, he guides me to the exit with an arm around my shoulder. I stop and mouth the word “goodbye” to my mother, but she’s staring blankly at the wall. I will still miss her, unbelievably, but it’s time to start my own life, with the man I love. I want to so badly.

“Come, angel.” Lenin picks me up and I wrap my legs around his waist, snuggling my face into the crook of his neck. “I’ll take you to see the horses.”

“I love you,” I whisper.

“Ah, Margaret. I love you, too.”