Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 106159 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 531(@200wpm)___ 425(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106159 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 531(@200wpm)___ 425(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
I wait for Saka to pass the cashier parked at the front of the store before prying open the window and slipping onto the checkered metal plate landing of the emergency stairwell.
It’s chilly, but mercifully, Vasily isn’t tardy when it comes to his wants. The ugly sports car he purchased two months ago glides to a stop at the front of my building a second after I dump the gym bag next to my feet.
As they do every time he visits Polina, Vasily’s eyes find me in half a nanosecond.
“Looking good, Nat.” He stuffs his hands into his pockets to inflate the front of his pants in a manner his cock never will. “So much so, I’ll consider changing the terms of our agreement if it will make things easier for you. Not everyone has access to that kind of money at short notice.”
His sleazy grin announces he’s hopeful I’ll pay my restitution with my body.
He's shit out of luck.
“I have your money.” My tone broadcasts I wouldn’t risk sharing fleas with him even for a million dollars. “You’ll need to catch. The latch is broken, and I can’t invite you up. My apartment has a no dogs policy.”
Only the first part of my reply is a lie. Saka welded the hinges on the fire escape ladder the morning following my first bid for freedom under his solo watch. When I told him he was creating a fire hazard that could get me killed quicker than the imaginary baddies searching for me, he snapped back that the odds of him killing me far outweighed the risk of a fiery blaze, so I had nothing to worry about.
“What the fuck, Natalya? Do I look like the sporty type? Just come down.” I don’t believe a single word when he murmurs, “I’ll keep my hands to myself. I promise.”
Men like Vasily make me grateful I have a shadow twenty-four-seven.
“Do you want your money or not?”
After rubbing his hands together, he jerks up his chin.
“Then catch.”
I throw the gym bag over the railing, smiling as an oomph whistles through Vasily’s lips when it hits him hard in the chest. It is almost as satisfying as the groan he released when Yev slammed him to the ground.
I’m offended when he drops to his knees to count the money.
If I can take the word of a stranger, why the hell can’t he?
“It’s all there.” It may be in dollar bills, but money is money no matter how it is earned.
I swallow back some of my sass when Vasily places three bundles onto the curb before he continues digging through the bag.
They’re marked as ten-thousand-dollar bundles, so why does he have more than one?
My eyes bulge as Vasily's whisper floats up in the heat of his breaths. “There’d have to be over a hundred thousand in here.”
“What?” With no time to panic since Saka is approaching the cashier, I say, “I must have miscounted. Toss the excess back up to me.”
My eyes snap from Saka to Vasily when he says, “No need.” He acts like I can’t see the stacks of money in the bag he’s zipping up in a hurry. “I mistook the number of zeros on the bank slip.”
“You’re not mistaken. I can see them from here.”
My lungs struggle for air when he tosses the bag over his shoulder and hotfoots it to the driver’s side door of his ugly car.
“Vasily! That money isn’t mine. If you take it—” The roar of his engine when he flattens his foot on the gas pedal steals the rest of my reply.
His noisy exit forces Saka out of the store before he’s paid for his purchases. The owner is hot on his tail, his broom flapping in the breeze as haphazardly as his toupee.
Usually, Saka’s suspicious glare would be the reason for my heart’s erratic gallops. This time, it barely inclines the already dangerous speed.
I just gave away one hundred thousand dollars that can only belong to one of two men. Either Maksim Ivanov, a Russian mob boss who owns every strip club in Kronstadt, or Matvei, the mysterious stranger with an aura as commanding as the gangsters I continually but unknowingly invite into my life.
I’m screwed.
6
NATALYA
As cramps have me desperate to fold in two, I punch a client’s purchases into the cash register. I’m not the most pleasant person to be around when it is that time of the month, but this is worse since Vasily has been dodging me left, right, and center for the past few days.
I’m close to confessing my stupidity to Polina, but she has enough on her plate.
Her visit to Yev’s apartment didn’t go as planned. I was eating out of her palm when she told me about him changing the sheets and shaving in the middle of the night before carrying her into his room, but the fantasy was swiped out from beneath me when her story ended with her running into Vasily’s arms instead of Yev’s.