Chapter Fourteen
Lila
This was a first.
It was also a shamble and a disgrace, like I lived in a funhouse version of my life, and I didn’t think I’d ever get back to the way things were.
I was in an alternate reality, and the sooner I faced the facts, the better.
Whatever comfort I’d felt around Adam, this was my life now, this was my world, even though I’d lost control over my own decisions.
“Come with me,” a man I didn’t recognize said when I approached the back door of what looked like an abandoned warehouse. We were deep in an office park in Jupiter, at a development I didn’t recognize, and I was already on high alert. This wasn’t a place for a person like me.
Correction, Lila. Used to not be a place for a person like you.
The man in the suit led me down a long hallway illuminated by florescent lights, and when we arrived at the end, two more suits awaited us.
I didn’t miss the probing, menacing looks they gave me when we got there, and once again the hairs on the back of my neck stood at attention. I need to get out of here. Now.
But I knew I couldn’t go anywhere.
I crossed my arms over the low-cut red dress.
Ingrid’s message had been very specific about the attire required for this meeting, but I’d added a black blazer before leaving my house.
That didn’t stop me from feeling naked, and on display, just like I often felt whenever I found myself around men like this.
“I’m here to see Alexi,” I said to the muscle flanking the door.
“We know.” The man to my left grunted. “He’s waiting for you.” He rapped the door twice and gave me a stiff nod. “Enter.”
I pushed through the doorway and found another fluorescent-lit room, one that appeared to have once been a large office for a faceless business, probably a call center or an insurance processing place.
The walls were dingy and bare, the furniture reduced to a bare minimum of metal table, haphazard desks, and some metal office chairs.
Three men sat at a round table near the center of the room.
The man in the middle of the group stood from his chair.
“Ms. Montague,” he said in a clipped Russian accent that made the letters of my name sound pointy and jagged. “So very kind of you to join us today. We’ve been waiting for you.”
The guards slammed the door, a clap that only served to put me further on edge. These types of meetings had neither been inviting nor welcome. But today felt different. Daunting. Terrifying. Alexi wanted to change our agreement; I sensed that with every cell in my body.
“Have a seat.” Alexi Chekov pointed to an open chair near the table. “Relax.”
I followed his first order. There was no way I could follow the second one.
“We’re having some vodka, little princess.”
I winced at the term of endearment. Coming from Alexi’s mouth, it sounded sleazy and cheap.
“It’s very good.” The man who held my entire financial future in his hands pointed to a tray of glasses and a decanter of clear liquid as he sat in his own chair. “Have some.”
An order, not a request. Not a suggestion.
“Thank you,” I croaked, watching as one of the other men at the table poured me a stiff serving of liquor, a shot that could have been twice the size of a standard one at a bar.
Alexi’s man slid the glass across the table to me and I caught it with one hand, wondering if I managed to look cool and collected in the process.
Probably not. I was already sweating, beads of perspiration drawing together on the back of my neck.
Thank God I’d added extra deodorant to my armpits earlier.
I needed every bit of gumption and resolve to make it through whatever happened next.
“We have a tradition in my organization,” Alexi said with a calm smoothness, so in control of everything that happened in that room.
He was wrinkled and weathered, but incredibly well-preserved, and I estimated his age as no older than sixty.
“We never begin a meeting like this without my favorite vodka. It comes straight from the Caucasus.”
“Wonderful,” I replied, simply because I figured he expected a comment from me, and I was still in shock from being summoned by him.
The entire time we’d been doing business, I’d only met with Alexi Chekov face to face once.
Since then, it had always been through Ingrid or one of Alexi’s henchmen, an intermediary in a dark suit and glasses who made demands or took payments before disappearing.
Men like the ones I’d seen at Adam’s party a few days before.
Revulsion rose in my stomach. Adam Greene could never know about a thing like this. Never. Never. Never.
“To new beginnings.” Alexi raised his glass and the rest of us followed his lead. “Right now.”
Then he knocked back his shot. The rest of us did the same.
The strong, pure grained liquor burned my throat on its way down my esophagus and hit my stomach with speed.
Drinking this was a mistake, I knew it as I raised the glass.
But Alexi wasn’t a man to be trifled with, and around South Florida, he was a man known for getting his way in everything he did.
I was in no position to push back on him.
Alexi studied me once I put down my empty glass, a devious smile decorating his face. “Well, Ms. Montague, I am impressed.”
“Why?” The vodka still burned my throat as I croaked out the question.
“That is one hundred proof vodka.”
“Is it?”
“The kind that warms your belly on the coldest of nights. The kind that grows hair on men’s backs. Most ladies like you shy away from that.”
I kept my expression stony, unreadable, giving away no hint of the fear and shock coursing through my body. When had I done a shot—or more—of one hundred proof alcohol? College? Spring break? The night my father died? I couldn’t remember. “Well, I’m game.”
“That’s one thing I like about you, Lila. You’re not weak like your father. That part isn’t the same.”
I sure feel weak. But I must remember why I’m here.
“Thank you,” I said, hoping to sound confident and focused. “As I am sure you’ve noticed through my arrangement with your men, I have never shied away from my commitments. I have always made interest and loan payments on time.”
“That you have. And we’ve noticed.” He spread a hand, one with three garish, gaudy gold rings on the index, middle, and pinky fingers.
This guy was a walking Russian cliché, but at least he owned that about himself.
I had to give him a few points for it. “When it comes to my business dealings, I always look to see who is doing what I want.” Alexi nodded to the man on his left. “Don’t I, Ivan?”
Ivan. Good grief. This could all be bad James Bond fan fiction. But what does that make me?
“Yes, sir, you do. Your attention to detail is legendary.” His bad accent mirrored Alexi’s. I should have expected it.
Alexi took a briefcase from the floor next to his chair, placed it on the table, and snapped it open. He pulled out a manila file folder a few inches thick and replaced the briefcase on the floor. “Of course, I’ve been reviewing your account regularly, Ms. Montague.”
“And?”
Alexi nodded and flipped it open. “The records here are very interesting. According to this, you still have an outstanding debut of just over five million dollars.”
I winced. Once, that number would have been nothing, but now it was everything.
Of course, I’d played it over and over in my mind, but hearing someone say it out loud still cut.
That was partly why I’d lied to Adam. He said he’d settle the debt for me, but he had no clue how deep this deceit of my father’s ran.
What was I supposed to do? “That’s correct. ”
“But overall, the feedback about your work has been…exceptional.” Still studying the file, he nodded to himself.
“Our clients have enjoyed spending time with you.” He shut the folder and moved it closer to the vodka.
“Turns out there is quite a market for a virginal deviant, and you fit that role quite well. And the information you’ve collected has been very valuable. ”
“Thank you.” I couldn’t decide if he’d just offered me a compliment or an insult.
“I haven’t seen this kind of feedback from any of my other girls. Or this kind of return.”
My back stiffened. I knew Alexi had an extensive network of women who had farmed themselves and their virtue out for him, but I still hated it so much, and not just because I had become one in the last few months.
I hated the other side too, the part I didn’t want to think about—lives had been ruined by all the information and blackmail we’d collected, that I had collected.
After clearing my throat and willing myself to stay focused, I asked, “What kind of feedback is that?”
“They all want a piece of you.” Alexi studied me. “More than a piece. You have to know that, honey. You leave them demanding more, and it kills them when they realize they won’t get it.”
“I suppose that’s good,” I choked. Traces of the vodka still burned in my stomach and flowed through my veins. Sweat beaded on my forehead. And why the hell hadn’t someone turned on the air conditioning in this warehouse?
“Not just good. That is excellent, mon cheri,” Alexi’s attempt at French sounded even worse with his Russian accent. “Some might even call it remarkable.”
“Then I guess I should continue doing what I’m doing,” I replied, keeping my expression stoic and calm.
“As you see, I have never missed a payment, and I am well on my way to paying off a third of the original debt.” Just like him, I’d kept my own records of all the transactions and bonuses I’d received, all locked in one of the few remaining cabinets that made up what had once been my father’s office.
“When you think about it, sounds like this is an arrangement that is working well for the both of us.”
“This is more than working for me.” Alexi propped his elbows on the chair arms and folded his hands. “Which is why I have a proposition for you.”
I gulped. “And what’s that?”
“I’m sure you can guess what it is.”
“I want to hear you say it,” I replied, buying time.
“Very well. If you insist, I can spell it out for you, right here. In few days, I’ll have a very important client I want you to entertain.
Someone that it is important to impress.
” He looked me up and down, taking in the curves of my body without even trying to hide it.
“Which is why I am hoping you will be willing to go further this time.”
I gulped. “Meaning what?”
I didn’t have to ask this question, but I still wanted to keep stalling. I already knew where he wanted to go with this. I had even expected our arrangement to progress to this point, but it still felt strange to find myself here, at this kind of crossroads.
“At this moment, we are in the middle of an important negotiation, one that includes a few sensitive topics, but we expect to close this deal in a few weeks. And when we do, I’d like to have you on board to sweeten the pot.”
“That so?”
He nodded.
“What if I’m not interested?” I asked as carefully as possible. “What if I want to keep things as they are?”
“I thought you might feel that way. So, in exchange, I would be willing to overlook your liabilities. Willing to wipe this remaining debt clean.” He grinned and snapped his fingers.
“Gone just like that—all of the money your father owed me from his bad business deals and terrible decisions. Sounds pretty good, huh?”
“It does,” I admitted.
“As long as you decide you can tolerate the parameters of that evening.”
I swallowed the revulsion rising from my stomach. “Parameters?”
“Your virginity.” Alexi paused for a beat, as if he wanted to let that sink into my mind.
“That night will cost you your virginity. You’ll have to give it to the man on the other side of this deal.
And you’ll have to do it…with a flourish.
” His eyebrow raised, and I wondered how many of these propositions he’d made with other women.
Probably enough to fill the room. “You’ll have to make it special, since this is something you can only give away once.
But I will also make it worth your while. ”
“What if I say no?” I tried, not really in a position to negotiate, but also not caring in that heated moment.
“I’ve had my virginity for twenty-five years.
You said so yourself that it’s one of the things that makes me more attractive and alluring to your clients.
They like to fetishize it, to think they might one day take it from me, even though they never can. ”
“Correct.”
“Then why have me give it up?” I studied him. “Why have me ruin it on just one business contact?”
“I’ve made that calculation.” He opened the file again and moved through a few pages.
“Besides, everyone has to lose it sometime.” Alexi shrugged.
“Your father didn’t pay his debts, little princess.
This is one of my most important business deals in South Florida this year, and I expect your full cooperation.
” He snapped the paperwork shut again. “What do you say, Lila?”
He might have framed his last words as a question, but both of us knew it wasn’t one.
I had no choice. My father’s deceit and recklessness had led to this moment.
Some might think it ridiculous that this man believed virginity a high-priced commodity.
But this was no ordinary man. If Vladimir Putin had a best friend, Alexi Chekov would be his name, and I knew one horrible truth in that instant—for just as long as I’d been gathering blackmail to help him control South Florida’s elites, Alexi had been working out a way to do that to me too.
I cursed the fact the vodka had fogged up my mind. But perhaps that had been Alexi’s plan all along.
“When do you need my answer?” I asked, choking on some on the question, but forcing it out of my mouth.
Damned if I’d allow Alexi the satisfaction of believing he held all the cards. Yet, as I looked across the table at him, his smirk said it all. He held my future in his hands.