Chapter 8
T he car jostles me awake.
It’s late afternoon and Rurik has been driving for over six hours. The sun is already starting to get that pretty orange color as it gets ready to slink out of the sky.
Blinking the sleep away, I sit up, looking out the window. We should be getting closer to civilization.
Yet we’re surrounded by trees on a narrow road.
“Rurik.” I swallow, trying to wet my throat that’s gone dry.
Because he’s driving me through the woods. The forest floor is covered with dried, dead leaves. Maybe he’s planning to put me beneath them.
“Where are we?” I turn to him, hoping for some explanation that doesn’t end with someone being buried out here in the woods.
I’m so fucking stupid. So stupid! “You said you were taking me home.”
Never have I been right about a man. Not one single fucking time. And this time it’s going to get me killed.
“I told you this morning, I have to make a stop.” He slows the car as his phone rings through the dashboard.
He had mentioned something about needing to do something for work on the way. What he failed to mention was that it involved slinking through the woods like the beginning of my very own horror movie.
“He’s fine. It’s been a rough few days, but they’re okay.” A familiar voice comes through the phone. “I’ll let him know you’re on your way. When do you think?”
“Tomorrow night. I have to take care of something first, so we’re delayed.” Rurik says, pulling the car to a full stop on the side of the road.
I twist to look behind us, but there’s no other cars. It’s a tiny road. Not even a full road. Two trenches where tires repeatedly drove over the dirt make the path.
“No problem. I’ll pass it along. I’m picking up Elana in the morning, I’ll let him know then.”
“Thanks, Kaz.” Rurik hits the button on the dash screen to cut the call.
“Did you say Kaz?” I twist back around to face him, my attention distracted from the horror movie he’s driven us into .
“Yeah. He’s Alexander’s brother.” He lifts an eyebrow. “Why?”
“Kaz Volkov?” I press myself against the door.
“Mira.” He lays his arm across the steering wheel and turns to face me. “What’s wrong? Do you know Kaz?”
“Yeah.” I nod.
“How do you know him?” His voice dips, as though he’s asking a child to confess to something he already knows they did.
“Another mistake.” I sigh.
“You dated Kaz?” He looks like it’s the most absurd thing in the world.
And he’s right. Kaz Volkov doesn’t date. He fucks.
“No. We just—” I stop talking. None of this is his business. “I knew him. It’s very doubtful he remembers me.”
One night three years ago, I’m sure he’s had plenty of more memorable nights since then.
Rurik’s jaw tenses and he looks away. He wets his lips before tucking them between his teeth, like he trying to chew the annoyance out of himself.
“We’ll talk about it later.” He turns back around.
“Where are we?” More than happy to change the subject, I lean forward to get a better look at our surroundings. Up ahead there’s a small log cabin.
“Nowhere,” he says, pulling his phone out and scrolling through images.
When he gets to the one that mirrors the cabin in front of us, he stops, clicking on it. A document opens up on his phone, but it’s too small for me to read from where I am .
Curiosity has always been a weakness of mine. I lean toward him, trying to get a better look, which earns me a stern glare.
“Sit back.” He points to my seat.
“What are we doing here? Do you need to do another kidnapping?” I pull my feet up onto the seat with me and hug my knees.
“No.” He continues scrolling as he reads. “We aren’t doing anything.”
“Okay, then why are we sitting here like a bunch of weirdos?” I ask. He’s clearly here for something, and it’s not for a night of roughing it.
Silence stretches between us as he finishes with his phone. His jaw has tightened, and when he glances up at me his eyes have gone dark.
“You need to climb into the second row and lie down between the seats.” He pushes the button on the center console that moves my seat further up, making the gap between our seats big enough for me to climb through.
“No. I want to know what’s going on.” Being out in the middle of the woods with a man in the mafia while the sun is quickly sinking from the sky tends to put me on edge.
“I have work to do, and you need to do what I say.” He jerks his head toward the back. “Get back there and lie down. Do not, for any reason, get out of this car.”
His tone leaves no room for disagreement. Not that that would stop me, but there’s a vibe rolling off of him that makes me get moving. Whatever he’s here to do, it’s better that I don’t get involved .
Following Nico into that meeting with Marco DeAngelo got me into this mess. Hiding in the car while this mobster does his business is probably safest.
“Fine.” I maneuverer over the center console and squeeze between the two captain seats to get into the second row of the SUV. “But I’m not staying back here forever.”
He sighs, like he’s starting to get to the end of his rope with me, as he leans over to open the glove compartment. There’s a handgun inside. He checks to be sure it’s loaded, which of course it is, because why wouldn’t he have a loaded gun in the glove compartment.
“Get between the seats, on the floor. I don’t want you to be seen.” He gestures to the floor.
I slide down, rolling until I’m on my back. I want to be able to see if something’s coming at me.
“Anything else? You want to throw a blanket over me? Maybe some dead leaves and sticks?”
He pinches his lips together. “Your mouth is going to get you into trouble.”
“More trouble than I’m already in?” I roll my eyes. “Just go do what you need to do so we can get out of here. I don’t like the woods. This is creepy.”
“Just stay down there. No matter what, Mira.” He settles a firm stare on me. “I mean it. No matter what you see or hear, you stay in this car. If you get out?—”
“I’ll regret it. I know.” I wave a hand. “Just hurry.”
I’m going to have to pee soon, and I’m not squatting in the leaves. Once in the grass was enough an experience, thank you .
He pauses, staring at me another moment like he can’t decide what he should do with me. In the end, he huffs a breath and throws open his door. I’m expecting it to slam, but it doesn’t. Quietly, he shuts it, and then there’s nothing.
No sound.
At all.
I’m just lying on the floor of the SUV with nothing to listen to except for my heart thudding in my ears. My thoughts fall onto the sudden discomfort of my bladder.
I should have asked him to stop before I fell asleep again, but I didn’t. So now I’m alone, the sky is getting darker, which is cutting off the light in here, and all I can think about is how much I have to pee.
Shifting to my side, I close my eyes. Maybe I can nap until he gets back, and the positioning helps take some of the pressure of my bladder.
For a few minutes, and then it comes back with a roar.
I should not have drunk that bottle of water earlier.
Flipping to my other side only alleviates the problem for a few seconds. I can’t stop thinking about the discomfort.
I lean up to look out the window just enough to see if the coast is clear. The cabin is up a little ways, but I can see no one’s outside of it. No sign of Rurik. Though it’s getting darker than I like while being in the woods.
If he’s not back in a few minutes this is going to be bad.
I check again, still no one around.
Deciding pissing myself isn’t going to improve my situation, I quietly move up to my knees, still ducking behind the seats and open the door behind the driver’s seat.
Using all the ninja skills I learned from watching cartoons as a kid, I slither out of the car and softly shut the door enough that it looks closed.
Creeping around the back of the SUV, I look around for a good spot to squat. I hate this. For the second time in as many days, I’m peeing outside because of him.
There’s a small clump of bushes a little further into the woods away from the makeshift road. Crouching down, I hurry over to them and get it done.
Immediately, relief floods me, and I can almost forget that I’m outside.
Until I hear a screen door slam and footsteps beat down a set of stairs. Quickly, I fist a bunch of leaves to wipe myself then yank up my pants. I need to get back to the car before Rurik does.
“Fuck.” An unfamiliar voice carries through the sleeping trees, and I freeze.
That wasn’t Rurik.
I step to the edge of the cluster of bushes and peek around the side. A man is barreling toward me. His left eye is swollen and already turning colors. Blood trickles down the right side of his mouth, and there’s more soaking through the white fabric of his button-down shirt.
Behind him, Rurik steps out onto the porch, easily finding him as he runs through the barren woods.
The man limps, but he’s still getting a good distance away. Why isn’t Rurik going after him? He’s obviously here for him.
My thighs burn keeping their crouched position, but when I try to move back, to stretch out a leg, I stumble. Falling back onto the forest floor, I land on a pile of dried leaves and branches. Making about as much noise as possible in a forest.
When I look up, the man who was running from Rurik stands over me.