Chapter 31 #2
The resort is hushed at this hour, that peculiar stillness that falls over luxury establishments in the dead of night.
I slide past the kitchens where a lone staff member is prepping for breakfast, head down, focused on dough.
I make it to the concierge station, where I’m greeted by the friendly Mr. Arnaud, our French concierge who’s been seeing to our every whim all week.
“Ah! Miss Halston,” he says, his voice professionally modulated to the perfect volume—not too loud, not too soft. “Can’t sleep? Would you like the pool? Or a blanket for stargazing? Some herbal tea perhaps to help with sleep?”
I force my features into what I hope passes for a normal expression. “Actually, can you call me a car? I need to get to the airport immediately.”
It’s clear what a consummate professional Mr. Arnaud is, because he barely blinks an eye before assuring me, “Of course, mademoiselle. I’ll have one of the drivers bring around a car at once, and they can take you anywhere you would like to go, including the airport.
One of our many concierge services.” His eyes flick briefly to my empty hands.
“They’ll be waiting out front if you need to go get bags. ..?”
“No,” I say, too quickly. I dial it back. “I’m ready now.” I give a tight smile, and again, Mr. Arnaud only responds with another polite nod.
“Then you may wait here in the lobby, and a driver will be with you shortly.”
I nod and go sit in one of the sleek chairs in the gorgeous but sparsely decorated lobby. The desert night presses against the floor-to-ceiling windows, a vast blackness pricked with stars. I try not to fidget, try not to look like I’m running, even though that’s exactly what I’m doing.
The car arrives with maddening slowness, but finally, I slide into the backseat, nodding for the driver to go even though I’m staring back at the restort. What will Donny think when he wakes to find me gone? I press a hand to the glass, my stomach twisting at the thought.
The vehicle purrs to life, but we’ve barely cleared the resort’s entrance when I feel cold metal against my throat and an even colder voice in my ear.
“How kind of you to separate from Mr. Callaghan,” a voice says, thick with a Belarusian accent. “We’ve been waiting to talk to you alone.”
Oh fuck. Shocked, I turn in my seat to find Pavel Reznikov sitting beside me, his bulk hidden in the shadows until now.
I feel the blade at my throat and know he’s not bluffing.
Pavel doesn’t bluff—it’s why he’s survived so long in this business.
“What do you want?” I breathe out, trying not to move a millimeter as the knife presses against my skin.
“To kill you,” he hisses out, his breath hot against my ear, reeking of cigarettes and something sweet—probably those disgusting candies he’s always sucking on.
I glare at him even as he presses the knife harder against my neck. But he’s shifted it so that it’s only the flat, and not the blade, that’s pushing into the soft flesh of my skin.
I meet his gaze, refusing to show fear. “I’d be dead already if that’s what you really wanted.”
He pulls back with a Belarusian curse, then points the knife back at my throat. “I have men poised right outside your fiancé’s bedroom. They’ll kill him at a single command.” He chuckles, noticing my eyes still on his knife. “Or if I fail to check in.”
Dammit. My blood runs cold at the thought of Domhnall, sleeping peacefully, vulnerable to whatever animals Pavel has positioned near him.
“What do you want?” I demand again, my voice steadier than I feel.
“You’re in luck,” Pavel says, leaning back slightly. “Someone is willing to pay me enough to forget how much I want your beautiful head as the centerpiece on my table.” His lips curl into something that might charitably be called a smile. “Instead, I’m just the liaison for a deal.”
“What deal?” The words scrape out of my throat.
“You do what my boss says, you and your pretty boy fiancé are left alone. You live in peace, and not me or any of the other blood-thirsty fucks out there hunting you will ever touch you. You’ll be under the boss’s umbrella of protection.”
“Who the fuck’s your boss?” I ask, mind racing through the catalog of enemies and dangerous players who might have found me.
Pavel laughs, the sound like gravel being crushed. “Why the fuck you think he hire me? He doesn’t want his face known. Or his name.”
I roll my eyes, some of my fear giving way to irritation. “Fine. Then what the fuck does he want me to do?”
“Easy.” Pavel waves a hand dismissively. “You marrying into fancy new family is your lucky day. Get your sister-in-law to break up with her new boyfriend.”
I startle, genuinely confused. “Moira?”
“Da. Moira. This is the girl. She breaks up with Bane Blackwolf—” Pavel kisses the tips of his fingers theatrically. “Voila. Chef’s kiss. Everything goes back to normal for you. You get married. Shit out some kids.” He makes a motion of wiping his hands together. “All is done.”
My mind races a thousand miles an hour. Who the fuck is Moira’s new boyfriend? Bane who? Blackwolf. Why does that name feel familiar? And who the fuck gives a shit if they break up with each other?
I haven’t even seen Moira in... I scramble to remember, trying to sort through Anna’s memories, which is always a tangled process. Since the fucking Christmas party, maybe? She did have a man with her then. Was that this Bane guy?
“But if you do not do what I say, big boss man will be very...” Pavel tilts his head back and forth as if trying to think of the appropriate word before finally grinning at me with yellowed teeth. “Displeased.”
He brings the knife back up and starts sharpening a nail, his grin growing even more sinister.
“And he says if he is displeased by you, then I can do all the things I want to you and your pretty fiancé.” His eyes glitter with malice in the dim light.
“You know how Mikalai loves to play with pretty men when he gets his hands on them.”
Something in me snaps at the threat to Domhnall. I move before thinking, elbowing the knife out of Pavel’s hand and immediately going for his throat with it, my body operating on pure instinct honed by years of survival.
The car careens to a stop, knocking me into the seat well. Still, it’s only the driver jumping back and restraining me that keeps me from snuffing out Pavel’s life then and there. I thrash against his grip, wild with rage.
“Don’t you dare fucking threaten Domhnall like that,” I spit, “or I’ll fucking disembowel you while you’re still alive to watch!”
Pavel just laughs, wiping away blood from where I nicked him before the driver got me under control. He licks the blood off his thumb, the gesture deliberately provocative.
“I truly do hope you fail, Pcholka. Little bee,” he says, his voice dropping to a purr. “I’ll make you regret your sting.” His nostrils flare. “And, oh, how I’ll enjoy making you scream.”
“So, you take deal?” asks the man from the front seat, finally letting me go, though he keeps one hand hovering near my shoulder.
I breathe hard, weighing my options, my mind calculating angles and consequences with cold precision.
It’s not like there’s really a choice.
So I nod once, sharply.
“Yes, fine. I take the deal.” Then I shove out the door and into the dry, cool desert air. The night spreads around me, vast and indifferent, the stars watching like distant, dispassionate observers.
“We’ll be watching your every step,” Pavel calls after me. “There is no running away from us, Pcholka. You cannot hide from my boss. So be a good little bee and do as you’re told.”
I shoot him the bird as I walk back toward the front of the luxury establishment, but inside, I’m ice cold with calculation. There’s always a way out. There’s always an angle to play. I just have to find it before Pavel’s boss loses patience.
Domhnall barely stirs as I slip back into bed after cleaning the sand and dirt off of me, my mind still racing with how the fuck I’m going to get us out of this.
He mumbles something in his sleep, and his arm slides around my waist, pulling me against his chest. I let myself melt into his warmth for just a moment, allowing the solid reality of him to ground me.
Tomorrow, I’ll figure out who the fuck this Bane is and why he’s so important. Tomorrow, I’ll start putting together a plan. Tomorrow, I’ll find a way to keep Domhnall safe without him ever knowing he was in danger.
But tonight, I let myself have this—his breath against my neck, his heart beating steady against my back. I memorize every sensation of the feel of his big, warm body against mine, storing it away like something precious.
Because no matter what happens next, no matter what I have to do to end this, I’ll always have tonight.