25. A Forked Tongue
25
A Forked Tongue
Lilith
When my phone first pinged, I thought it might be Antonio, ready to apologize for either ditching me or hanging up on me. Or maybe both.
Annoyed, I see it’s from Camilla to one of our group chats, but when I open it, I laugh and hand my phone to Antoinette. “Pretty sure this is for you.”
She takes the phone and looks at the screen, her face twisting in a slight grimace as she takes a closer look. “Do you think he’s mad?”
“I mean,” I say hesitantly, “you did knock him silly and then lock him in a panic room.”
She hands the phone back to me and waves her hand. “I barely touched him.”
Frowning, I bring the phone closer to my face as I zoom in on the image of Darius flipping the bird. Then I turn it back to her. “Pretty sure that goose egg on the side of his head proves otherwise.”
She squints at the picture, her lips pursing together. “Well, maybe he better learn that I do what I want, and threatening me won’t get him anywhere good.”
I sigh and shake my head, knowing I have no room to lecture on handling any type of personal relationship, never mind one as complicated as hers. Then again, Darius’s middle finger was likely his injured pride talking and not real animosity toward Antoinette.
“Trouble in paradise?” Dmitri asks almost nonchalantly, but I see the intense interest in his eyes as he pretends not to stare at Antoinette and fails.
She slowly turns her eyes on him, glaring as she grits out angrily. “That is none of your fucking business.”
He tries to lift his hands, forgetting they’re cuffed to the arms of his chair, and then shrugs instead. “Just trying to help.”
“Is this guy for fucking real, Lils?” Mickey asks, his head slumped in his hand but his attention focused on Dmitri, who’s acting like he’s on a surprise vacation.
“Sadly, yes.”
“Want me to teach him a lesson?”
I smile at Mickey fondly. “Not yet, but thank you.”
Mickey scowls at Dmitri, then goes back to watching whatever he has going on the screen in front of him. Dmitri doesn’t look at all bothered as he examines the cuffs around his wrists. “Don’t get any ideas. There isn’t really anywhere for you to go other than out the fucking door.”
“I have no interest in testing out my wings today. No worries there.”
“You’ll never take us all either.”
He gives me a dirty look. “Why would I even try?”
“Because you’re a fucking criminal.”
“Perhaps, but I’m not a stupid criminal.”
“That is up for debate,” Antoinette mutters beside me.
He turns his attention to her, raising his brows as he retorts, “No need to be mean.”
Antoinette gapes at him, her hands fisting at her sides. Nudging her with my elbow, I lean in and whisper, “He’s baiting you.”
She turns her glare to me. “Yeah, I fucking know that.”
I level her with a patient look, fully aware this entire situation must be a huge mindfuck for her. It’s one thing to have to work through trauma on your own or with the assistance of loved ones or professionals. It’s an entirely different beast to have to work through it with the piece of shit in the room with you. Antoinette is a hyper-rational person, but that kind of pressure would get to anyone.
“All I’m saying,” Dmitri begins calmly as if we’re in the middle of a friendly discussion, “is that these restraints are completely unnecessary.”
“Oh, good fucking lord,” I mutter, wishing I’d thought to gag the motherfucker and put him in the baggage hold. “Do we have a gag around here? Or anything we can use as a gag?”
“I’m sure I can find something,” Mickey replies, already glancing around the plane’s interior.
“We have more questions to ask him, so maybe get that out of the way first?” Antoinette adds.
Dmitri sighs heavily, and my urge to toss him out of the plane increases. “Is there a particular reason you’re being intentionally antagonistic?”
He frowns and shakes his head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m being completely honest here. My word is good.”
“Like you have the first goddamn clue how to be honest.”
“I don’t have anything left to my name,” he retorts. “But one thing I do have is my word.”
“Why would we believe your word is any good at this point?”
Frowning, he retorts, “I’ve never lied to you—not directly.”
Antoinette’s body goes rigid, and Mickey moves to stand, but I wave him off, wanting to see what Antoinette will do with this ridiculous statement. “How can you fucking say that? You lied to me for months.”
Dmitri gives her a bored look, this time lifting only one shoulder as he responds, “Sure, my actions reinforced the lie, but I never actually told you a lie. Others put the ideas in your head, and then I followed your lead.”
“Are you trying to insinuate that our fake life together was my fault?”
“Well, no, not really,” Dmitri sputters, suddenly not appearing as confident as he was. “But it didn’t take too much direction to keep you on the path.”
Antoinette turns to Mickey, waving a hand toward Dmitri as she says, “You can kill him now.”
Mickey’s eyes light up, and he’s already on his feet as I interject, “Nope. No, you can’t.”
The old man gives me an annoyed look but returns to his seat without arguing, and I take a deep breath as I search for some patience.
Then Antoinette mutters, “You make it out like you fucking believe you saved me or some insane bullshit like that.”
“But I did save you,“ he replies shortly. “I pulled you from the water when I was under no obligation to do so. And then, when they would’ve attempted to come for you, I prevented it. I protected you from a fate far worse than being stuck married to the likes of me. A fate far worse than death even.”
“And what?” Antoinette spits out. “Do you want me to fucking thank you for it?”
“Of course not.”
“Then what’s with the idiotic explanation?”
He stares at her blankly for a moment, then looks away. “I’m the enemy, I get that. But I want you to believe I won’t hurt you.”
She gives him an incredulous look, her eyes burning with rage and shock. “You won’t fucking hurt me?”
“That’s right. I give you my word.”
She tilts her head, then says, “You do realize that means you also can’t hurt anyone I care about because that would fucking hurt me?”
His serious expression falters a bit, but then he recovers and nods. “Yes.”
“Especially Darius,” she states clearly, leaning forward in her seat to stare him dead in the eyes.
He winces slightly but continues to meet her gaze, unwavering. He swallows visibly then nods again, this time with more certainty. “Yes, this is my vow.”
Their gazes remain locked for a few long moments, but then Dmitri blinks. Antoinette shoots out of her seat in a rush, walking briskly to the back of the plane where she throws herself into a chair, facing away.
I follow her slowly, giving her some time to collect herself before I take the seat next to her. “What is it? What’s the problem?”
“I don’t know,” she whispers, her arms wrapping around her middle as if she’s trying to comfort herself. “Everything just feels fucked, and I don’t know how to fix it.”
Sighing, I scoot in next to her, leaning close so she can hear my hushed words. “You can be grateful to be alive while still condemning the man who saved you.”
“I know that.”
“Do you? Is it something else then?”
She stares at the floor, hugging herself even tighter. “All my feelings are jumbled. I don’t even know what to believe anymore.”
“Are you saying you have feelings for him?” I ask a bit more forcefully than planned.
She glares at me and shakes her head. “No. Good lord, no.”
I squint at her, relieved I don’t have to attempt to unpack any deep psychological shit right now while still confused about where this conversation is going. I wait her out, staring at her intently until finally, she adds, “It’s just a sense of familiarity with no real emotion attached to it. Kind of like that place in my head where I lived over the last few months. A black void of undistinguishable comfort.”
I know exactly what she means, having lived there a few times myself. “That’s where we go when we’re stuck in bad situations. A safe space to linger while we sort out our options.”
She gives me a grateful look. “I’m kind of sick of having to go there.”
“Me, too,” I respond truthfully. “But take some comfort in your ability to see the light when the darkness attempts to come for you.”
“But what if it comes again, and I can no longer find any light?”
I wrap my arm around her shoulder, squeezing her into my side as I reply, “I will always be your light.”