Chapter 38
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
AUDRY
B eing a punching bag for a fat Russian was not on my bucket list. In fact, I could have happily gone my whole life without experiencing that. But here we were, one eye swollen shut, my ribs aching like one of them might be broken, and a worrying tingling in my left toes.
“Are you going to tell me what I want to know or not?” Yegorov said.
I looked blurrily up at him, “I'm sorry what? I wasn't paying attention. Come again.”
He growled in frustration, fisting his hand and lifting it like he was gonna box my ears. I blinked up at him with my good eye, and smiled. “You really do have a hair trigger temper. Have you tried therapy?”
He swung around, frustration apparent in the stiffness of his movements, and swept everything off his desk. He strolled around the desk and opened the drawer extracting a gun. He pointed it at me. “You want to die? Is that it?”
I shrugged as nonchalantly as I could, without moving my torso too much. “Do I have a choice in the matter?”
He gave me an evil grin. “There's always a choice. You could tell me what I want to know.”
I pretended to think about it, “Mmmh, no I actually can't. I guess you'll have to kill me.”
He walked right up to me and put the gun to my forehead. I leaned into it, looking him dead in the eye. We had a bit of a Mexican standoff, before he slowly smiled. “Or” he said tilting his head to the side, “I could give you to my dogs to fuck. I bet they would enjoy that.”
I shuddered swallowing down my fear. “No thanks, bestiality is not my kink.”
“Nobody asked you your preferences,” he said coldly.
I sighed deeply hoping against hope that he was bluffing. “That does not sound fun.”
“It is not.” He shook his head, in faux sadness, “in fact it's quite terrible for the human. The dogs will enjoy it just fine. Would you really prefer that to just giving me a little bit of information?”
I swallowed, “Okay fine. Your money is in a bank account in the Caymans. The only way to access it is if you have two keys. Unfortunately, I only have one, my father has the other. Do you see now why it gets awkward?”
He gritted his teeth in frustration. “I don't believe you.”
“Nothing I can do about that. Those are the facts, dude.”
Of course he slapped me again. He took two steps back glaring at me. Then suddenly he grinned. “You know what? Perhaps I'll ask your boyfriend. You've been spending quite a bit of time with him. Did he replace you for his dead fiancée?” He laughed wickedly.
I couldn't help but feel a pang, because I wasn't sure that wasn't exactly what Marco had done. “He's not my boyfriend.” I snapped.
Yegorov laughed derisively. “Now, why don't I believe you?”
“I don't know. Maybe because you're slow.”
His eyes narrowed, “It's as if you want me to beat you.”
“Just because you're a sadist doesn't mean I'm a masochist.”
“Then why do you keep provoking me?”
“Uh, uh,” I wiggled my finger back and forth in a quelling gesture, “that would be telling.”
“So there is some method to your madness?” he said triumphantly. “Are you stalling? Do you think somebody will rescue you? Maybe your little Italian boyfriend?” He sneered.
“I don't have a boyfriend.” I really, really wanted to keep Marco out of this. Knowing what Yegorov had taken away from him, I didn't want him to feel even a glimmer of déjà vu. I knew he would. Really, how could he not? Whatever Yegorov wanted, Marco did not have to be involved. “You know I'm a con artist, right? I mean I assume you figured that out?”
“Of course I know. I know everything about you.”
“Too bad you didn’t find out earlier, before I took all your money.”
He showed me his teeth in a snarl. “Pennies. All you took was pennies. But even that, I cannot forgive. So, why would you bring it up?”
“Because you're being slow again. You think you're my only mark. That's all Mark-o is to me. A mark. How are you so stupid that you don't get that?” I hoped that by insulting him he would overlook my slip of the tongue.
He just stared at me with those beady eyes, expressionless and cold like a reptile. All I could do was stare back and try not to blink first.
“I don't believe you. You spent the night with him, more than once.”
I groaned in frustration, wondering if I should tell him that I was a prisoner. But that would just lead to more questions. “Yes, that's because I was conning him. What about this aren't you getting?”
As if summoned by my lies, his phone rang. He dug it out of his pocket and looked at the caller’s ID. The delight that suffused his face had me squirming with nervousness. There was too much triumph emanating from the look for my comfort. “Speak of the devil,” he said before accepting the call.
Instead of putting the phone to his ear, he put it on speaker.
“What do you want?” He said.
“The question is Yegorov, what do you want?”
My heart sank. It was Marco on the other end of the line. Yegorov gave me that evil grin like he was about to do something terrible. “What are you talking about?” He said.
I could hear Marco’s sigh from where I was. “Are we really going to play these games?”
“Games? You want to play games with me? I can play.” Yegorov grinned.
“ Do you have her ?” Marco sounded very frustrated.
Yegorov laughed. “You know when I first saw her, when she came to me all flirty and looking to make friends, I thought to myself, what are the chances? She was the spitting image of your dead fiancée. I thought to myself, wouldn't it fuck with Marco if he ever saw this woman? I even mentioned you to her - to see if she knew you. I think I might have put the idea in her head to find you, don't you think so?”
“I hear she played you like a violin,” Marco said coldly, “so don't try to pretend like you're some mastermind.”
Yegorov growled, “Yes, well I have her now, and just for that I think I'm going to kill her. How do you like them apples?”
There was a loud silence from the other side of the phone. I opened my mouth wanting to shout, wanting to tell Marco that I could hear him and that I was okay. Yegorov narrowed his eyes at me, warning me, and I closed my mouth again. I couldn't help my breath hitching though, as I tried not to hyperventilate.
“She’s there right now, isn’t she?” Marco sounded sharper all of a sudden.
Yegorov glared at me as he spoke. “Yes, she’s right here, listening to every word. She tells me she’s not your girlfriend. That you’re just a mark. So why are you bothering with her. I should kill her right now, do us both a favor.”
“No!” Even I could hear the anguish in Marco’s voice and closed my eyes in despair. “Please don’t.”
I could feel Yegorov’s triumph even with my eyes closed. “Then give me my routes and I'll let her go.” He said before hanging up. I opened my eyes and stared at him, not making a single bit of effort to hide how much I wanted to murder him in that instant.
He smiled. “So much for being just a mark, huh?”