30. Have a little faith #2
Gaze flickering over me and catching on the marks Bordeau left behind as well as the distance I purposely placed between us, he inquires coolly, “They turned you against me?”
“They tried.”
“And failed?”
“I called you, didn’t I?”
“True. Your family wants to see you.”
“My family can wait. I want a shower, some food, and for a Russian Orthodox priest to be waiting at your house to marry us.”
This time, his eyes out-and-out bug. “What?”
“You heard me.” The words are seething. “I had no protection in there. None. And I’m yours. I want your last name. I want every fucking pig in this fucking state to know who they’re fucking with. Do you hear me?”
His lips take on the faintest of curves. “I hear you.”
“Those fucking ingrates. Talking to me like I’m a nobody. One of them thought he could touch me. I want his hands, Maxim.”
“You’ll have more than that, kotik.”
His seething indignation soothes my feminine rage but I still repeat, “He touched me.”
“I reasoned as much when you shared his name with me.”
Bowing my head, I consider those moments when my mind spaced out, when it seemed as if I were floating on another level, watching the world from high above.
When Maxim seats himself beside me, I falter. “I smell. I’m gross. I don’t know how I didn’t…”
I can’t admit that I almost peed myself out loud.
He grunts and before I know it, I’m sitting on his lap again.
A hand settles in between my shoulder blades and he tucks me into him.
Tension runs up and down my spine like a livewire, but he doesn’t argue with me or chide me or soothe me. He just holds me there. And it’s exactly what I needed without having to utter a word.
“I’m furious.”
Clucking his tongue, he continues stroking me, passing me the ladybug hair pin when he nears it and untangles it from the hive my updo evolved into.
“I’m not a dog.”
He ignores me.
“I want to kill him.”
“You will have his head, his hands, and his dick, pchelka.”
For the first time, I sag. I hide my face in his throat, gladder still when he draws me closer, holds me tighter.
“He will only know pain because of his dealings with you.”
That he switches to Russian has me relaxing further, but his statement of intent provides the ultimate comfort.
“Don’t kill him. Let his life be filled with suffering.”
When he kisses my temple, I grimace—vanity rearing its ugly head. But he doesn’t seem to care.
He just embraces me as I practically vibrate in his arms.
“I want to watch.”
He clucks his tongue.
“I do!”
“You might be in class.”
“Then I’ll give you my schedule and you can book his torture around it!”
His lips quirk against my skin. “You are mine.”
“I know. It’s time the rest of the world did too.”
“Kotik, you cannot say such things and not expect a reaction. I’m just warning you because—”
“I’m not a frightened little girl, Maxim. I’m a grown-assed woman and I want my man. I’m not scared. I’m livid. I told Bordeau that my husband would make him regret touching me and you will. But he didn’t know who my husband was. Why would he?”
“When you came to me with this madcap scheme, I should have insisted we marry then and there.” He ruminates, “My mistake. I forgot about how you attract danger when you don’t willingly invite it into your life.”
“They set me up to fail.”
“I agree. They didn’t know you’d be attending a public event with me.”
My throat feels tight—I half-hoped he’d think I was paranoid.
Before I can spiral, I hear the softest of yips.
“What’s that?”
He pushes a button. “The dog, Georgi.”
A bundle of fur plops through the partition and immediately bounds over to me.
“Salome!” I croon in delight, relieved when she kisses my face, totally not giving a shit that I stink, just happy that I’m here.
She’s so young that I figured she’d forget me, but she hasn’t!
“Victoria.”
“What?”
“You cannot call the creature Salome.”
“Of course, I can. Don’t be jealous, Maxim. I can appreciate other people who have a thing for decapitation, too.”
Choking out a laugh, he collects Salome and turns the wriggling bundle of fur over. “Look.”
I study the fluffy underbelly. “What? She needs a haircut, I know, but—”
“She is a he, kotik.”
“Oh. I asked for a girl!”
“Then the person who sold you the dog is a liar.”
When he starts sounding all growly, I tsk. “I didn’t buy Salome. She was given to me.”
“He.”
“He can still be Salome.”
“No, he can’t. Charles. That would be a good name for him. A strong name.”
“Charles?! What the fuck?” I pull back to gape at him. “I’m not calling my dog, Charles! It’s not even Russian!”
“And Salome is?”
“Salome is Salome. It’s giving execution, deadly female, badass bitch, name forever immortalized. Not Charles! What did any Charles do?!”
“Rule nations? Discover evolution??”
“Bah! Salome is so much cooler. And hey, if Jamie can be a boy or a girl’s name, then why can’t Salome?”
“Why didn’t you let me pick out a dog?”
“Because I’d have ended up with a Doberman who likes to eat feet!” When his lips twitch, I grumble, “See? I wanted fluff.”
“You got fluff.”
“Charles.” I grouch. “Ha.”
“I’m calling him Charles.”
“You can. I’ll call him Salome and we’ll see which one he takes to.” I cuddle the fur baby to my chest and feel the slightest break, the softest of ruptures in my fury.
No.
No.
Maxim holds me tighter. “It’s okay to let go, Victoria. You are safe here. In my arms.”
“I want your name,” I declare.
“You’ll have it.”
“Promise me.” I grab at his shirt. “Promise.”
“I vow it. You think I don’t want the same rights, kotik? I almost had to concede to the O’Donnellys. They have more of a claim to you than I do and I’m not about to let that continue.”
I sag against him.
Even gross and desperately in need of a shower, he doesn’t let go of me.
That has to mean something.
“Korovka, what is it?”
“I doubted you,” I confess. “And I dislike myself for it.”
He hesitates. “Past tense?”
“I realized they were manipulating me. Someone didn’t like that you vouched for me, but they tried to starve me, Maxim.
They… I was so cold. I drenched my dress before my arrest and they didn’t care.
I barely had anything to drink and they never gave me a chance to sleep.
They refused to let me use the bathroom.
They denied me a lawyer and… they showed me pictures. ”
I suck down air, suddenly aware he had no idea what happened after I left him.
Once I’ve explained the last couple days to him, his thumb gently hovers over my bruised cheek and he rumbles, “My fierce kitten,” in Russian. Then, he grows still. “Someone intercepted the dress I sent to you.”
“I’m sorry, Maxim.”
“Why are you sorry? If anyone’s sorry, it’s me, dammit.”
“I didn’t have faith in you.”
He chucks me under the chin. “As you so rightly declared earlier—who did you call? Who did you trust with the faith you apparently lost?”
“You.” I stare into his eyes, seeing softness there, warmth. Not hate. No resentment. That was my biggest fear.
“Precisely. You knew, in your heart, that I would never betray you. Leave this with me, kotik. I shall figure it out and make sure those who hurt you are punished—”
“No.”
“No?” He scowls at me. “You’re still going ahead with this madness?”
I look straight into his eyes. “Yes. If they did anything, it’s show me that they can take over a police station.
They can make multiple cops turn a blind eye, never mind completely fabricate a case from the ground up, while handling a corpse and using that corpse, one of their members’ children, for their own gain. ”
“Victoria—”
“No, Maxim. Becoming one of them will—”
“There isn’t an ounce of loyalty among them! They’re like a pack of wild animals, tearing each other apart. Have you heard of Clyde Korhonen?”
“Why’s that name familiar?”