Chapter 18
The Nightcrawlers
Alex
Iknocked on Andrei’s door, Jade’s hand firmly in mine, and he noticed as soon as he opened it. His little polite smile faltered just a bit, and I knew what that meant.
“Oh my God, hi!” Olga piped up somewhere behind him before we even stepped inside the house. “Jade, right? So nice to meet you!”
“Thank you. You as well!” Jade beamed too, and then they hugged. Like they were old best friends or something.
“Come on! Come in. Hi Sasha.” Olga leaned over to give me a quick peck on the cheek right before leading Jade inside, chattering about something nonstop.
I moved to follow, but Andrei shot his hand out to stop me. He turned to me, no more fake and polite smile. “Did you tell her?” His voice was ice.
“Tell her what?”
He scowled at me, like I was an enemy, not his best friend of the last thirty years. “The whole fucking thing! Don’t pretend you’re an idiot now!” he huffed as he let me inside. “Or were you too busy shoving your tongue down her throat?”
“I didn’t tell her,” I responded with as much negativity as he threw at me. “But I will tonight. What did Moretti say at the press conference?”
But he ignored my last question, his eyes paranoid as always. “Don’t tell her. You’ve ignored all my other warnings, but do not tell her.”
“What did he say at the press conference?” I asked again, but it was as if he didn’t hear me.
“Are you really that fucking stupid or do you just enjoy riling me up? Alex, she’s his daughter.
” He nodded, and I scoffed, genuinely annoyed at his behavior.
“You think this is a good idea? She’s fucking with your head to get out of here, and then, when she fucks you over, and you're doing twenty-five behind bars, you’ll have no one to blame but yourself!
But I will also blame you because I’ll be sitting in a cell beside yours!
" Andrei was getting heated now. "You're placing us both in danger! And I have a family!"
I had no idea what the fuck he was saying.
"What are you talking about? How’s she tricking me?"
He paced the front entrance of his gigantic house and then spelled it out for me.
"She. Is. Using. You. She’s made you fall head over heels for her; you’ll do anything now—including letting her go—and she’ll run right back to daddy and then we’re fucked.
Do not fucking touch her. Do not go down this road.
We're trying not to end up in jail, that's why we started this whole thing! "
While I always appreciated Andrei's cool head and logical thinking, I was certain he was lost in the woods on this one.
"I’m not letting her go anywhere,” I assured him, peeking behind him to see where Olga took Jade. I headed in the direction of her voice but turned back at the last moment. “What did Moretti say?”
Andrei sighed heavily, as if this was all too much for him. “He didn’t have a press conference, but he followed our instructions and passed a message. He’s willing to talk.”
My heart skipped a beat, both from the exhilaration that our plan was working and the devastation that talking to us meant negotiating. And that meant…we’d have to release Jade if he accepted our terms.
I sat across from Jade at the dinner table, unable to concentrate on the food, the conversation, or real life. I only saw her in my eyes.
I hadn’t felt this good in my entire life.
This was what I wanted—her with me, like this, nothing insane or crazy, just regular daily life with her.
Olga and Andrei were in the kitchen brewing coffee, having left Jade and me alone for a few minutes. She leaned across the table, her eyes wide and enchanting.
“Can we go to the bathroom and you can show me your piercings again?” she whispered with a silly grin.
“You like piercings?” I moved closer too, finally feeling free to enjoy my time with her.
“Not particularly.” Her gaze jumped to my lips. “Just on you.”
Andrei coughed loudly as he approached, and Jade pulled back, but her smile never left her lips. Olga plated some sort of dessert, but I didn’t even know what it was, having zero interest in anything except Jade.
“So, can you tell me your name now?” Jade addressed Andrei once everyone sat back down. “Since I’m here having dinner with you? Or are you still undercover?”
Andrei didn’t smile, and I chuckled internally at the way Jade’s personality could destabilize Andrei.
"Why are you both so secretive?" Olga piped up. "Judging by your make-out session, I'd say Jade has now switched sides." Olga winked suggestively. "Andrei. His name’s Andrei,” she added kindly, and Jade smiled in response, lighting up my whole world.
"Nice to meet you, Andrei." Jade nodded politely, and he threw her a nod too, struggling, but trying to let the situation go.
Powerless to stop staring at her, I watched the way she lifted the little fork to her mouth, but then she paused.
Slowly, her eyes met mine.
"Andrei?” she asked carefully. "An-dre? Like Dre? Like Dr. Dre?" She stared at me, for some reason repeating the name in different ways. It’s like she was frozen. The fork was still at her lips, but then she looked from me to Andrei. “Does anyone call you Dre?”
Andrei sat with his arms folded on his chest, both of us on edge from her strange reaction. “Some people call me Dre.”
That didn’t make anything better. In fact, the fork was trembling in her hand now. “And you’re Russian?” It was a half-question, half-statement, as if she already knew the answer.
And I already knew what she was going to say next.
Nobody moved. All three of us sat there quietly and watched her cheeks turn crimson until the little dessert fork clattered loudly on her plate, and Jade leaned back on her chair, her eyes wide and full of mild panic.
“I know who you are.”
There it was—out in the open now.
“I know who you are very well!” she exclaimed, clasping her hands over her mouth. “Oh my God! You’re The Nightcrawlers!”
Jade’s eyes were on fire and she was smiling, but also very visibly flustered, neither of which gave me any peace.
"The what?" Andrei and I spoke over each other, hungry for more details.
“The Nightcrawlers!” she repeated the odd word, and pointed to both of us, speaking with energy. “That's your nickname. Because no one knows your names and what you two look like, and—and every car you take vanishes without a trace!”
I’d never seen Jade this animated. Her hands shook and she looked between us, trying to get all the information out. “It’s also very difficult to catch the men who do it—no one has really caught them on camera either. Until recently.”
Jade transformed. I’d seen it before—the way she could go from relaxed to meaning business in three seconds, but this was earthshattering.
“Everything began to change for you. Just recently, right? Did you send your shipment earlier as planned?"
And with this little unexpected remark, my heart skipped a beat. Neither Andrei nor I could respond. We both just stared at her, the understanding that she knew way more than we had ever anticipated trickling in like honey into a bowl.
It was impossible for Jade to hide how strongly this information had affected her. She was shaken, looking around the table as if there would be some remedy to whatever calamity was unfolding in her mind.
"Oh my God, why the fuck didn't you tell me earlier?!" Jade slammed her palm on the table, her eyes blazing with accusation.
"Why the hell would we tell you?!” Andrei exploded at her. “Do you recognize how messed up this whole situation is now?" He turned to me, ready to rip me apart, but Olga placed her hand on his, stilling his anger.
"Alright. Let's just start from the beginning here." Olga was his voice of calm and reason. "Jade, why don't you tell us what's on your mind?”
I was breaking out in nervous sweat. Jade wasn't just kidnapped leverage. I was in love with her, and that was bulldozing through every smidgeon of logic I possessed, but her reaction was stirring wild turmoil inside me.
"You two are really out of your element," Jade began urgently. "You kidnapped me to put pressure on my dad to stop investigating?" she asked the obvious, and both Andrei and I nodded like bobbleheads. "It's too late for that. Maybe a few months ago, it would've worked but...he's too close now."
"What are you talking about?" Andrei pretended like he wasn't shitting his pants from the information she was telling us.
Jade chewed her lip, evidently trying to calculate her options. I waited. We all waited silently, all of us descending into hell in our own minds.
"I need...I need to think about what to do," Jade admitted quietly after a few minutes of all of us looking at each other.
"The problem is...if I tell you what I know and you act on it, my father will figure out you’re the ones who have me.
And either you've tortured me for the information, and I may be dead or...
we've had this conversation over dinner.”
Jade’s eyes sparkled with fear, just like the first time I saw her. Just like the time at lunch. Just like that time we made the video. Every time her father was mentioned, Jade was visibly distraught.
“But my father knows you're not the torturing types. We've all talked about you guys at length.” Jade looked at me, an apology shining in her eyes. “Dissected and analyzed all your actions and your past. So, he’ll know it's the latter, and then he’ll just continue on his way. And you’ll be arrested. The timeline’s about two months out.
He’s just waiting for a few crucial details. "
Jade dropped a bomb on all of us.
Andrei and I sat in silence, both realizing we had grossly underestimated Sebastian Moretti.
"T-two months out?" Olga asked, now looking just as disturbed as Jade. "Until they get arrested?"
"Yes." Jade nodded slowly, looking only at me. "He almost has you."
Quietly, Jade annihilated all our worlds with one simple sentence.