Page 11 of Sacred Vow

“I know. I keep waiting for you to find the guy who will break those rules for you, though.” I walk her to the front door.

“Yeah. Not in this lifetime.” She laughs. “Oh, before I forget. I ordered a nightstand from Amazon, and it’s supposed to be delivered today. If you see the box outside my door, can you just push it in?”

“Sure.” I lean against the couch. We traded apartment keys a while ago in case one of us got locked out. “Hey, how do you know about the Petrov family anyway?”

She shrugs. “A lot of the clients at the spa have husbands and boyfriends that have connections. You hear things.”

My phone dances on the countertop in the kitchen. I must have forgotten to bring it with me to bed last night.

I pick it up and irritation washes over me.

There’re two messages from Andrei.

Time is up, Isolde.

I’ll have a car ready for you to take you to the airport at noon.

How the hell did he get my number?

My fingers fly over the screen tapping out my response.

1. I’m not going anywhere.

And 2, fuck off.

He has my number, so he probably has my address, too.

Fine. That’s fine. He can’t make me go.

Another message:

It’s not a request. Do not make me chase you, Isolde.

Chase me?

The asshole.

“Something wrong?” Marlena asks.

I turn off the phone and drop it onto the counter.

“Nothing. You’re going on your date straight from work?”

“Yeah. We’re meeting up, so I’ll just change at the salon. Don’t worry. I’ll be safe.”

“Have fun!” I call to her as she walks out the front door.

I stare at the empty Keurig basket then back to my phone. He said noon. That gives me plenty of time to run all of the errands I need to run and not be anywhere near this place.

First things first.

Coffee.

I head down to the coffee shop on the corner of our street. The sun’s out already beating down on the crowd sitting outside the café. I hate Chicago summers, but at least the humidity has decided to take a day off.

As I reach for the café door, I get a strange sense that someone’s watching me. I pause, look over my shoulder. No one’s paying me any attention.

I shake my head. I’m letting Andrei get the better of me. I’ve managed in the city for six months without him or anyone from Craig’s past being an issue.

---