Page 71 of Disguised as Love

I leaned my head against his shoulder, wishing again we could have been exactly what we appeared?two tourists, in love, finding their way through a city that was full of romance. Wishing the day we’d toured the city together had never ended and that we’d spent the night in a hotel, exploring our bodies like we did the city during the day, millimeter by millimeter.

We sat that way for the rest of the cruise, listening to the random history spouted over the speaker, watching the people on the boat taking pictures, pointing, laughing, living. I didn’t move from the cocoon of his arms. The brief feeling of safety would disappear as soon as we docked. We’d be scrambling to run and hide again. But for these seconds, I let myself feel warm and whole and secure.

When the boat anchored, Cruz scanned the pier for a long time before deftly embedding us in a group as they disembarked. He hunched his shoulders, trying to hide his height as we walked with them through the terminal and out onto the street. There, we veered off into the parking lot, and he had me stand blocking the view of him as he broke into an old Lada. It made me wonder if the one Ito-san had been driving had been stolen as well.

Once inside, he unlocked the passenger door and ordered me in. He tugged at wires below the steering column, and soon the vehicle was running.

I directed him out of the port and onto the high-speed diameter that would swing us over and onto the embankment in the Vasileostrovsky District where we could cross to Petrovsky Island. Once we got to the yacht club, he drove slowly through the parking lot but then left again, stopping down the street instead. Even there, the old Lada stood out amongst the expensive cars littering the area around the marina.

Once parked, Cruz took out his phone, turned it on, and placed a call.

In the silence of the car, I heard the man on the other end exclaim, “Thank God!” even though Cruz wasn’t on speaker. “What the hell is going on?!”

“I need exfil for six people, ASAP,” Cruz commanded into the phone.

Hesitation on the other end. “Six?”

“The Leskovs, Ilia, Ito-san, and myself.”

“Malone,” the man said, and I could hear the quiet rebuke in his voice.

“Just do it, Nolan. Six. I’ll take the heat when I get back.”

More silence, and then the man lowered his voice, because I could barely make out what he said in response, but it was enough to know he was basically telling Malone it was his career if he did this.

My throat closed. Cruz was trying to help, even though he knew it was going to cost him everything. Why would he do that? Why didn’t he just wash his hands of all of us and walk away? Whatever was on the SD card, whatever he thought he had on Malik, was hardly worth his life.

Cruz broke into the man’s rambling lecture. “I can’t leave the phone on, but I’ll be checking in every hour. If you don’t hear from me…” he trailed off.

Nolan cussed, and Cruz hung up on him.

“Are you always that rude to the people who work with you?” I asked, focusing on the one thing that wouldn’t have me dissolving into tears of sorrow and regret.

Cruz looked surprised. “I wasn’t rude.”

I couldn’t help the small burst of laughter that bubbled out of me. “If you don’t think that was rude, I’d hate to hear what you sound like when you’re trying to be.”

I turned my head to look out the window because his gaze was too intense. I couldn’t meet it and not break down.

The boat ride had taken over an hour. We still had three hours more to while away before six o’clock hit. I was cold, tired, and heartbroken. I was full of fear and anxiety for my family. Mama’s premonition as we’d left the Golden Palace this morning returned to me. We’d never be safe going back. I closed my eyes, and I couldn’t quite capture the tear as it escaped. I tried to brush at it before he saw it, but even turned away from him, Cruz seemed to know.

He put one hand on my neck and turned my face toward his with a gentle finger on my chin.

“Tears, little one? Where’s the fiery Raisa Leskov who threatened to remove my balls? That’s who I need to stay with me for a few more hours. Don’t break down yet.”

It pissed me off, which I knew was his intent, and that made me even angrier.

I pushed at his hands, trying to remove them from my body, but it was impossible to move the mammoth that was Cruz Malone with my ladybug-like strength. “Why are you doing this?” I demanded.

“Because I need you to keep it together a little longer,” he replied.

I shook my head. “Not right now. Why are you doing this at all? Helping us? Wouldn’t it be easier for you to let us fall into Rurik’s hands? One less crime family for the FBI to deal with.”

His hand on my neck tightened reflexively, and his eyes bored into mine. I couldn’t look away, even if I wanted to, any more than I could shake his fingers from my skin.

“I think you already know the answer to that,” his voice turned gravelly, deeper than I’d ever heard it before. And it sent waves of sensations through my being.

“I wouldn’t have asked if I already knew,” I insisted.

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