Page 30 of Alik

His hands curl over the wheel as he faces forward and seems to center himself. When he speaks next, his voice is hard. “Next Thursday, I’m going to be out of town. You will not follow me, and if Nikita asks you to report to him, you’ll say everything is business as usual.”

I consider this for a few moments, eyeing Roman’s tense body language. He’s a confident man, but he almost looks nervous. Whatever he’s doing must be important.

“Done.”

With a sigh, he nods and starts the car. We drive to my apartment in silence, and the first thing I do without being consciously aware I’m doing it is check to see if Olive’s light is on. Her apartment is dark.

Roman parks in front of my building. When I get out, I hesitate to close the door.

I don’t like this man. Our contempt goes back to the years before my scar, back when his brother was one of my best friends. One of myonlyfriends.

He’s an asshole, but I owe him for tonight. I lean in and point to the watch on his wrist. “Be careful with gifts. Sometimes, there are strings attached.”

And sometimes, there are tracking chips embedded in them.

He looks at his watch—identical to the other gold bands Nikita gifted to his lieutenants—with his brow furrowed as I shut the door and head up to my apartment, wondering when Olive might be home. Or if she’ll ever be home again.

8

OLIVE

It’s one in the morning when I knock on Alik’s door, but he answers fully dressed, his hair in place, his eyes relaxed without a trace of sleep in them.

I fidget with my hands while inching closer to him to speak, even though no one is around to hear me. It doesn’t feel that way. In the hours since Alik left me, I felt as though I was being watched, followed by a person just out of reach. As though I’d be yanked into a dark corner any minute, silenced forever.

“It’s done,” I say, searching his face for interest. I see nothing. His expression is neutral, like he’s never even met me, let alone plotted with me on something so major.

“Good.” He dips his chin and goes to close the door, but I slam my hand on the wood to stop it.

“What are you doing?” I ask, my heart skipping with panic. “Aren’t you going to ask what happened? Or if I’m okay?”

His gaze flicks up and down my body. “You look fine.”

I look fine?

I’m notfine.

My nerves feel like they're overheating. My eyes strain to see everything around me, and I’m constantly petrified that something or someone is at my back.

I need someone to tell me nothing is there, that I’m imagining all of this. I needhim.

“Right, but?—”

“It’s late,” he cuts me off like my problems are an annoyance for him. “You should try to get some rest. I have some work to get back to.” He crooks a thumb over his shoulder, but I don’t take my eyes off his face.

When he goes to shut his door again, I let my hand slide off it and close my eyes. “Alik, I’m scared.”

My voice is as small as my pride, but it’s loud enough that he hears it. The door doesn’t shut, and I open my eyes to see him looking over me like he’s conflicted. His pursed lips make him almost appear pained.

After several seconds, he steps to the side to let me in, and a sharp sigh rushes from me as I shuffle into his apartment. As soon as the door shuts, a blanket of safety wraps around me. It reminds me of when I was a child, making sure my closet door was shut to keep the monsters out. Maybe this isn’t true safety, but it feels a hell of a lot better than being by myself.

“Thank you.”

Instead of responding, he walks to his computer in the living room and turns off all three monitors, set up like he’s a high-tech hacker or something. I wander closer, my arms crossing over my chest as I take in the space I’ve imagined hundreds of times.

“Your apartment has a different layout than mine,” I pretend to observe. I looked at the plans weeks ago, so I already knew how his apartment was set up. His kitchen in front of the door, his living room to the side that leads to his bedroom. His bedroom furniture is all black in my imagination, but so was his couch, and this one is a plush green. I kind of like that I was wrong. That he’s still a mystery.

I run my finger over the edge of one of the monitors while imagining what it’s for. Hacking right? Who else has a setup like this?

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