Page 81 of Solemn Vow

“You kidnapped me for the money.” I try to stay with him, but I’m thinking a million thoughts at one time. How can I get out of these ropes? Where does his sister live? And the thought I’m trying to avoid; did Viktor go behind my back and meet with Michael?

“I did.” He laughs. “And then I find this.” He smacks my phone against a palm.

“Viktor wasn’t taking the recording to Michael,” I explain. “Yes, I wanted to. And I was going to tell you that if you didn’t delete the photo, that I would.”

He stares at me a long moment.

“Too late for that, I’m afraid.” He shrugs. “See, I got a little pissed when I heard this, so I went ahead and sent the photos to Donato and his niece, you know, the one you work for. See, it was her cousin’s car we lifted that night.”

Everything, all the scrounging for money, selling my television, was for nothing.

“Then.” He gets up from his chair and slips my phone into his jeans. “I sent a message to your boyfriend, explaining what he needs to do in order to make all this better.”

“What do you want from me, Jimmy?”

I was wrong about Viktor.

“From you, nothing. You’re as broke as you can get. I want Petrov money. Especially now that I have to find a way to keep my uncle off my ass.”

“How do you know Michael’s not on his way here now?”

“He’s not a hothead like me. He’ll cool off first, then he’ll call me over to the house for dinner or something. I got time. And if I get this done before then, I’ll be able to get away from here.”

“Why did you betray your own family anyway? You know he’s not going to let that fly.”

“He’s my uncle.” He lifts a shoulder. “And he let me go to prison to keep you safe. He wanted to keep his precious Marlena out of prison and out of trouble. So he let me take the full rap then gave me no fucking protection while I was in there. He fucking betrayed me, and for what? His whore’s daughter?”

“What?” I lunge forward, but I get nowhere.

His eyebrows shoot up, then slowly his lips curl up into a twisted and demented grin.

“You didn’t know?” He laughs. “I was doing a lot of drugs back then; I thought you knew.”

“Know what, Jimmy? Know what!”

He gets really close to me. The stench of his breath hits my face.

“Michael is your father.”

When I getmy hands on him, I’m going to wring the life out of him, and I won’t let go until every sign of life has drained from his eyes.

“He won’t hurt her,” Andrei says. “She’s worth something right now. If he hurts her, he won’t get anything from you.”

“He’s not getting shit from me!” I rage, smashing the button to open the concealed wall in my office. Every weapon I need is hidden in this wall, but I only need a few moments to grab what I want.

“He’s desperate.” Sergei lifts two Glock 19s from the wall and grabs the pre-loaded magazines to go with them. “And stupid.” He slaps a magazine into one of the guns. “A bad combination.”

“What’s a bad combination?” Izzy asks.

“Fuck,” Andrei curses under his breath before turning to his wife standing in the doorway, shopping bags in each hand.

“What’s going on?” She eyes the guns we’ve strapped into our holsters before we cover them with our coats. “Where’sMarlena? I thought you said she’d be here by now.” Her face drains of color. “Andrei?”

“We don’t have time to explain, Izzy.” Andrei walks her out into the hall. “We’re going to go get her right now. You have to stay here. When we get back with her, she’s going to want you here.”

Izzy looks over her shoulder while Andrei leads her to the living room. “What is going on? What is it?” She pulls away from him just as Sergei and I walk past and head to the foyer.

“I’ll bring her home, Izzy,” I vow, keeping my eyes forward. I hear the panic in her voice; I don’t want to give visual confirmation to it. The only thing that matters right now is getting to Marlena before Jimmy loses what’s left of his senses.

---