Page 69 of Frozen Heart

Eyes still closed, I felt for him...then relaxed when I felt the reassuring warm slab of his pec under my cheek. God, I was sohappy!Happy like I’d never been. When I felt the first twinge of worry in my stomach, I blocked it out.Nope. Not spoiling this.

But as I lay there in the darkness, the worries multiplied, creeping in from different angles until I had to acknowledge them. This wasliterallythe honeymoon period. Was this really going to work, long term, when there was this huge part of his life that I wasn’t part of, and that might wind up killing him?

Part of me was disappointed about our conversation on the sailboat: I guess on some stupid, secret level, I’d hoped he’d sayOf course I’ll leave the Bratva for you, my love,and become a hedge fund manager or something, and that would be that. And another part of me was almost jealous, as if he was choosing it over me.

But most of me understood. If hehadleft the Bratva for me, I’d have felt guilty forever. And he hadn’t chosen the Bratva over me, a gangster was just what he was. I’d fallen in love with all of him, including that part. He’d already changed for me, more than I’d thought possible. I couldn’t expect him to throw away his whole life. And maybe things would calm down now. Gennadiy had said there was a ceasefire, right? Maybe the worst was over.

I squeezed the sleeping Radimir a little tighter:Mine!Then I stretched out my legs, getting comfortable, so I could get back to sleep.

My foot brushed something cold and leathery, and I frowned.Aw, crap.I must have put my purse on the bed at some point, and it had somehow wound up under the covers. It would keep catching on my toes and annoying me if I didn’t move it.

Very carefully, so as not to wake my husband (myhusband!),I unwound myself from him and burrowed down under the covers to grab it.Where’s the strap?I strained for it but couldn’t quite reach. I burrowed a little deeper, strained again, and managed to touch it.

And the leathery thing moved towards me, slithering over my hand.

47

RADIMIR

Normally,I come awake slowly, shaking loose the monsters that try to drag me back into my dreams. But there are some sounds that have me instantly awake: a gunshot, a siren, the sound of a door being broken down.

That night, I discovered a new one: Bronwyn’s scream.

It was loud enough that they must have heard it in the other villas, loud enough that it hurt. I sat bolt upright, but she’d already shot from the bed, moving faster than I’d ever seen her go. She flattened herself against the wall next to the bed, panting in fear.

“What is it?!” I jumped out of bed and padded over to her. “What’s wrong?”

She couldn’t speak. She pointed to the end of the bed, still heaving for breath.

I frowned and took a few steps. Was someone there? An intruder? I squinted through the darkness, but I couldn’t see anyone. All I could see was a black electrical cable hanging out from under the covers. Had Bronwyn left a hairdryer in the bed?

Then the cable slithered onto the floor and into the shadows.

I jumped backwards.Chyort! A snake! “Did it bite you?” I demanded.

She shook her head, white-faced.

How the fuck did a snake get in here?I shook my head. Hotel security could deal with it, or they could call Animal Control or something. “We’re getting out of here,” I told Bronwyn. Keeping one eye on the patch of shadow where I last saw the snake, I grabbed one of Bronwyn’s dresses and tossed it to her, then her shoes. I scrambled into my pants and a polo shirt.Where are my shoes? Fuck, right where the snake is.

I grabbed our passports and my wallet, too, because no way was I coming back here.Why is it so dark?Shouldn’t there be some moonlight coming in through the windows? I wished I could turn the lights on, but I was too far from the bed to reach the light switch, and the other one was over by the door. “Come on,” I told Bronwyn, taking her hand. Barefoot, I took a careful step towards the door…

And saw movement in the shadows, right in front of us.Fuck. How did it get all the way over there?We couldn’t get to the door. “Back up,” I murmured, trying to keep my voice calm. “We’ll go out through a window.”

We backed away, then turned and headed for the far side of the room, where the windows were. I went fast, knowing the thing was safely behind us.

A noise made me freeze. A noise I’d only ever heard in cowboy movies, a dry, fast rattle. And it came from infrontof me.

There’s more than one snake.

48

RADIMIR

I pickedup Bronwyn and climbed up onto the bed, the only place I was pretty sure was safe. Two big, bouncy steps took me to the head of the bed, and I finally managed to turn on the light.

Bronwyn gave a whimper of terror. There were three snakes on the floor under the windows. Two near the door, another under the desk and one climbing the leg of the coffee table. Panic clawed at my chest. Then I glanced at the windows, and everything suddenly got much, much worse.

The shutters were closed. On every window. That’s why it had been so dark. We’d definitely left the windows ajar when we went to bed to let a breeze in, and the shutters had been latched open.

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