Page 29 of Sinful Promise

The drone of the engines provides a backdrop, and I’m just grateful there’s no turbulence. The last thing she needs is a bumpy flight.

“Do you travel a lot?” She averts her eyes to her hands in her lap. “It feels odd not to have a purse or a phone on me.”

I imagine she feels naked without a tether to humanity.

“I can imagine. Do you have anyone back home you need to contact?”

She’s pensive for a minute, and I can’t tell if she’s hiding something from me or considering whether she should reach out to someone. I don’t believe for a minute she doesn’t have one, if not two, girlfriends. Even a captive bird manages to find life within a cage.

“No, I’m fine. Thank you.”

Alex chimes in with, “I need a fucking cigarette,” and we both chuckle at his predictability.

I’m sure that when Alex is not smoking, he will enjoy all the amenities the yacht offers. There are swimming pools, hot tubs, wave runners, water slides, and scuba gear. What we don’t have, we can get. There’s a small sailboat and a motorboat stored in the hull that we can use to go ashore, go sailing or water skiing, snorkel, or just fuck off. Hell, I can even fuck someone on the bow if I want.

I love the water, so for me, this trip is an entire vacation packed into a steel hull. I have my best friend, the sun, water, spas, and many things to do and places to go. It’s liberating to be at sea.

But such luxury comes at a high price. It takes an extraordinary number of rubles and euros to maintain our lifestyle, and that’s another reason the stolen guns piss me off. We’re all expected to bring in money, and the shipment was worth one million USD on the black market.

Alex finally gets his cell phone connected to the Wi-Fi and confirms Irina will be waiting for us. I haven’t seen her in months. It will be nice to catch up with her. She’s the one woman I think Alex should marry. Maybe we’re friends because we’re the same age. Plus, she’s no stranger to our world, which makes her feel like family.

“Now that I’m on the plane, can you tell me exactly where we are going?” Dasha asks.

She’s brave to bring it up. She must be concerned about her safety, and it doesn’t take much to be courteous to her. It’s not her fault she’s not on her honeymoon like she should have been.

“We’re traveling to France,” I volunteer. Who is she going to tell, anyway?

“Alex mentioned the yacht. Do you sail?”

“Yes.”

I wonder if she’s running throughThe Kidnapped Handbookand got to the chapter entitledGet to Know Your Captor. I dismiss the notion. She’s a babe in the woods surrounded by wolves.

At this point, I realize we’ve been up for hours.

My stomach growls, reminding me that we also haven’t eaten in a long time, so I unbuckle my seatbelt and head to the galley. “I’m getting a drink. Would you like something to eat?” I ask, looking at Dasha. “I can heat something up.”

“Yes, please, something to eat and water to drink.”

“Sure. Feel free to move around. There’s a bathroom toward the back. I’m not concerned you’ll throw yourself out the door,” I add with a sardonic tone.

Her eyebrows rise, as if to question my sanity. It’s great to know she’s keeping her wits about her. Some women would be hysterical by now. We’ve been confined in a car for a long time and now we’re on a plane, and I haven’t managed to piss her off. It’s a new record for me.

Alex follows me. “You’re in a good mood. What are you so happy about, the girl?”

“Of course not,” I say. “I’m just happy we made it out of Minsk undetected.”

“I hope to hell you have a bottle of vodka on this plane,” Alex says with a grunt.

“Of course. When have I never had liquor?”

I glance back at Dasha, but she’s not in her seat. Probably in the bathroom. We’ve been in the air for an hour.

“You’re not your usual stoic and dour self,” Alex says. “Don’t tell me the girl is getting to you.”

“I’ve got my eye on the prize,” I say, defending myself. “I can’t decide whether to hold her for ransom money, which could get messy, or send her back to Ratmim without her virginity.”

“If she’s been raised to marry Ratmim, I wonder who her parents are. He is such a rat.”

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