Page 10 of Ruinous Need
But that wouldn’t be a good idea. That wouldn’t solve the big mess I’m in. There’s no fighting this.
“What men?” The voice is as cool and unsurprised as if I’d told them it was a chilly night.
“So it was you. What a pleasant welcome to my new family.” My voice drips with disdain.
These people may have bought me, but nowhere did it say good manners were a part of the deal.
My father gestures at me as if I should be more polite.
I’m sick of walking on eggshells in the hope that I can have another year of freedom.
“Just tell me what you want. It’s time, isn’t it? You’re collecting on the debt.”
“He’d prefer if you didn’t speak about it in those terms.”
“I don’t give a fuck what terms he would prefer.”
That earns me a cough. Then a rustling noise as the receiver is passed along.
“Lisette,” says a voice just as smooth but a lot more poisonous. “How nice to speak to my fiancée for the first time in years. Do you need a reminder of the terms of this deal?”
I don’t say yes. I don’t agree to anything. I’ve learned enough to know that’s how you have to deal with these people. But it doesn’t stop him.
In a silky voice with just a hint of a foreign accent, he rattles off what will happen to my family if I don’t go along with the plan.
“Our plan,” he calls it, even though it’s not. I’ve never had any agency in this situation.
“I have monsters on my team who you wouldn’t believe, Lisette. Broken men. Who started killing when they were youngand never looked back. They won’t just destroy your family. They’ll savor every moment. It will last for weeks.”
My parents watch my reaction from across the table, watching as I spiral. The panic attacks that I’ve tried to suppress over the years all coalesce into this one, crystal-clear moment of pain.
The threats he makes chill my blood. He keeps talking until all I can think about are my parents, Sammy, Marianne, my students, my friends, all bleeding out around me. I can feel the sickening sensation of blood surrounding me, rising up to my knees, then my waist, then drowning me.
They know everything about me. There is no stopping the deal I made.
My mind spins further and further away from the conversation taking place until I know that I’d agree to anything if it would keep them safe.
“Okay,” I whisper into the receiver, unable to stop my voice from shaking.
I expect a reply. An acknowledgment.
A schedule, so I know when to expect fate to run me over with a hundred-ton truck.
All I get is the click of the call disconnecting.
CHAPTER 4
VIKTOR
THE KIDNAPPING WILL be easy.
Even after that night when the Irish almost got her, when I told her to be more careful, Lisette is oblivious. She’s so unaware of her surroundings, it’s like she lives in a different world. She’s always listening to music, giant black headphones over her white-blonde hair, leaving ruffled indents when she takes them off.
On the train, in the park, while she takes her breaks from teaching. She likes to walk around the city. Waltzing through public places where anyone could attack her.
I’ve been observing her movements in preparation for the kidnapping.
Semyon wants her locked away, and he doesn’t think she’ll go willingly.
