Page 71 of Ruinous Need
That’s why I have forced all of us — me, Viktor, Markov and Daria — to have a board game night. We will inject some cheer into this safe house, even if we’re in hiding and our past traumas are coming to light.
Viktor sparks to life with outrage the second I suggested we play Monopoly. I grew up as an only child, with Sammy being ten years younger than me, so I always jump at the chance to play board games when there are enough people around.
“No fucking way,” he said, rolling his eyes at me. “Let’s play poker instead.”
Markov and Daria both took on his side, insisting thatMonopoly would take too long and wasn’t that fun anyway.
“Don’t pout. It’s not even that fun, Lisette,” he protests when he sees my crestfallen reaction.
“You’re really not missing much,” Daria said as she recounted a story where she got into a fist-fight with her brother over a Monopoly debt.
So we end up playing poker, a game that I do not know how to play. I think I’m losing, judging by the way everyone has more chips piled up than me.
I do not have a good poker face, I’m discovering.
“Are you gonna bail out your girlfriend Viktor? Or just let her go bankrupt?” Markov teases. He’s been more relaxed since we left the city. I guess there are fewer security threats when all you’re surrounded by is nature.
But the opposite is true of Daria. She’s more relaxed tonight, with a beer in her hand, but she still carries a tension that’s not like her. Right now, she looks uncomfortable as the rest of us laugh at Markov’s jab.
Daria shoots me a look across the table as though she’s worried about me. I can’t read the concern in her eyes or where it’s coming from.
Viktor refuses to bail me out, but that’s fine by me. I don’t want to prolong the torture.
When I finally lose all of my chips and I can’t buy into the next round, I loop my arms over his shoulders and look at his cards, trying not to give the game away.
He has three queens in his hand at the moment. I do know enough to recognize that that’s pretty good. I try not to look excited, but Markov is watching my face closely.
“I’ll fold,” he says after staring at me for a second.
“Did you tell him?” Viktor looks at me accusingly.
“She didn’t have to.” Markov smirks. “That girl couldn’t hide a good hand if her life depended on it.”
Viktor pushes me back to my seat playfully.
“Stay there before Markov cleans out all of my money,” he tells me with a kiss on my nose.
Markov wins on the next round with a full house and announces he’s going to bed. Daria takes the chance to leave too, frowning at her phone and barely even saying goodnight as she heads upstairs.
Leaving me and Viktor alone at the table. I pull my chair closer to his and sip at my wine, watching his face carefully.
“You know, we might be in hiding, but I haven’t felt free like this since I was eighteen and Semyon made that agreement with my father. That kinda put an end to fun for me.”
And now it’s brought me here. To Viktor.
“I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself here. I wish we could’ve met in better circumstances. But that never would’ve happened.” He pulls me onto his lap.
There’s a pain in my chest as I realize he’s right. We never would be together, if it weren’t for Semyon’s warped scheme.
“Is it painful to be back here?”
His throat bobs before he replies. I take his gold chain and run it through my fingers, playing with the cool metal.
“Sometimes,” he says, that far away look drifting across his face again. “But it’s also nice. This is one of the only places where I have happy memories of childhood, with my mother, and even with my father, before he became the Pakhan.”
“So it’s complicated.”
“Everything is,” he replies. “Even this with you.”
