Page 60 of Toxic Salvation
Pavel throws me a wink. “Right behind you, buddy.”
The two of them disappear, leaving me alone with Kovan again. He doesn’t seem to notice. He’s too busy poring over the files Osip just gave him.
My curiosity gets the better of me. “What are those?”
“These?” He flips through them quickly and stashes them on the desk behind him. “These are important medical records.”
I tense, forgetting about the belt around my wrists for the first time since they went on. “Are you talking about more organ donors? Because if so, that’s not a list of people—it’s a list of lambs to the slaughter.”
Kovan’s green eyes are clear and bright. He drags the chair next to me across the sleek tile, then spins it around and straddles it backward. “I told you already, Vesper: I’m done with that trade. I never wanted to be a part of it, and now that I have some power, I’m ending it.”
He holds my gaze, making sure to look me in the eyes as he speaks. Surely, he can’t be lying, right? Because if he could look me in the eye and lie that easily, he has to be a complete and total psychopath.
As if he can read my mind, he adds, “I’m telling you the truth. I only hope you will do me the same courtesy.”
That confuses me. “What do you mean?”
He glances over at the files on his desk. “There are a few things that aren’t adding up. For example, why you hacked into the hospital’s database a week after you and I broke up.”
My pulse stutters. “I… I didn’t?—”
“Don’t lie to me, Vesper. I know a liar when I see one, and right now, you’re working overtime.”
The restraints around my wrists feel a whole lot tighter suddenly. “Let me go.”
“I will,” he says pleasantly. “After you’re done answering my questions.”
“This is insane! I’m pregnant! Withyourbaby!”
He glances casually at the clock on the wall opposite us. “Which reminds me, our doctor’s appointment is in less than an hour. So you better start talking fast.”
“Kovan—”
“You think you’re the only one with a reason not to trust me, Vesper? Have you stopped to consider, even for a moment, that I might have my own reasons for not trusting you?”
“Excuse me?!”
“You were found sneaking out of Jeremy’s office twice.”
“Because I was trying to dig up information on the bastard and his plans! Not because I had anything to say to him.”
“And what about the hacking?” Kovan continues.
I bite down on my tongue, wondering how on earth I’m going to get myself out of this one. The truth sits heavy in my chest, demanding to be released. In the end, I decide on something novel.
I go with honesty.
“You want the freaking truth?” I scream. “Fine! Here it is: I’m as much of a criminal as you are. I did bad things, and I did them for personal gain. Not for money… but for my mother.”
Kovan blinks in surprise. “What did you say?”
“The clinical trial that I got my mom on—she didn’t actually qualify for it. So I falsified her documents and the documents of another patient so that they would be kicked off the trial and my mom could take their place.” I look down, unable to meet his gaze any longer. “I know I did a terrible thing, and I will probably always feel terrible about it. But I don’t regret it. Because at least now, my mom has a small chance of survival. And I need her to survive. I need her to survive to see her grandson.”
The confession pours out of me in a rush, and suddenly, I’m sobbing into my chest because my hands are too tightly bound to be of any use. They just lie there limply, tired of struggling.
I stop only because I feel a stroke of warmth at my thigh. I look up to find Kovan’s face hanging right in front of me, those green eyes so arresting that they take my breath away.
I choke on my own sobs, right in his face. But he doesn’t seem to mind. Instead, he wipes away my tears with his thumb. Then, slowly, he starts to undo the belt around my wrists.
