Page 168 of Gilded Cage (Kovalyov Bratva 1)

He grunts, more in shock than in pain, but it distracts him enough that he releases his hold on me.

I don’t hesitate—I turn tail and run as fast as I can.

“Esme!” he yells after me in a pained roar.

It amazes me that even now, after everything I’ve learned about him, I desperately want to turn back. I desperately want to risk one last glance at him.

But I don’t.

I suppress the desire and turn into a bustling L.A. strip mall that allows me to blend into the crowd.

I slip through the crowd as fast as I can, ignoring all the people I elbow or push aside to get around them.

An exit spits me out a few blocks away. When I emerge on the side street, I hail a cab and get into it with cautious relief.

Something occurred to me while I was running.

I have one more place to go.

47

Esme

It takes twenty-five minutes to get to the east side of Los Angeles. I wring my hands nervously as I stare at the meter going up, up, up.

The moment the driver comes to a stop in front of the building, I lean in a little and give him my best smile. It might’ve worked better if I didn’t look so ragged that someone had already mistaken me for a hobo today.

“Umm, so I have only five dollars on me—”

He turns to me, his happy-go-lucky grin dropping like a hot potato. “You fuckin’ kidding me, girl?”

“It’s been a rough day,” I say, by way of explanation.If only you knew the half of it,I want to add. “But I’ll get you the money. My cousin lives in this building.”

The driver peers through his window, examining the building as though it’s my last credible witness. “Seems like a nice building. Even got a doorman.”

“See?” I say. “I swear, I’ll be back with your money.”

He narrows his murky blue eyes at me before pulling out his phone and handing it to me. “Call your cousin and tell her to come out here with the money. I let you go up in there, I ain’t never gonna see you again.”

Relieved that I remember Tamara’s number, I take his phone and dial in her number. She doesn’t answer for the longest time.

I start to panic. If she doesn’t answer, I’ll be stranded somewhere else with a pissed-off cabbie ready to beat my head in.

Just as I’m trying to figure out my back-up plan, she picks up and I sigh inwardly.

“Hello?”

“Tamara! Thank God. Where are you?”

“Oh my God… Esme?”

She sounds shocked to hear from me, and honestly, who can blame her? I haven’t been in contact with her since days before the compound was attacked and destroyed by Artem and the Bratva.

“Where are you?”

“Um… I’m in my apartment. Where areyou?”

“Outside your apartment,” I reply without explaining. “I’m in the cab parked outside the building. I need to pay for my ride and I only have five dollars on me.”

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