Page 8 of Wicked Vow

Taffy’s eyes are the widest I’ve ever seen them, her mascara wand dangling from her fingertips. “She’s–” she swallows hard. “She took over Igor’s old office. She’s been basically running the place while we try to get things figured out, at least until the things Igor had ordered ahead and money runs out–Athena, what’s goingon.”

“Don’t worry about it,” I tell her as gently as I can. “The less you know, the better. But I do need to see her. Can you please go get her for me?”

Taffy nods, her face still white as a sheet. As she hurries out of the dressing room door, I point Mikhail toward my old table.

“Sit,” I tell him sharply. “And don’t move, don’t try to grab anything, don’t even fucking change facial expressions. Until we get on that plane, I’m going to feel very trigger-happy.”

Mikhail’s mouth twists, but he sits down. “You know,” he says conversationally. “It sounds like Ruby has a pretty good gig going on here. What makes you think she’s going to want to go with you?”

“That’s none of your business,” I tell him sharply. “That’s between Ruby and me.”

“And me, since I’m sitting here,” he says grimly, and I glare at him.

“Keep your fucking mouth shut while I talk to my friend.”

“Such a filthy mouth–” he starts to say, that old grin spreading across his face, and I jerk the gun in his direction pointedly.

“Don’t even fucking start.”

The door bursts open then, and Ruby comes into the room like a hurricane, her red hair coming loose from the clip holding most of it atop her head, the short black dress she’s wearing clinging to her. Her eyes go as wide as Taffy’s when she sees me standing there, a gun pointed at Mikhail, and she freezes in place, clearly trying to decide what to say.

A beat passes, and another, and then she shuts the door firmly behind her, turning the lock as she crosses her arms over her chest and faces us both.

“So,” she says finally. “I see my first instincts were correct.”

“I can explain everything,” I tell her quickly, and Ruby nods.

“I’d like that,Natalia. Because for someone who was so upset that I’d kept secrets from you about what Igor was doing, you have an awful lot of secrets yourself.”

“They were all to keep you safe.” I look at her pleadingly. “I’m still trying to keep you safe. Please hear me out.”

Ruby lets out a breath. “Despite everything, I do believe that. Fine. Tell me what’s going on.”

“I can’t tell you everything until I know what you’re going to do,” I say slowly. “But I can tell you that I’m leaving Moscow tonight. You were right about Mikhail. I wasn’t there of my own free will.”

“Maybe not,” Mikhail hisses. “But you certainly enjoyed a lot of what I did to you. If you’re going to tell her thetruth, maybe you should tell her all of it. Like how you begged me to–”

“There are places I can shoot you that won’t keep you from getting us where we need to go,” I snap at him, and he laughs, but falls silent again.

“Natalia, I need you to explain what’s going on,” Ruby says slowly. “I appreciate you coming here to come clean, or whatever your reasoning is, but you have a man at gunpoint in a place where we’ve had too much upheaval already. Taffy was practically in tears.”

“I want you to come with me.” The words come out before I can think of a better way to explain it. “To New York. Tonight.”

“What?” Ruby looks at me as if I’ve just told her I’ve booked us a flight to the moon. “Natalia, you’re going to have to explain a little more thoroughly.”

“I can’t explain all of it right now. We don’t have time. But there’s someone very important in New York. Someone who can help me out of the situation I’m in, I think. Someone who will deal with Mikhail. You can come with me, and if he’s willing to help–he has businesses there. Like this one, but so much more upscale, from what I’ve heard. You’d have a better life in every way.”

“Natalia, I don’t know–”

“You can’t try to run this place forever. It’s only going to last until you need money to get Igor’s distributors to work with you, and you still have no explanation for where he went.”

“Do you know?” Ruby presses her lips together, looking at me. “I didn’t think you did, but now, with all of this–” she glances at Mikhail, still sitting in the chair at gunpoint. “Now I’m not so sure what I believe.”

I nod slowly. “Mikhail killed him for trying to extort me. I’m sorry, Ruby–I didn’t even know for sure until the night I went home with him.”

Ruby sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Natalia, this is insane. You’re asking me to pick up my entire life–”

“What life?” I see her eyes widen again, and I look at her pleadingly. “I’m not trying to be rude, Ruby. But I know you don’t love it here. I know you don’t love dancing for demanding men who treat you badly because of the kind of club this is, men who want extras, working for men like Igor. I know you know that you can’t keep this place going forever. There are going to be questions eventually. Do you want to be here when someone comes asking them? Or do you want to be in another country with a different future ahead of you?”

---