Page 31 of Wicked Vow

“I wasn’t really in the basement very much,” I protest weakly, but I feel myself shrink under Ruby’s pointed gaze. I know it’s not much of an argument–I never told her about the dog crate or how often he kept me restrained, but it’s all the same. It might as well have been the basement.

“Natalia.”

“This isn’t his style. I know you think I’m crazy, but this isn’t him. I–”

“If you say you know him, I’m going to shake you,” Ruby says, the gentleness in her tone belying her words. “Hekidnappedyou, Natalia. You don’t know him.”

“I do,” I insist, just as gently. I don’t want to fight with her, of all people–I need her more than ever. “I don’t deny that he might still be trying to get to me, that he might want me back, but I know he wouldn’t leave this. This isn’t him.”

I can feel myself starting to shake all over because it would almost be better if itwereMikhail. Him, at least, I feel like I know how to deal with. But if it’s not him, it’s some other stranger, someone who has somehow found me even here, and that’s the most horrifying thing I can imagine.

“Alright,” Ruby says gently. “If it’s not him, then who could it be? Come here.” She guides me back towards the bed, urging me to sit down on the edge of it. “Do you have any idea?”

I shake my head, clenching my hands together between my knees. “I have no idea. That’s the worst part. Maybe someone who knows I’m the reason Mikhail is exiled from the Bratva now? Someone who was close to him before he left the first time? Someone in Viktor’s Bratva who knew my father and knows about me and is either pissed at me for being part of the reason he’s dead or wants me dead too? It all seems so far-fetched that it would follow me here, but there were connections between Viktor’s organization and my father’s. Bad ones, but still–”

“It sounds complicated.” Ruby rubs my back gently. “You’re safe here, Natalia–”

“Am I?” I look sideways at her, my heart beating faster in my chest. “Am I really? Because someone got past security and up my balcony to push that under the door–or they paid someone in Viktor’s security to do it. Either way, they were on the other side of a door to mybedroom. I feel less safe than ever.”

“I’d definitely ask Caterina if there’s an interior guest room you can take, one that doesn’t have such direct access to outside. I know you don’t want to scare her–but she should know about this.”

“What about you?” I push a piece of hair out of my face, trying desperately not to let the tears I’m fighting well up. “You’re supposed to be moving into your new apartment today.”

In true well-connected fashion, Caterina had managed to find an apartment for Ruby within a matter of days, one that she’d share with two other roommates, also girls who worked for Viktor. The apartment was well within her means for what she’d be making at the club, but even so, Caterina had made a point to say that the rent was partially subsidized for Viktor’s employees, as he also owned the complex. Ruby had told me later that it all felt a little ‘company town’ to her, but she couldn’t really complain. It would have been an impossible struggle to find good housing in New York otherwise. It was a nice, spacious apartment with roommates that she was fairly sure she’d have no trouble getting along with.

“Me?” Ruby laughs. “I’ll be fine, Natalia. I don’t have ties to any of this. Just because I know you doesn’t mean anyone is going to come for me. It’s you that I’m worried about. You were supposed to be happy here. Able to relax. Iwantthat for you. You can’t keep living like–this.” She waves her hand at the pile of dead things on the carpet.

I can feel that I’m on the verge of tears, and I can’t stand it. I push myself to my feet, starting to scoop the mess back into the envelope.

“Natalia–”

“No. I don’t want your day to be ruined. I’ll get rid of this, wash my hands, and then I’ll talk to Caterina later. It’s fine. Nothing bad is going to happen today.”

Ruby sighs, and I hear the sound of her getting up as she comes to crouch next to me, helping me push it all back into the envelope.

When the floor is as clean as it’s going to be, she stands up, walking to the bathroom with me just behind her as we wash our hands. “I really think you should tell–” she starts to say, and then sees my expression in the mirror. “Okay, fine.” Ruby puts her hands up. “Handle it however you want to. But I’m just trying to make sure you’re okay.”

“I will be,” I tell her, but even I can tell that my voice lacks some of the conviction it should have.

Moving Ruby into her new apartment is a welcome distraction. It comes furnished–which I know means that Viktor has made sure that it’s furnished for the girls–but Ruby is thrilled with it. We walk around the space, exclaiming over the high ceilings and bedrooms that are the size of some entire studios in New York, and the kitchen that I’m sure two-thirds of the city would probably kill someone for. Ruby is stunned by all of it, and nothing has made me feel like I made the right decision in bringing her with me as much as seeing her wide-eyed expression as she takes in her new home. I saw her apartment back in Moscow, and while it wasn’t horrible, it wasn’t anything like this.

“We’re going to get dinner after,” Caterina tells me as we bring up a box of dishes and other kitchen things. “Just you and me and Viktor–and we have a surprise for you.”

“Oh?” I look at her curiously. “Any hints?”

“No,” she tells me teasingly, and the look on her face is so pleased that I can’t bring myself to say anything about the envelope under the door. I don’t want to ruin the mood of the day.

“I was wondering–” I can hear the hesitance in my voice. I hate asking for any kind of favor, no matter how simple, when they’ve already gone so far out of their way for me. “Would it be possible to move my things to a guest room without a balcony? It just–well, it gets a little drafty, and after everything that happened in Moscow, it makes me feel vulnerable. If it’s too much trouble, I don’t have to–”

“Of course, it’s not!” Caterina exclaims, setting the box down as we step inside. “It’s not a problem at all. We have plenty of empty rooms. I can ask the housekeeper to move your things before we even get back.”

“That’s really not necessary–” I start to say, but Caterina already has her phone out, her fingers flying over the screen as she types out a message.

I’d worried that Ruby might feel left out of dinner, but by the time we have everything upstairs and settled, she’s more than happy to stay in and relish her new living space. “Viktor said the other two girls are moving in tomorrow, so I’mthrilledto have this whole place to myself for an entire night,” she says firmly.

We go back to the house to get changed, and true to her word, Caterina already had the housekeeper move my things to a guest room on the other side of the third floor, where there’s a big window, but no balcony or any visible way up to it. I can feel some of the tension drain out of me when I walk into it. The view isn’t nearly as good, but it’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make.

I’ll tell her if something happens again,I tell myself.No point in making a big deal about it if they give up after this or if Viktor’s security catches them.

---