Page 129 of The Payback

Even if, I’ll readily admit, he scares the shit out of me.

All of his answers are nonverbal or one-worded. I don’t even know where the fuck I am. I just know the door is bolted shut. The place smells like piss because my only company is my bucket in the corner, and I need to see Ellie. Now.

I lie back on my cot in the farthest corner from the commode and close my eyes. He’ll be back soon, right? It’s not like he would help us only to leave me stranded here.

The metal on the door grinds as someone opens it, and I blink sleep from my eyes. I bolt upright in my shitty bed and grab my threadbare blanket. Better than no weapon, right? The door swings inward, and Ellie’s head is suddenly poking through. “Nik!” she cries, her body going limp.

“Oh, thank fuck!” I hop up and cross the room. The loaner athletic shorts sag on my body, and the T-shirt gives off a foul odour when I lift my arms to grab my girl to keep her steady.

“Our flight was delayed; we got here as fast as we could,” she says, pinching her nose. “Where’s Zach?”

I lift my arms and spin around. “You tell me. Last I saw him, he handed me a sleeve of crackers and a two-gallon water jug and told me to make it last. That was two days ago. That guy needs to work on his bedside manner.”

“You’re alive, aren’t you?” Dimitri says as he pushes into the room. He wrinkles his nose but keeps his mouth shut about the stench.

“Please tell me we’re getting out of here,” I beg.

“Your chariot awaits,” Dimitri replies, waving his hand towards the open door.

I whoop and crush my lips to Ellie’s, sparing her from a full kiss until I can brush my fucking teeth. It feels like something died in there, all fuzzy and weirdly dry and extra wet at the same time. I love her too much to subject her to that.

“Wait. How did it go?” I ask, referring to the debriefing and everything Ellie and Dimitri have dealt with since the fallout.

“We’ll tell you on the boat. Come on. We’ve got a girl waiting for us,” Ellie says.

Stopping dead in my tracks, I pause with one foot over the threshold of my prison-cell-slash-healing room. “I can’t meet her like this. I’m disgusting.”

The last thing I want is my daughter recoiling from me when I finally get to see her. What if she hates me at first sight? Or should that be at first smell?

“You can shower on the boat,” Ellie promises. “You’re sure you’re okay?”

“Feeling much better, just... ripe.” I wrinkle my nose, and Ellie smirks. Yeah, she definitely noticed.

The weirdest feeling settles over me. I feel free, finally out of Interpol and the Bratva. But it’s overwhelming. Like there’s an open chasm below me, and I have no footholds. Ellie chuckles, and I smile. She is my lifeline—her and Bella and Dimitri.

The three of them are my reason for being, and even if we don’t have a solid plan for our future yet, we know we want our lives twined together. I’ll figure out my life with them, and the abyss will fade into something else. A concrete plan, hopefully, and I’ll put one foot in front of the other, knowing they have my back if I stumble.

With renewed energy, I follow them out of the room, letting them lead me down a long hallway and two flights of stairs. We emerge into the afternoon sun, my skin warming after the damp and dark room I’ve been sitting in.

I will kill that Zach fucker if I ever get near him again.

Dimitri flags down a taxi, and we pile in. The driver, Ellie, and Dimitri all lean away and open their windows when my scent becomes too overpowering.

Yup, I’m going to kill him dead.

We reach the docks, and there’s a yacht calledFloatable Ibobbing just ahead of us. Who picks these names?

Ellie leads the way onto the boat, the crew standing at attention and welcoming us aboard. I duck below deck, hunting for a shower and clean clothes.

Fresh as a daisy and feeling a million times better after washing, I make my way to the top deck, finding Ellie and Dimitri sitting on two loungers.

“How long until we’re there?” I ask.

“About twenty minutes,” Ellie responds, flipping her sunglasses onto her head so she can assess me. “You look much better now, and I like the scruff.”

I run a hand over my jaw, feeling the growth there. The bathroom had a razor, but I figured I’d let it grow. I’ve never had a beard before, so maybe it’s time.

“I feel better.” I drop into one of the other chairs and grin at her. “There were no weapons downstairs aside from a disposable razor, and Zach took my pieces when we were at the doctor’s office in New York. Got any guns to share?”

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