Page 76 of Dancing for the Devil

The door to the examination room was closed, which was unusual. Perhaps the patient had to strip. I opened the door and entered the room, a smile ready on my face.

“Good after—” I stopped short, staring in stupefaction at the barrel of a gun, aimed right at my face. Words dried up in my throat as I raised my eyes to look at the gunman.

He smiled at me. “Good afternoon, nurse Nora.” He laughed, “Sounds like the beginning of a porno, huh?” Getting to his feet, he walked towards me, the gun steady in his hands. “But believe me, there’s no happy ending for you. You’re coming with me.”

The urge to scream was strong. The urge to beg, even stronger. “D-did Alexei send you?”

“No questions,” Kirill sneered. “Now we’re going to walk quietly out of here. You try to scream, raise any alarm and I won’t shoot you. I’ll shoot whoever is closest. I don’t care if they’re a tinywiddlepatient waiting for treatment. You understand me?”

I swallowed hard and nodded.

“Good girl. Now walk.”

I turned and headed out the door. He was right behind me, his gun concealed in his coat. I walked past patients and colleagues, smiling sickly at them as I tried to pretend everything was fine.

“Miss Young!” I closed my eyes in despair, hesitating to stop since Kirill had his gun against my back.

“Miss Young!” Mrs. Smith called again,insistently.

I stopped, glancing helplessly at the gangster as I turned. “Yes, Mrs. Smith?”

“Where are you going?” She was frowning in annoyance. I had a feeling she couldn’t wait to write that warning letter. I tried my best to smile and look normal, sweat beading my brow. I glanced at Kirill for some help, but he only widened his eyes threateningly.

“I… am helping this patient with something since their arm is broken,” I said breathlessly. Luckily Kirill’s hand was beneath his coat, the one holding a gun to the bottom of my spine, so it was believable.

“Oh.” Mrs. Smith’s face cleared, and she gave us both a fake smile. “Carry on then.”

My shoulders dropped in disappointment. The one time I could have used her busybody nature, she withdrew at once. I glanced backwards and saw that Kirill was giving her a creepy smile, and I realized that maybe, Mrs. Smith was intimidated by him too.

We walked out to his car, and he removed the gun from my back to open the door. Without thinking about it too much, I leapt away, and tried to run, just heading into oncoming traffic. I didn’t make it very far.

Someone yanked me backwards before a blunt pain consumed me.

Everything went black.

CHAPTERTHIRTY

ALEXEI

The scratches Nora left me weren’t going to scar, but I still had to disinfect them. I might have taken more time seeing to them than was strictly necessary since Ireallydidn’t want to deal with the prospect of killing her.

Something felt off. My instincts were never wrong.

For one thing, Nora did not react like someone in law enforcement would. In all the time we were together, she never tried to learn anything about the business from me or snoop about in my home. She had too much going on in her life anyway.

Nothing made sense, and I didn’t like things that didn’t make sense.

Still… I had to find her and take care of this.

I opened the drawer in my dresser, where I had an extra phone I’d been planning on giving her as a peace offering. I still couldn’t believe she’d thrown hers away like that… after complaining about her bills, too.

She was just so… contrary.

I needed to find her. Kirill had a point in that she was hiding something for sure, but he was wrong aboutwhat. I knew it in my bones.

I grabbed my phone and called Jodie Hunt.

“Mr. Levin,” she said with nervous breathlessness.

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