Page 98 of City of Salvation

“But I ran.”

She held my stare. “That you did, Natasha. Perhaps the bravest of all your actions.”

Andrei walked up at that moment, and she seemed to stiffen, tipping her head in greeting. His hands were tucked into leather pants that sat low on his hips. The white dress shirt he wore was only buttoned to right above his navel, sleeves rolled up on his forearms, leaving his tattoos on display.

“Wanna tell me why I’m here, Andrei?” I asked before tacking on, “Actually, I don’t really give a damn if you want to or not. Tell me what’s going on.”

He smirked. “You’re going to eat him alive. She ready?” he asked, ignoring my demand.

Katya shifted her gaze from the dancers over to Andrei, lingering on me for a second. “Not yet.”

“Well, no time like the present, no?” He looked at me. “Hope you remember how to do something other than strip, Natasha, because you’re going to be the lead in a performance,” Andrei said, tilting his head to the side and lookingdown the length of my body. There was nothing sexual about his gaze, only calculating, and it made me uneasy.

“What is that supposed to mean?” I asked, analyzing their body language. Andrei looked relaxed, a cocky grin on his full lips, but Katya was tense.

“It means you need to go and change,” he said.

I crossed my arms over my chest, “Now, Andrei, maybe you’ve taken one too many hits to the head or perhaps your English comprehension is lacking, but I want to know what's happening.”

Katya piped up from beside me. “Peter and the Wolf, Natasha.” She gripped my hands between her gnarled ones. “You remember the story, no?”

I nod my head. Something in her tone made me feel as if she was trying to tell me more than what the actual words meant.

“I remember. The boy traps the wolf that threatened his friends and then parades him to the zoo, despite the hunters wanting to kill the wolf. A tale on the lesson of bravery… and mercy. All of us children were taught Prokofiev’s tale.”

She nodded, seemingly pleased with my answer, but I wasn’t sure what recalling a Russian folktale had to do with anything. She turned back toward the stage, passing a duffle bag over before whispering to me.

“Change the ending, Nikki. Kill the wolf.”

I’d forgottenhow uncomfortable a leotard was, the way the elastic cut into the crease of your leg, threatening to slip out of place and expose half my labia. That was probablythe reason we wore tights and sprayed hairspray on our ass cheeks in an attempt at keeping the piece of fabric in place. Twirling my fingers in my hand, I studied the movement outside the window.

“You going to share with the class how this works, Andrei? And not some cloak and dagger answer, either.”

“You’re going to go dance in a performance that Yuri is attending.” He tapped his fingers on his crossed thigh, his body language giving nothing away. “I’m taking you to the practice so we can check out the venue and look for vantage points. Your friends will meet us there.”

His answer matched the texts I’d gotten from both Ryan and Dex, saying that they would meet us at the rendezvous point. They were gathering whatever the fuck we needed for this plan, but something still ate at me. Probably the nerves of them being so close to Yuri.

“And the rest of the plan? You’ve yet to share that with me,” I pushed, my bullshit meter going off.

Andrei’s eyes slid to me from where they’d been staring out the window. I was once again stuck with how magnetic he was—it was no wonder I’d latched on to him like a love-drunk fool. But it was clear this man had his heart firmly locked away in a deep, deep pit.

“Well, someone decided to go into the hallway and have their tits painted instead of paying attention to the plan,” he threw back, the memory making my cheeks heat, and I had to fight the urge to look away while he continued to speak. “I already told you,zaika, you’re to be the bait. You are Yuri’s greatest temptation, after all.” He leaned forward, folding his hands together. “I’m not sure if he wants you so badly so he can kill you or fuck you. Either way, he’ll take the bait,” he said coolly.

The car suddenly felt claustrophobic, as if all the air wasbeing stolen from my lungs, but still I managed to hide my fear with a quip. “I’d say I made the right choice. Getting fucked is far more enjoyable than listening to how I am going to be dangled like a piece of meat again,” I said, my eyes narrowing.

Andrei smiled. It almost looked genuine, but I didn’t think he knew how to do that.

“Oh, how your father must be rolling in his grave knowing that the blushing bride he promised Yuri was so properly deflowered.”

What did it say about me that I was proud of the shame my father would feel if he knew how I liked to fuck?

That thought was quickly eclipsed by the reality of seeing Yuri again. Maybe it was delusional, but I hadn’t considered what I would do if we crossed paths after the wedding. I’d always assumed I’d be able to outrun him, or that he would forget about me.

Yet here I was,willinglyplacing myself in his sights.

“Yuri is attending a gala with some influential men in town, which is where you’ll be performing on stage for him.” I stiffened at his words. “He’ll see you up there, become obsessed, and go running after you. Then,bam, we get him,” Andrei said, smiling, but the expression was anything but comforting.

That was the plan?

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