“Working,” she says, still unfazed. “He’s always working.”
“I want to speak to him.”
“I’m sure you do.”
I grit my teeth, but I force back the resentment that’s building up inside me. “I need to speak to him. Please?”
“My dear, Aleksandr is not the type of man to do anything just because you ask nicely.”
My heart sinks. If I can’t even talk to him, then how can I convince him to let me go? Or at the very least, ask him for proof that my family is alright?
I’m not sure this woman, Yulia, will have the information I want. But I give it a shot anyway.
“Do you know why I’m here?”
She nods. “I have a vague idea.”
I frown. “And you don’t have a problem with the fact that I’m being kept here against my will?”
“You’d be surprised what a person can ignore if the stakes are high enough. You’d be surprised what a person will tolerate. It’s all about familiarity.”
“Meaning what?” I ask. “You can get used to committing crimes if you do it long enough?”
“Something like that.”
I stare at her, realizing just how little I relate to this alien stranger. She probably feels the same way about me. I watch her nibbling at her cookie. Even the way she eats is dainty, graceful, composed.
My stomach rumbles. She notices.
“You’re hungry,” she says. “Just eat. As I said, depriving yourself of food is not going to get you out of this room.”
“What will?”
“You’d have to discuss that with Aleksandr.”
“I’m trying,” I snap. “But how can I if he won’t see me?” I set the untouched cookie back on the plate and lean towards her imploringly. “Please, please, just talk to him. Tell him I need to speak to him. He owes me that much.”
“Owes you?” Yulia scoffs. “Honey, you really are new to this world, aren’t you?”
I decide that’s not a question worth answering. “He can’t keep me here forever.”
“Actually, he can.”
She says it with a confidence that speaks to experience. How many other women have spent time isolated in this room?
Was one of them Isabella?
“I know you work for him, but do you know everything he’s done?” I ask. “Do you know the full extent of his crimes?”
To my disappointment, she just shrugs. “I have an idea.”
I shake my head. “My brother’s fiancée disappeared over a year ago. No note, no warning signs, no explanation. Just poof, gone. And that just doesn’t make any sense. I mean, my brother’s an FBI agent. He has access to resources other people don’t have. He’s certain that Aleks is the one that took her.”
She stares at me with an unreadable expression. “Do you believe that she’s dead?”
“My brother doesn’t think so, but… it’s been too long for her to still be alive,” I say. “Listen, Yulia: the FBI is closing in on Aleks. They’ll find out what really happened. And when they do, he’s going to be put away for his sins. Do you really want to go down with him?”
“What are you trying to say, dear?”
“I’m trying to say that, if you help me, I can help you when they come for him.”
She looks at me levelly for a long time. Then she sighs. “That’s quite the offer. And I do appreciate it. But I’m afraid I’m too deeply entrenched in this Bratva to remove myself from it now.”
“Is that the only reason?” I ask tentatively.
She smiles. “I understand that, to you, the FBI is a formidable organization. But they are not the Bratva. They are not Aleksandr Makarova.”
“He’s still just a man,” I point out. “He’s not invincible.”
She shrugs. “He was raised to be exactly that.”
“You can’t honestly believe that. My brother is—”
“Your brother cannot win, Olivia,” she says firmly, cutting me off. “If he tries, he’s going to end up dead. I’m not saying this to scare you—I’m saying this to help you. Or at the very least, to prepare you.”
“You’re wrong. Rob is smart and capable and—”
She raises a hand to interrupt me again. “I’m sure he’s all those things. But that still won’t make him a match for Aleksandr. You want to know the best way to survive this? Keep your head down and do as you’re told. Then, maybe, you’ll see your family again.”
I feel a sob of frustration and fear clenching in my chest, squeezing so tight it’s hard to breathe. But I have to keep focused.
“Do you know if they’re okay?” I choke out. “He… he left them all bound and gagged… My mom is not as strong as she used to be. I need to know if they’re okay.”
“That I can’t tell you, my dear.”
A traitorous tear slips down my cheek. “Can you please ask him if he’ll see me?”
She considers my request for a moment and then gives me a curt nod. “Very well. I’ll do my best.”
Then she gets up, dusts off her hands, and walks back into the room. I stand up and follow her to the door. I didn’t want to talk to her to begin with, but now that she’s leaving, I find myself wishing she’d stay. I’m not sure when I’ll see another human being again.
“You really don’t ever regret getting involved in all this?” I blurt.
She gives me a slight shrug. “There are some circumstances in which we’re not given choices.”
“But… he’s a monster,” I say. “He might be responsible for the abduction and murder of an innocent woman. You really don’t care about that?”
“I can’t afford to care.”
“Why?”
“Because I can’t walk away from this,” she says. “I am eternally loyal to him.”
“Why?” My hope for an ally dies a quick but painful death. “Why?”
She exhales tiredly and gives me a sad smile. “Because he’s my son.”
11
ALEKS
The door opens a crack, enough for me to see the swish of her long white skirt.
“Aleksandr?”
I recognize my mother’s voice. But even if I didn’t, no one else would dare walk into my office without knocking.
“Come in,” I tell her. “I’m alone.”
She walks in, her lips pursed, expression carefully composed. She made the same face when I was a child and I did anything she disapproved of. It had no effect then. It still does not—under normal circumstances.
But today, it irritates me.
She sweeps the room with her eyes, just like she does every time she walks into my office.
And it is my office. She was once the one who sat behind the desk, but that was a long time ago. Still, my mother looks at me as if I’m in the wrong seat.
I lean back in the chair and fold my arms behind my head. “Is there a reason you’re here?”
She lowers herself into the chair opposite my desk. “The girl you have locked in the upstairs bedroom…”
“What about her?”