by Bella King
I almost put the phone back into the pocket when I realize that Zeno’s thumb is just a foot away from me, practically hanging over the side of the bed. I wonder if Zeno would notice if I touched him.
I jump up, gliding to his position on the bed and staring at his face, holding the phone behind my back. It buzzes in my hand before I can touch Zeno, causing me to jump with fright.
Zeno doesn’t awaken, thank god.
I step back from him, and my heart slams in my chest as I bring the phone forward to read the message. Right before the notification disappears from the screen, I see something that chills me to the bone.
Where’s the girl?
I think I’m going to be sick. I crouch down, shoving the phone back into Zeno’s pants pocket, not being careful enough this time, and causing his belt to jingle. I rush to the bathroom as Zeno stirs in the bed, afraid that he will awaken and discover what I’ve been doing.
I’m terrified. I close the door to the bathroom and lock it, pressing my ear to the door to check if Zeno is getting up from the bed. I don’t hear anything, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t awake. Maybe he was awake the whole time and was just pretending to be asleep to catch me in the act of snooping through his belongings.
I must be crazy. Why on earth would he do something like that? If he’s hiding things from me, and he most certainly is, it’s not in his best interest to catch me finding them out. He’ll want to keep them a secret, no matter what.
A whole ten minutes pass in the bathroom. By this time, I’m slumped over against the door, waiting for the sound of Zeno getting out of bed as I analyze the text message I just saw. Someone else knows about me, and they want to know where I am.
Is this a setup?
I need to know, and I’m not going to run away until I know for sure that Zeno intends to do me wrong. The message could be about anyone, and I can’t jump to conclusions and ruin a perfectly good thing. I need Zeno’s thumbprint to find out more.
I take in a deep breath, trying to get my heart to slow down. My cheeks are burning red, and I know that Zeno will notice something is wrong with me if he wakes up. But if the jingling belt didn’t do it, and the TV isn’t making him bolt upright, I might have a chance at pulling this off.
I stand up, unlocking the door and pulling it open as slowly as I can.
Zeno is still in the same position on the bed, his arm slung over the side. I guess he’s not afraid of a monster coming up from underneath it to chomp his fingers off.
I used to think about that a lot until I realized that the real monsters walked the streets at night. They don’t stay inside. The world would be safer if they did.
I creep back to crumpled grey slacks on the carpet, retrieving Zeno’s phone and holding it tightly in my hand. The light comes on for the fingerprint reader, glowing a dim white against the black screen. All of Zeno’s secrets lie inside this phone, waiting for my hungry eyes to consume them. All I have to do is press his thumb against the fingerprint reader, and the truth becomes known.
I bite the insides of my cheeks so hard that I taste blood as I bring the phone ever so slowly up to Zeno’s large hand. His thumb is in the perfect position for me to press it against the glass screen. I hold my breath as I bring the phone in contact with his skin.
The phone buzzes a moment after making contact, and I yank it back in fear of the vibration waking Zeno. He stirs, rolling over to his side and letting out a grunt, but he doesn’t wake up.
I’m safe, and Zeno’s phone is unlocked.
I pump my fist in silent triumph. I’ve done it. The secrets that he’s been keeping for me are now in my hand. It’s time that I find out who he’s been texting, and why.
I feel like a crazy ex-girlfriend as I slink to the bathroom, moving my finger on the phone screen so that it doesn’t lock itself again from inactivity.
But I’m not the crazy one. I have reasonable suspicion, and I must find out what Zeno is up to.
Once the door is locked and I’m sitting on the toilet with my feet pulled up to my chest, I begin to look through Zeno’s phone. The first place I go to is the messaging app, whirling through messages with wide eyes as the truth flows from the glowing screen into my brain in mere seconds.
My stomach is in a severe state of distress now. My name is never mentioned in the texts, but they don’t need to be. I know that they’re talking about me from the context of the messages.
Zeno has been talking to Boris for the past week, spending messages here and there. I’m certain it’s the same Boris that I saw in the grocery store the day that I was rescued by Zeno. They’re connected.
This guy, Boris, has a nasty attitude, and I’m relieved to see that Zeno doesn’t share it. Boris talks about forcing me to do terrible things, humiliating things, and thank god Zeno doesn’t agree with him. Zeno wants me to fall in love and get married to him.
After that, he and Boris will split the money and…
…kill me.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Alexia
I’m leaving right now. There’s no time to waste. Even if Zeno hears me leave the hotel room, he won’t catch me as I run down the hallway. I’ll get to his car and escape in it before he can put on his clothes and come after me.
I don’t know how to drive a car. I never got the chance to learn, but now is a hell of a time to start. It can’t be all that hard. You turn the key, switch gears, and put your foot on the gas pedal.
Wait, which one is the gas?
I guess I’ll figure that out when I get to it. What’s important now is that I get out of here quickly before Zeno can wake up and discover that I know his secrets.
I don’t know why he and Boris want to kill me. If Zeno is supposed to inherit this money after all, then it doesn’t make sense that I would have to die.
That part confuses me. Why wouldn’t he just divorce me or something, instead of killing me and sharing this money with Boris?
I have no time to pick through the texts and figure out what Zeno meant. All I know is that I’m not safe in his hands. He may have been nice to me, bought me clothes, and treated me like a princess, but his intentions weren’t pure.
I don’t believe that anyone on this earth actually cares about me now. That was my belief before I met Zeno, and I should’ve stuck with it, but I wanted so badly to believe that my life could be different. I wanted to know love.
I gather up as much of my stuff in the hotel while Zeno sleeps. He’s probably dreaming about the drive to Las Vegas and how he’s going to marry me. He thinks that I’m going to agree to it and that he’s going to get millions while I get a bullet to my head.
Fat chance, you stupid fuck.
I hate Zeno for making me have feelings for him. I hate that he made me feel so good while we were together. I hate how fucking comfortable I was around him and how he made me believe that everything was going to work out in my favor.
He’s just another thug, another greedy asshole in the alleyway, trying to get a piece of me.
And I let him have it. I let him cum inside of me, and that could have consequences. I could end up carrying the baby of a man who wants to murder me.
That’s fucked up. God, that’s so fucked up.
I try to keep a calm mind as I take my bag, the keys to the car, and Zeno’s phone with me to the hotel room door. Zeno is so calm, sweet, and peaceful as I look back at him.
It’s hard to believe that he’s a monster. I want to drop my bags and forget about all of this, living in a lie until he puts a bullet in my brain. It’s even tempting to trade my life for a shred of love, even if it’s all a façade.
But my life has value. I won’t let my feelings get in the way of that. I’ve survived some pretty brutal situations. I think I can get myself out of this one too. Besides, I’m where I wanted to be. I’m in California, and the opportunities are endless. I look decent, I’m clean, and I could probably get a job. I could do well for myself here.
I unlock the door to th
e hotel, and that’s when Zeno rises from his bed. He’s awake, and the colorful lights of the TV reflecting off the whites of his eyes. His expression turns from surprise to confusion, and then to anger all in the span of a second.
I don’t have time to react.
He jumps from the bed, racing toward me and slamming his hand against the door to stop me from opening it. I let out a yelp and fall to the ground at his feet, his phone falling from my hand. I can’t fight against a man his size. I’m helpless.
“What the fuck are you doing?” he barks, his eyes studying me with ferocious speed. It only takes him a second to spot the phone on the floor, and that’s when the realization hits him.
He knows that I know everything.
“You were going to kill me,” I say. “Why do you want to kill me?”
“Jesus Christ,” he growls. “You weren’t supposed to see any of that. Do you know what you’ve done? Do you understand what I have to do to you now?”
“Please,” I cry, quivering beneath him. “I don’t want to die.”
He shakes his head, his teeth mashed together so hard that the sides of his jaw are popping from his face. “You fucked up big time, Alexia. This makes your life a lot more difficult from now on.”
I start hyperventilating, sucking in air and breathing it out without allowing my body to process it. I’ve freaked out before, but this is a full-fledged panic attack. My head is spinning, my fingers have gone numb, and Zeno’s angry voice is muffled by the blood pumping in my ears.
The room starts to grow dark as his hands land on my shoulder and begin to shake me. I know what’s happening, but I have no control over it. I know that this could be the end, but for some reason, my body doesn’t let me flee.
The world goes black, and then it’s all over.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Zeno
It’s better that she’s unconscious now. She won’t run around the room, squealing as I try to catch her so that I can tie her up. I doubt she’ll be out for long, but it won’t take me but a minute to tie her up properly and put a gag in that pretty mouth of hers. This isn’t my first rodeo.
I drag her body to the bed, keeping her head from bouncing against my leg too hard. I don’t want to hurt her, as much as she believes that I do. I don’t even want to kill her. It’s just a necessary evil.
The rope that I brought for backup is coming in handy right about now, but it would be better if Boris wasn’t trying to call me yet again. I thought I told him that everything was going according to plan. What’s his problem?
I groan as my phone continues to buzz on the floor.
I leave Alexia half-tied to the bed post, probably good enough to keep her if she comes to while I’m on the phone. She has a gag in her mouth anyway. She won’t be much trouble.
I swoop down and grab the phone off the carpet, answering the phone with a gruff, “What?”
“You tell me what, Zeno. Where is the girl?” Boris barks.
“She’s with me, at the house,” I lie.
“I’m at the house. Where the fuck are you? Listen, I’m not here to play–”
“I had to move her. Things got sticky back there. The plan is still on.”
“It had better be. No more messing around. I want you to marry Alexia, and then we kill her… Tomorrow!”
I shake my head, glancing at Alexia. She’s still unconscious. “I need more time.”
“Where are you? I’m coming to take care of this once and for all,” Boris threatens.
I sigh. “California.”
“You fool. You were supposed to stay here.”
“Yes, I know, but as I said, I ran into some trouble. Didn’t Vlad tell you?”
“Oh yes, he told me all about your incompetence,” Boris says, his voice full of disdain.
“It wasn’t my incompetence,” I growl.
Boris scoffs. “Do you expect me to believe that Vlad would make a mistake? You should’ve covered your ass, and because you fucked up, I’ll be taking Alexia and the money. Consider yourself fired.”
I laugh. “If you think I’m going to hand her over to you peacefully, you’re out of your mind.”
“You will hand her over, one way or another,” he replies.
“Come get her then, bastard.” I hang up the phone.
Alexia’s eyes flutter open as I toss my phone to the corner of the room, breaking the screen against the wall and leaving a dent in the cheap plasterboard. She immediately starts to struggle against the ropes, but I tied her up well enough to stop her from breaking free.
“Listen, Alexia,” I say, stepping toward her. “I know you think I want to kill you, and I guess that was the truth at some point, but things have gone off the rails.”
She frowns at me, her eyes expressing her emotions well. She’s frightened, but she’s also angry at me for betraying her. I can’t blame her, but now isn’t the time to beg for forgiveness. Besides, I never beg.
I kneel in front of her, looking into her eyes while I speak. “Boris, the guy I was working with, isn’t happy about how I handled you. He wanted to rough you up and force you to marry me, but I wasn’t interested in taking that route.”
Her face softens just enough for me to have hope that I could get through to her. This isn’t an irreparable situation yet.
I sigh. “There are things about you that you don’t know. The money has nothing to do with me. It’s all you, and I don’t want Boris to get his hands on it.”
She says something, but I can’t hear it through her gag.
“We need to get out of here,” I say. “You need to work with me, or we’re going to both be killed. Boris has connections, and I’m starting to get the feeling that the Russian Mafia isn’t on my side anymore.”
She frowns, but its not from anger anymore. It’s from confusion.
I nod. “Yes, the mafia. I wasn’t lying before. I’m part of the Russian Mafia, the Bratva, in California.” I pause. “Well, it also extends up into Oregon and parts of Washington.”
She tries to speak again through the gag, and I figure it’s safe enough to remove it so that I can understand her. I don’t think she’s going to scream for help. I get the feeling that she wants to hear me out.
The second I push the cloth out of her mouth, she blurts out, “You motherfucker!”
“Hey, quiet down, or I’m going to put the gag back.”
“Fuck you,” she snarls. “You took advantage of my trust. Do you know how hard it is for me to trust someone?”
I glance back at my broken phone. “I don’t think you trusted me all that much, or you wouldn’t have been going through my phone.”
She narrows her eyes. “If you weren’t lying to me all the time, I wouldn’t have had to snoop.”
I shrug. “It’s all part of the game, princess. For what it’s worth, I do like you, but life kind of gets in the way.”
“You need to explain this shit to me.”
“You’re not in any position to be making demands, Alexia. Boris is probably heading here, or at least sending some of his idiots over to kill me. Shit hit the fan pretty hard today,” I say.
“Who is this Boris guy?” she asks.
“He’s the one who found you,” I explain. “He wanted me to marry you and then kill you for your inheritance. Pretty simple.”
She frowns. “My inheritance?”
I nod, a grin forming. “You’re rich as a bitch, my darling.”
“Don’t call me darling,” she snaps.
“Oh, I’ll call you whatever I damn well please,” I reply. “You’re my prisoner, not the other way around.”
“So,” she says, pursing her lips. “You still intend to kill me.”
“Maybe, maybe not.”
She rolls her eyes. “I don’t believe a word you say, Zeno.”
“What if I say that you have fifty-million dollars to your name? Would you believe that?”
Her jaw drops, and my grin widens. “Yes, fifty-million, and all you have to
do is claim it. I’m sure it won’t be hard to verify your identity. I was going to do that after I married you so that I would get a healthy share.”
She doesn’t say anything, still blown away by the enormous sum.
I look toward the door. “We probably should leave. I don’t think Boris knows where we are, but I’m sure he could find out. We’re pretty close to the main office, and my shiny new ride is the property of the mafia. It’s not hard to spot in the parking lot.”
“Untie me,” Alexia says, suddenly growing serious.
“I’m not letting you run off,” I warn her, reaching for the ropes.
“I don’t want to run off. I still need your help,” she replies, showing surprising rationality in such a dangerous situation. She must realize that this is way over her head. If she ran off into the streets, Boris would pick her up and do ungodly things to her. It sickens me to think about it.
“If you try to run, this is over for you. I’m not risking you going to the police.” I pull out a gun from the small holster against my hip. “Do you understand?”
“You don’t have to threaten me,” she says.
“But I will,” I reply. “Are you ready to go?”
“I need to get dressed. I’m not wearing pants,” she says.
I lean in and untie the ropes, brushing my gun against her thigh so that she knows I mean business. The only thing keeping me from killing her right now is the fifty-million dollars to her name. That, and the fact that I still have feelings for her.
Alexia will never forgive me for this. Even if I did want to change up the plan, marry her, and split the money with her afterward, she wouldn’t play along. I could’ve done that before, but I’ve missed my chance now. Nobody is on my side anymore.
“Alright, nothing funny,” I say, keeping my gun trained on Alexia as she stands up. “Get dressed, and then we’re leaving.”
She rolls her eyes. “I know you’re not going to kill me. I’m worth a lot of money to you, aren’t I?”
“You’re worth more than money,” I admit.
“Then I could run,” she says with a smirk.