by Raven Stone
Nothing more was said. Nothing needed to be said.
Now, three nights later, I sat on the bedroom floor. I was going through the folder, carefully separating pictures from the report. A lot of these photos were special to me. I wanted to keep them, but I didn’t want to have to rifle through that damn report every time I looked at them.
For some odd reason, I wasn’t ready to throw the report away. Not yet.
I finished separating everything, and tucked the pictures and the report away with my things. I’d just gotten up and brushed myself off when there was a knock on the door. I opened it to find Degarr standing there with a grim look on his face.
“What?” I asked.
“Will you please come with me? The King and I need to talk with you about something.” He turned and walked down the hall without waiting for my answer.
What the fuck?
I followed him, staying quiet even as my heart pounded in my chest. Degarr led me out of his rooms, down the hall, and then into the King’s office. King Gabriel rose from his chair, his expression solemn.
Shit.
Degarr led me into the room we’d dined in the very first night. This time it held a pair of couches facing each other, a coffee table, and a couple of chairs.
“Please sit.” King Gabriel’s voice as quiet as he followed us into the room, and closed the door.
I did as he asked, choosing the far couch. I smoothed my clothes, and tried to calm my racing heart. Degarr chose the couch opposite me, while the King settled into a nearby chair.
“Three weeks after we left Chicago, someone offered fifty thousand dollars for information on a woman called Bellamie. There was an additional offer of one hundred thousand dollars for the woman herself,” Degarr said.
I swallowed, my hands gripping the edge of the couch.
“Oleg accepted the offer the next day –”
“Son of a bitch!” The words burst out of me, in spite of the fact that I really wouldn’t have expected that asshole to act any differently.
Degarr continued without so much as a twitch. “He turned your condo over to them and gave them the name Nadia. They entered your condo the day after, and have occupied it on and off since then.”
My grip tightened on the couch. “Honeygirl?”
“She stopped by one night when they were there, but she pretended she was looking for somebody else.” Degarr glanced at the King, sitting silently in his chair. “She’s currently in California, on an extended visit with Amber.”
I blew out a breath, while stupid tears welled in my eyes. I blinked them away, then looked at King Gabriel, and then Degarr. “Thank you. Thank you both.”
The King’s eyes were warm, and he gave me the smallest of nods. Degarr’s gaze simply remained on me. When I made it clear I was okay again, he continued.
“Four days ago Oleg left Chicago. It looks like he’s on the run,” he said.
“Are you sure he’s still alive?” I asked.
“At this point, yes.”
My body calmed, like I’d reached the center of a storm. “When they couldn’t find me, they pressed him for more information, and he ran before they could kill him.”
“That’s our thinking too,” the King said.
God, what the hell was he thinking about me right now? This troublesome human that his boyfriend had brought home.
I forced my attention back to the matter at hand.
“Why didn’t you tell me this before?” I asked.
“Things were at a standstill until this week, and it wasn’t important, because you were here. Then you asked for the report. We didn’t find out about Oleg until the night after you read it,” Degarr replied.
“Okay.” I wrapped my arms around me, suddenly feeling cold.
“They abandoned the condo the night after Oleg left,” Degarr continued, “but they left this inside. We just got it tonight.” He dragged a box from under the coffee table, then reached in and placed two objects on the table.
A scream escaped me before I managed to clap a hand over my mouth, muffling the sound. A guard burst into the room, but Degarr held a hand up, stopping him.
All of them stared at me, while I stared at the largest object on the table, adrenaline flooding my body.
It was a glass butterfly.
It was beautiful. Carefully crafted, exquisitely etched, with hints of color. It was a work of art.
Butterfly.
Misha’s voice was in my ear once more, saying the nickname he’d given me.
I tore my eyes away from the butterfly, and looked at the other object. It was a phone. No doubt a burner.
Both objects were messages, meant for me.
Did the son of a bitch actually expect me to call him?
I took my hand away from my mouth, and met Degarr’s eyes. “Did Oleg tell them your name?”
“We don’t know. If he did, they haven’t used it yet,” Degarr replied.
“Good,” I replied.
I grabbed the butterfly by the base, and threw it at the far wall. The men in the room shot me startled looks as it hit the wall and shattered into pieces. None of them moved to stop me, however, as I went over and stomped the pieces into smaller bits of glass.
I stared down at the rubble, running my shoe through it, gasping for air.
“Is she okay?” the guard asked.
The answer to that was an emphatic no, but at least there hadn’t been a damn tracker hidden in the butterfly.
“She’ll be fine,” the King said softly. “Leave us.”
“Sire,” the guard protested.
“Now,” King Gabriel said, turning that one word into a firm command.
The guard left the room without another word, closing the door behind him.
The two men left in the room stared at me. I could feel the weight of it, even as they stayed mercifully silent, giving me this time.
I used that time.
I didn’t say a word. I didn’t move from my spot.
Instead, I just stared at the damn phone on the table.
Chapter 74
Nadia – New York
It was clear Misha wanted – no, expected – me to call him. That’s why he’d sent the phone. He wanted me to give in, he wanted me to call him.
I really, really didn’t want to do that. I didn’t like giving him what he wanted. But, my hands were itching by my sides.
Frankly, I was tired of all of this shit. I was tired of running. I was tired of being afraid. I was tired of not having a damn life.
I stalked over to the coffee table and snatched the phone off its surface. I spared a glance for the two men watching me.
“Don’t say a word,” I told them.
Degarr held up his hands and sat back on the couch. The King remained quiet, his only response the slight curving of his lips.
Then I drew in a deep breath.
I tapped the only contact listed in the phone, hit the speaker and put the phone back on the table as we all listened to it ring.
He picked up on the second one.
“Misha,” I said.
“Butterfly, it’s so good to hear your voice. I was beginning to think you were dead. No one seems to know where you’ve gone,” he replied.
God.
I’d known it was him. I’d known it was Alexei – or Misha, as the people closest to him called him – but I still hadn’t been prepared to hear his voice. My body tensed, and for a moment I was a teenager again, before I took a deep breath and centered myself.
“It’s none of their business. Just like it isn’t yours,” I replied evenly.
“Hmm,” he said. “Based on that response, I take it you’ve smashed my lovely gift?”
“Yes. Why didn’t you put a tracker in it?” I asked.
He laughed. “The phone has a GPS in it. Why waste a tracker? Although, I will say the phone’s locator stopped working somewhere outside of Illinois. Technology is so unreliable, don’t you think? It’s nothing compared to you
. So tell me, where are you?”
“None on your business,” I repeated.
“You’re always my business,” he said. “I must say, I was sure you were ready to reach out to me in Brazil. You had it so rough there, and a simple phone call would have fixed everything. I would have happily brought you home.”
He’d known I was there?
For a moment I couldn’t breathe.
“How?” I finally managed to force out. I put a hand on my stomach. It felt stretched, and tight, and painful.
“Butterfly, I’ve always known where you are, give or take a few weeks. There have been a few surprises where you slipped my net – like Brazil, when you left without any notice whatsoever – but I’ve always been able to find you,” he said.
Fuck. Me.
I raised my head and stared at Degarr with wide eyes.
“Goddamn sonofabitch.” The words just slipped out.
Misha laughed again.
He’d always known where I was. All this time, I thought I was free. I thought running and changing names was protecting me. Never having any friends. Never having any loved ones. Never building a life.
And he’d known the whole damn time.
I couldn’t even put a name to things I was feeling right now.
And although I’d deliberately put him on speaker phone so Degarr and King Gabriel could hear the conversation, I found myself switching over to Russian.
“That’s creepy, even for you, Misha. If you really knew where I was this whole time, why didn’t you have your men grab me?”
“I wanted you to come home on your own.” He followed my lead, switching to Russian as well. “Is that so hard to believe?”
“It was never my home,” I said roughly.
“Yes, it was. You’re more my child than my biological son.”
It was hurting me to breathe at this point. “I spent more time with you than he did. You didn’t give him a fair chance.”
“He needed toughening up. He always had a soft heart. He didn’t fight me like you did,” he replied.
“He loves you, Misha.”
He grunted. “He wouldn’t have had the guts to escape like you did.”
Misha was proud of me for that?
I stared down at the phone, thinking the world had turned inside out. But I barely had time to think about that, before he switched back to English.
“You have made your point, Butterfly. You have defied me. You have proven you can succeed on your own, make your own living, and thrive among the sharks. I’m proud of you. Now come home. I promise you and the other people listening to this call that you will be safe. There won’t be any punishment. You can come and go within reason, and keep twenty percent of any contract you complete,” Misha said.
I stared at the phone again, utterly shocked. It was more than he’d ever offered. More than I’d ever expected.
“No.” The word fell out of my mouth before I’d even thought about it.
“No?! You ungrateful –”
“I have a counteroffer,” I said calmly.
There was silence for a moment.
“I’m listening,” he said finally.
“I’ll pay back the money you gave my uncle, adjusted for today’s dollars. I’ll even add five percent on top of that. In exchange, you’ll stop following me, you’ll stop checking up on me, and you’ll let me live my own life.” I managed to say the words calmly and evenly, in spite of my racing heart.
I took slow, quiet breaths while I waited for his answer.
When he spoke again, he had switched back to Russian.
“You’ve found your dangerous man, haven’t you?” His voice was warm; his words slow and clear.
I felt like all of the air had been sucked out of the room, as Misha’s words pinged back and forth in my brain.
I’d actually forgotten that remark. I’d thrown it at Misha when I was seventeen and full of anger. I’d told him I would find a man as dangerous as he was – even more dangerous – who wouldn’t be scared of him like everyone else.
I stared at Degarr.
Holy shit.
Misha laughed. “I’m right, aren’t I? That’s why you’re so quiet.”
I raised my chin. I’d been wrong. I hadn’t needed a dangerous man to get free of Misha. I’d just needed one quiet woman in a bathroom, and belief in myself.
“I’m doing this on my own, Misha,” I said in English. “The money I’m sending you is mine.”
He replied in Russian. “I have no doubt that you’re an independent woman. But something’s changed for you, Butterfly, something that’s made you feel strong enough to take me on directly. Do you love him?”
Yes.
God, yes.
The answer was right there, staring me in the face. Warm, grey eyes. Strong arms that wrapped around me so tenderly, holding me when I was crying. A heart that was warm, and generous, and so much bigger than his large, sexy body.
How could I do anything other than love Degarr?
My breath hitched. “Yes.”
“Good,” Misha said warmly, shocking the hell out of me. “I want you to be happy, Butterfly.”
I stared at the phone.
Really, had the world turned inside out while I hadn’t been looking? Or were things truly this different behind the Fae shield?
Misha switched back to English as he continued.
“I have a counteroffer of my own. You pay back the money, plus twenty percent. For that, I’ll stop having you followed, and I’ll let you live your own life. But, you’ll call me every quarter. Maybe even talk with Agrafina. She misses you too, you know.”
I hadn’t known that, even though a part of me missed her too. Hell, if I was being painfully honest, a part of me missed the sonofabitch on the other end of the phone. Maybe. Now that I had balance; my own terms. But if I did, I sure as hell wasn’t ever going to admit it out loud.
I crossed my arms.
“Ten percent, and I call once a year.” I countered.
“Fifteen, you call three times a year, and we never mention this to my men,” he countered.
A smile spread across my face as I heard that last part. It meant he felt vulnerable.
“Deal,” I replied.
There was a moment of silence.
“Thank you, Butterfly. I’ll send the account information to this phone. And don’t smash it after that. You already know it’s safe to use, since something odd happened to its GPS.” He dangled the last part, waiting for me to fill him in on what had happened.
“Alright, Misha,” I said simply.
The phone went silent.
I pressed a few buttons, making sure it had fully disconnected. Then I raised my head, to find the two men in the room staring at me again.
“Dangerous man?” King Gabriel prompted, in flawless Russian.
Dammit.
Chapter 75
Nadia – New York
“Tell me again, Nadia, why did you hunt John down? Because you did hunt him. You used your Seeker talent to find him.” King Gabriel continued in Russian.
He leaned forward, his eyes piercing me.
“Yes,” I replied, switching to Russian too.
“Why?” he demanded. “So you could use him? Pit him against Misha?”
Shit, this looked bad. I sucked in a breath, while I tried to pull my thoughts together, and explain.
“I said that to Misha when I was seventeen years old. I was angry, and I felt trapped. No one would help me. Everyone was terrified of him. I threw those words at him in a fit of anger. Did I dream of someone coming along and scaring the shit out of Misha so he would let me go? Yes! Is that why I’m with Degarr? No!” I took a deep breath, and deliberately slowed my words, and lowered my voice. “I was wrong about what it would take to get free of Misha. I didn’t need a dangerous man, after all. I just needed me, and one other person with the guts and the means to help me. Thankfully, that person found me. And in spite of the fact that Misha’s apparently
been watching all of these years, I did leave, I did escape.”
The King studied me carefully.
When he spoke again, his voice had lowered, his tone and pace matching mine.
“Why then? Why did you hunt John down?”
It was a fair question.
One that made my cheeks burn.
Because this wasn’t like Jamie accidentally overhearing it. This was me admitting something to another of Degarr’s lovers.
My hands pushed at the couch’s edge.
“Because –” That was as far as I made it, before cutting myself off again.
“Because?” the King prompted, his voice gentle.
I glanced up, wondering if he could possibly understand.
“Because I was obsessed, okay?” I glanced at Degarr. The big man sat there with an expression that said he knew we were talking about him. “Less than one night with him and I became obsessed, alright? You don’t know what it’s like.”
The King snorted.
“I do, actually. I chased him for fifty years.” He shot an affectionate look towards Degarr.
“How the fuck did you last?” I asked. “I would have gone crazy.”
King Gabriel laughed. “I’m sure Cerone would tell you a lot of my actions have been less than rational, but for far longer than fifty years. Frankly, I found waiting for John difficult, but worth it. Given that, I do have to concede your point, and give you credit. I’ve never seen anyone seduce him this quickly.”
“It helps to be blunt, I guess,” I replied, and the King laughed again.
Degarr shot us both dark looks.
“What are you saying?” he asked.
I switched to English. “We’re talking about your dick, baby.”
Degarr turned a bright red, looking adorably uncomfortable. “Stop.”
I shared a look with the King. “See? He’s adorable.”
King Gabriel cocked his head, staring at Degarr with a soft smile on his lips. “I never thought about it that way, but you’re right.”
“I’m not,” Degarr growled.
“You are,” I replied.