Close Up: Exposure Book Three

by Jocoby, Annie

  I took a deep breath, and wrote down “pay off Sophie.” Then I put a question mark beside it. I wasn’t going to give on that idea, even if Asher was relatively sure that Sophie couldn’t be bought.

  Asher saw that I didn’t cross it out and gave me a look. Then he shrugged. “Yes, keep that option open. I think that it’s a long shot, but one worth looking at if we can’t figure out something else.”

  “I understand her position,” I said. “Money doesn’t buy everything, and some things are definitely worth more than all the money in the world. I would imagine the idea of being with somebody that you really want to be with would be much more important than having a lot of money.” I didn’t say that Sophie loved Asher, because I doubted that was true. From everything he told me about her, it seemed as if she wasn’t in love with Asher as much as she wanted to win him at any costs. She sounded like the kind of person who was incapable of loving anyone.

  “That’s true,” he said. “Which is why paying her off probably wouldn’t work. But keep it open. We might have to return to that idea in the future.”

  I tapped the pen against my forehead and sighed. “Okay. Now, let’s return to something. When you and I first got together, you paid me to pose as your fiancee. You thought that would somehow dissuade her from pursuing you. You thought that she didn’t want to lose face by going after a man who was taken. Can we work that angle?”

  Asher was quiet, and he made a triangle with his hands. He looked into his hands, and put them up to his face. Then he hung his head, and put his hands behind his neck. It looked to me that he was thinking about that very angle. “Okay,” he finally said. “What are you thinking about?”

  “Calling her out on her bullshit. Telling her friends what she’s up to.”

  He shook his head. “That won’t work, of course it won’t work. I’m sworn to secrecy about the actual paternity of her child, remember? If I called her out, I would have to tell her friends that I’m not the father of her child, and that would break my word. And you know the consequences for that.”

  “Okay. So, you call her out by telling her friends that Sophie’s manipulating your father into giving his blessing to her. Tell her friends that you’d rather be with me, and that she’s making a fool of herself by doing what she’s doing. Humiliate her. It sounds like she really cares what people think of her, so that might work.”

  Asher looked unconvinced. “That has about as much chance of working as the idea about paying her off. I was naïve when I hired you to play my fiancee. I thought, at that time, that it was good idea, because you’re right – she does care what people think about her. I thought it would have really made her run the other way if she was made to look like an idiot for pursuing an engaged man. But I didn’t know just how desperate she was to snag me. I should have known that she wouldn’t back off just because I was off the market. I should have figured out that she would simply try to get rid of you, and her problems are solved. And I do think that’s what would have happened if she weren’t pregnant with Viktor’s child. When she got pregnant, she needed me too much, so that’s the only reason why she allowed you to be found. If her pregnancy wasn’t a factor, you probably would be dead right now, or in the clutches of an overseas master.”

  I wrote down “call out Sophie,” and put another question mark by that. Again, it didn’t seem like a very good option, but was something that probably shouldn’t be ruled out.

  Asher was suddenly very quiet. It looked like he wanted to say something to me that he probably shouldn’t. I sat there and just looked at him quietly. I didn’t want to rush him into making the confession that obviously was so difficult for him.

  Finally, after what seemed like forever, he started to talk. “There’s another option, but it’s risky and dangerous and I don’t at all know if it would work. And, if it goes south, you’re going to be in serious danger.”

  I took a deep breath. “But it’s our only hope. Is that right? Is that what you’re thinking?”

  He nodded his head. “Yes. But I just don’t know if I should take the risk. I’m risking your life, not mine.”

  “It’s okay,” I said. “Go ahead and tell me your idea. Maybe we can figure out a way to minimize the risk.” My blood was chilled, of course, just saying those words. I had no idea if the risk could be minimized. But if there were no other options, there were no other options.

  “Well, my idea is simple, really. I tell my father the truth about Sophie. I tell him everything.”

  “That sounds like a revolutionary idea, Asher. Telling the truth. No games, no lying. It’s so crazy it just might work.”

  “You’re making light of it,” he said. “You aren’t considering the downsides of doing things this way.”

  “What’s the downside? You’re family, she’s not. He’ll probably believe you over her. Right? What am I missing here?” I braced myself for him to tell me something new about his father. Some reason why his father would take Sophie’s word over his.

  “I told you before, I think that he loves Sophie more than he loves me. Sophie has certainly been closer to him in recent years. I’ve tried to shut him out of my life, and I think that he resents it. He understands it, though. He’s told me that he doesn’t blame me for it. That if he were in my position, he would do the same. But that doesn’t mean that he likes it. Sophie kisses his ass any chance she gets, and she always has. She’s very charming, too. She generally gets what she wants just because of the way that she looks and the way that she can turn on the charm when she really wants to. Don’t underestimate her.”

  “I can see the risk, then. And…”

  “If he doesn’t believe me, then he might go to her and tell her what I said. And that will be that.”

  I bit my lip. It wasn’t looking good. “What about Natalia? How is her relationship with your father?”

  “Better than mine, just because she’s been loyal to him. To my knowledge, she’s never done anything to cross him, and she’s done a lot for him in the slave trader business. But I don’t talk to her anymore, and I haven’t for years. Why do you ask?”

  I shook my head. An idea was starting to formulate in my mind, and I wanted to see if it would fly. “Well, let’s just say for the sake of argument that you’re able to recruit her to your side on this. Would your father believe her if she told him the truth about Sophie? For that matter, what is her relationship with Sophie? Is it good, bad or indifferent?”

  “Indifferent. I don’t think that she hates Sophie, but she certainly doesn’t like her. Nor does she trust her. She’s always been able to see through Sophie in a way that my father hasn’t.”

  “Okay. So, maybe we work on her. Get her on our side, and then she can tell your father the truth about Sophie. Perhaps he would believe her.”

  Asher made a face, but didn’t say anything. “Well, let’s see what the downside would be for this.” He seemed to really think about it. “Let me first tell you what the upside would be. The main upside would be that I doubt that Natalia would go to Sophie and tell her that she knows the truth about her. She’s not close to her, so…”

  I wanted to interject, because perhaps Natalia had no love for Sophie, but if she had an active problem with Asher, then that would be reason enough for her to double-cross him. “Yes, but even if she doesn’t have a problem with Sophie, she does have a problem with you. Might she tell Sophie just to get back at you?”

  He nodded. “That would be the downside. She and I haven’t had a relationship for many years. I’ve shut her out because I’ve been disgusted by her role in my father’s organization. She feels that I judge her, and I have to admit that she’s not wrong about that. Besides, after all these years of my not talking to her, I don’t think that she’ll jump at the chance to help me out. It would be shitty of me to do that, anyhow. I don’t talk to her for years, and when I finally do, it’s because I want something from her. That’s always a shitty thing that people do in life, and I don’t want to be that guy
.”

  “Okay. So, she doesn’t necessarily like you anymore. Did she ever? Can you bring some good memories back to her, memories that might make her remember a time when you and she were close?”

  Asher’s eyes got misty. “Well, before I got involved with the mob, she and I were very close. We were two children of the same age living hand to mouth, and trying very hard to survive without any assistance. We were both terrified that the government was going to find out that we were orphans, because neither of us wanted to be taken into state custody. We didn’t want to be separated, which would have happened for sure, and we also heard horror stories about some of the orphanages around. So, we were desperately trying to evade the authorities while trying to figure out a way for the two of us to live.”

  I was quiet. I wanted him to tell me everything, and it was obvious that he was getting emotional while he was talking.

  He shook his head. “She thought of me as her hero during this time. I wanted her to stay in school, so I was going to be the breadwinner. I didn’t want her to get out there and start working, mainly because she’s beautiful. I was afraid that she would have been tempted to go into prostitution or porn, just out of desperation alone. I knew that there would be plenty of men who would have loved to get her involved in the sex trade, and she might have done it. After all, it wasn’t like there was a ton of opportunity for her at that age. Or for me, for that matter.”

  “So, you were her hero because you were willing to take the fall for the two of you? You were willing to do whatever it took for the two of you to stay together and not be separated or put into an orphanage?”

  “Yes. She was so grateful to me, and she really looked up to me for quitting school and looking for work. She felt that I was making this huge sacrifice for her and for us, and she loved me for that. Then, when I actually started bringing in a lot of money, she looked up to me even more.. She didn’t know what I was doing, of course. She only knew that I saved both of us.”

  My wheels were turning as he was talking. It sounded like there was, at one time, a lot of goodwill between the twin siblings. Perhaps, just maybe, there was some goodwill still there. It was a long-shot, of course, but that was what Asher and I were dealing with – one long-shot idea after another. No plan that we came up with sounded like something that was sure to work. This idea sounded like the best thing we had.

  “Asher, she’s still your sister. You saved her at one time. I know that the two of you have grown apart over the years, but maybe you can uncover some of the love and goodwill that she felt for you at one time.”

  Asher shook his head, but seemed to come around. “CJ, you do understand that this is not likely to work. I anticipate that she’s going to spit in my face.”

  “She won’t. But I forgot to ask you if she’s here, too. I assumed that she was, but you didn’t tell me that for sure.”

  “She is. She’s integral to the business, so she pretty much goes where my father goes.”

  “Well, then, let’s work on her. Maybe you could even sweeten the pot.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “She’s probably unhappy doing what she’s doing,” I said, thinking of Andrea, who pretended that she loved her job, yet admitted that she really felt trapped and wasn’t happy. I imagined that Natalia was probably the same way. “Maybe you can find a way to get her out of it. Maybe you could buy her way out of it, or convince your father to let her out.”

  “That’s going a bit too far,” he said. “I would love to do that, don’t get me wrong. There’s a part of me that still loves her very much. There’s also a part of me that hates her. But I do care about her, and I would love her to have a better life. But my father won’t let that happen. At least, I doubt that he will.”

  “Well, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” I said. “For now, it sounds like she might be our only hope.”

  “I agree. Now, we need to come up with a plan that would give us the best chance.” He hesitated. “You’re beautiful, and she’s apparently now a lesbian. So, I think that you should probably be the person who’s going to work on it.”

  “Okay,” I said. “So what, exactly, am I going to need to do?”

  “Nothing, of course. I don’t want you to sleep with her or even hint that you want to sleep with her. I’m just thinking that she’s going to take to you, and that might make her more apt to listen to what we need to say.”

  “Do you think that’s the best course of action?”

  “I do, I really do. I don’t think that she’ll necessarily listen to me. But you could charm her. I’m almost positive of that.”

  “What happens if she finds out what I’m doing and gets pissed?”

  “We’re not going to hide that I’m behind this whole thing,” Asher said. He gently pinched my shoulder and I hung my head. “She needs to know that you and I are in this together all the way. So, we should definitely go and see her together, but maybe you can take the lead on this.”

  I took a deep breath. “Let’s do it. Let’s give her a call and see if she’ll meet with us.”

  Asher gave her a call, and the two of them seemed to talk for only a short time. He was speaking Russian over the phone, and his voice got louder and louder. At some point, he hung up the phone and came back into the room. “She agreed to meet us,” he said, to my surprise. From the sound of the conversation on the phone, at least from my perspective, it sounded as if her seeing us was the last thing that she wanted to do.

  “I’m surprised that she would agree to meet us. It sounded as if you and she were fighting.”

  “We were. But she still said that she wants to see me. I told her about you, too. She’s interested in meeting you.”

  “I have to admit that I feel that we’re lucky that she gave you the time of day.” And I did feel lucky about that. Judging by the tenor of the conversation on the phone, she was none too happy to talk to Asher.

  “That’s okay,” he said. “Natalia and I usually do have harsh words for one another, but there is still love there underneath. I’m just happy that she’s open to meet us.”

  I drew a breath and let it out slowly. I was feeling very anxious about all of this. If Natalia couldn’t get on board, then what? Asher and I would have to figure something else out, and I wasn’t at all anxious to go to Plan B. None of the Plan Bs sounded remotely possible. This plan was the best plan we had, and it wasn’t much.

  Asher put his arm around me and kissed me lightly on the forehead. “You’re nervous, I can see that. But it’s going to be okay. We have to think positive here.”

  “I am, I am. By the way, I forgot to even ask this. Does Natalia speak English?”

  “She does. She’s like me – she has a knack for languages. Neither of us knew a word of English until my father showed up. Then he made sure that I learned it well. He does business around the world, so it was important to him that I learn it. Natalia learned it when she started working for my father as well.”

  “Well, that’s a good thing. Now, how do we go about this? How do I bond with her, so that I can get her on our side?”

  “Play it by ear.”

  I nodded my head, thinking that there was something that I could possibly use – my time in captivity. I was remembering, more and more, what had happened to me after I was kidnapped. I wasn’t at all sure if that was something that Natalia might want to know, though, considering she was involved in that line of work. She might not be sympathetic to my plight, simply because, if she knew that I had suffered, it might make her question her role in that trade. That would be fatal for her, if Asher was correct, as Natalia had to stay in the mob until her father released her.

  I therefore decided against doing that. Perhaps Asher was right – I should just play it be ear. I hated doing that way, because this was so important.

  It was literally a matter of life or death.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  The next day, we met Natalia. We met her in a café, where she
was sitting on the patio sipping a glass of wine. She saw us and gave us a quick nod. As Asher said, she was beautiful – the same blue eyes and dark hair as Asher, with cheekbones that could cut glass and full lips. She was extremely thin, yet seemed to be in excellent shape. She looked like a runner with her long legs and slight, yet muscular, frame. She was wearing jeans and a colorful top that accentuated her stunning eyes.

  Asher approached her. She didn’t stand up, but she did motion, with her eyes, to the chair next to her. We sat down. I could almost feel my heart pounding out of my chest. I was surprised that I was so nervous, but perhaps I shouldn’t have been. After all, this was a do or die thing. If things didn’t go well, Asher might end up marrying that horrible Sophie.

  “Alexei,” she said in clipped tones. Her face was impassive. Then she looked at me, and her face lit up. “You must be CJ.” It was remarkable how different her face looked when she addressed me, as opposed to when she addressed Asher.

  “I am. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

  “Yes,” she said. Her voice was low and husky and had a very slight accent. I could tell that she was Russian by her slight accent, although it was practically extinguished. There were just certain words that didn’t quite sound like English was her first language. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, too.”

  The waiter came by and took our orders, and Asher ordered a bottle of wine.

  Natalia nodded her head. “Still generous, Alexei.” She didn’t smile, so I had no idea if she was teasing him or if she was serious.

  “I try.”

  She looked at me. “CJ, I cannot say that I have known about you before yesterday. My brother does not keep much in touch with me. But I am glad that you are with him.”

  “I am too.” I felt uncomfortable, wondering how to break the ice.

  She started to speak to Asher in Russian, and he shook his head. “Not here, Natalia. It’s rude to speak in another language around an English-speaking person when you know English.”