by Tiffany Snow
“Okay.” Though Parker seemed to think it mattered, I doubted that it would. Viktor had already threatened Parker with me and knew I was alive and well. It probably wasn’t going to be a surprise that I was accompanying him tonight.
We stopped in front of a room and Parker knocked. A moment later, the door opened.
Tania stood there, her expression impassive as she motioned us in. Her eyes flicked over me, then back to Parker.
“Viktor will just be a few minutes,” she said.
“That’s fine,” Parker replied.
“Can I get you a drink?”
“Scotch on the rocks.”
Tania turned and went to pour his drink from where a small bar area had been set up in the spacious suite. She didn’t ask if I wanted anything, but that was fine. My stomach was in knots from what I had to tell her and alcohol would’ve been a bad idea.
She handed Parker his drink and he took a sip, heading to where there was a large dining room table in the main living area. I watched as he set his briefcase down and began taking papers from it.
Turning to Tania, I spoke in an undertone. “Is there somewhere we can talk? Can we go to your room for a few minutes?”
She glanced at me. “This is my room,” she said flatly. “I have to stay with Viktor. I’m not allowed my own space.”
Tania wore an elegant, fitted black dress that ended just above her knee. The neckline was a deep V and the sleeves were made from sheer chiffon. With her black hair and ivory skin, she looked beautiful—so long as you didn’t look at her eyes, which were dull and devoid of emotion. It hurt to look in them.
“I need to tell you about your sister,” I said. “I can make up an excuse, say I need your help or something, and we can leave.”
Her face had brightened at the mention of her sister, which made me feel awful, but I didn’t just want to blurt it out to her. After a moment’s hesitation, she nodded.
“Okay.”
Just then, the door to the bedroom opened and Viktor stepped out. He glanced our way, his eyes seemingly, unerringly, drawn to Tania, then headed over to Parker.
“I have a feeling you and I have a lot more in common than I thought,” Viktor said.
Parker’s face was blank as he rifled through some papers. “How is that?” he asked.
“I see the lovely Sage is at your side this evening. It seems you require her presence as much as I require Tania’s.”
Parker glanced up at him. “I don’t require anything,” he said.
Viktor’s smile was thin and cold. “Of course.”
Knowing I was going to draw Parker’s wrath—which couldn’t be helped—I grabbed a sheaf of papers from the leather satchel I carried and took several steps forward until they both looked over at me.
“Um, I forgot to make copies of this,” I said, holding up the papers. “Tania’s going to show me where the business center is. We’ll be right back.”
Viktor reached for his cell phone. “I’ll call Jon to go with you.”
“I think we can make copies without help,” I said curtly. The last thing we needed was one of Viktor’s henchmen babysitting us. Turning, I headed for the door, taking Tania’s arm along the way and herding her along with me.
I breathed more easily once we were out in the hallway.
“The business center is on the fifth floor,” she said, heading toward the elevator. She waited until we were inside and the doors had slid shut before she spoke again. “Did you find my sister?”
Her eyes were hopeful as she looked at me and I had to take a deep breath before I said what I’d come to say. There was no easy way to break the news, so I went for the blunt truth.
“I’m so sorry, but your sister…she was murdered.”
Tania didn’t do anything for a moment, just stared at me, until I wondered if she’d understood what I said. Then she suddenly turned and punched the button for the floor we’d just left.
“Wait,” I said, “I think we probably need a few more minutes before we go back.” No way could she have processed that information. She had to be in shock.
“I’m going to kill him,” she ground out from between clenched teeth.
Okay, that was alarming. “What do you mean, you’re ‘going to kill him’?” I asked.
“Viktor. He was behind it. I know he was. He deserves to die and I’m going to kill him.”
The elevator was nearly at the previous floor now, and I was starting to panic.
“Tania, you can’t do that. Not just that you don’t kill people, but literally you can’t. He’s twice your size! You’ll be the one who ends up hurt.”
The doors slid open as I tried to reason with her, but she ignored me. She stepped out into the hallway, her strides long and filled with purpose. I latched on to her arm and yanked her to a stop, my grip as tight as I could hold her.
“You cannot just go in there and attack Viktor,” I said urgently. “But if you think he was behind it, we can go to the police and tell them.”
“The police can’t help,” she said, trying to pull away from me. Tears sparked in her eyes, but didn’t fall.
“They can,” I insisted. “We just need to give them something they can use. They already know he’s a criminal; they just need something concrete.” I hesitated, then decided to tell her. “They gave me two bugs to plant in your suite tonight so they can listen in. You can help me do that.”
At that, she finally stopped struggling against my hold on her.
“Really?” she asked.
I nodded. “I just need Viktor to be distracted for a few minutes so I can plant them.”
“And the police will be listening? They’ll arrest him?”
I didn’t think Tania knew a lot about our justice system, but we didn’t have time to go into details now about evidence and probable cause and warrants, so I just said, “Yes.”
She studied me, and the tears spilled over. “Why did he kill her?” she asked. “What happened?”
Her voice broke and my heart went out to her. I wrapped her in a hug. “I’m so sorry,” I said. “I don’t know why. What I do know was that she was helping the police, and you should know, if you help the police, you could be in danger as well,” I warned her. “I don’t want that.” I had enough guilt on my conscience. I didn’t need something to happen to Tania as well.
“It doesn’t matter,” she said. “My sister is dead. I’ll do whatever I have to do to bring her killer to justice.”
The door to the suite suddenly opened and one of the bodyguards from New York came out.
“Viktor is looking for you,” he said to Tania, and the words may have seemed innocuous, but they were laced with warning.
“I’m coming,” she said. Straightening her shoulders, she preceded me into the room.
The hair on the back of my neck stood up as I passed the man, and it took all I had to turn my back to him.
Parker and Viktor were still going over files, but I noticed Viktor looked up when Tania walked in and his body relaxed.
I tried to figure out how I was going to plant the bugs. I needed to plant one out here and probably the other in the bedroom. But how to get in there? Then inspiration struck.
“I’m not feeling very well,” I announced to the room at large. “I-I think I might be sick.” I clutched at my stomach and rushed into the bedroom, flinging the door closed behind me.
There. That should deter anyone from following. Nothing kept people away quite like the prospect of being witness to someone vomiting.
Reaching in my purse, I dug for the plastic baggie and pulled out a bug. My hands were shaking I was so nervous. Hurrying to the bed, I inspected the lamp on the table. Surely there was a place I could stick it on there…
I was just lifting it to check the bottom when the door suddenly opened. I nearly dropped the lamp before I realized it was Parker.
He saw me standing there, jaw agape and lamp in hand, and immediately closed the door behind him.
“What in the hell are you doing?” he hissed.
I had no idea what to say. I hadn’t considered getting caught, much less by Parker. “I-I…” My stammering only made his lips press together in a tight line and he was next to me in three strides. I was still holding the bug and he took it from my fingers, studying it, and realizing what it was. If possible, he looked even angrier.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” he growled. He snatched the lamp from me and replaced it on the table. “Do you have any more?” he asked.
He was furious and I didn’t dream of lying to him. I nodded.
“Give them to me.”
Digging again, I handed him the baggie. He put it and the other bug into his pocket.
“Go flush the toilet and run the water,” he ordered. I scurried to do his bidding. After a moment, he was next to me in the bathroom. I stood in front of the sink, the water going full blast, and our eyes met in the mirror. He reached forward and shut off the faucet.
“We’re going to walk out of here and we’ll say you’re ill, that we have to leave,” he said. “Don’t say a word, understand?”
I was cowed into obedience, his anger frightening me. I nodded again.
“Great. Now, look sick.”
Taking my hand, Parker led me out of the bedroom. I didn’t have to try very hard to look sick. I’d royally screwed up. Not only had I gotten caught, but also Ryker believed Parker was in on it. He was going to know for sure that Parker was aware of the authorities’ suspicion.
“I’m sorry, Viktor, but I’m afraid we need to continue this in the morning at my office,” Parker said, his voice calm and a far cry from the icy way he’d spoken to me. “Sage is ill and I should get her home.”
Viktor glanced from Parker to me, then back. “Of course,” he said easily. “I will see you then.”
“Thank you.”
Viktor motioned to Tania, who gathered Parker’s things and fastened his briefcase before bringing it to him. A moment later, his bodyguard held the door for us, scrutinizing us on the way out.
Parker had my hand in a vise grip and led me to the elevator. We didn’t speak until we were in his car and driving away from the hotel.
“Now tell me what the hell you were doing in there,” he said.
I swallowed. “I-I can’t.”
He’d been driving down the street at a pretty good clip. At this, he suddenly swung the car onto a side street and whipped into a parking lot, where he slammed the transmission into Park. He turned toward me.
“Ryker gave those to you, didn’t he,” he accused.
I didn’t answer, but it didn’t appear I had to. Parker might not know my deepest secrets, but he knew me well enough to know that he’d guessed correctly.
He snarled a vicious curse that had me wincing. Digging in his pocket, he rolled down his window and tossed the baggie and bugs out into the street.
“Do you have any idea what Viktor would have done to you if he’d caught you planting those?” He nearly yelled it at me and I cringed away from him. “I swear to God, I’m going to fucking kill him.”
Parker slammed the car back into Drive and took off. Alarmed, I watched and hung on for dear life as he tore through the streets.
“What are you doing? Where are we going?”
But Parker didn’t answer me. His jaw was clenched tight, his hands gripping the steering wheel as he drove with single-minded purpose.
I recognized Ryker’s house when we squealed to a stop in front of it.
“Parker, no, wait!”
But he was already out of the car, not even turning off the engine or shutting his door. I stumbled in my haste to follow him, terrified of what he was going to do.
“Parker!”
He was beating on the front door and I was still ten feet away when it swung open. Ryker stood there, looking surprised.
“You son of a bitch,” Parker snarled, before smashing his fist into Ryker’s face.
Chapter Seventeen
Ryker came back at Parker full-force and before long they were on the ground, fighting.
“Stop it!” I cried, cringing as I became every cliché there was for a girl watching two men in a fistfight. But I couldn’t intervene. As hard as they were hitting each other, I’d break something if I got between them. So I stood by, helpless to do anything.
I thought McClane would go crazy at Ryker being attacked, but it appeared he really did have a mind of his own. He sat on the porch watching, his tongue hanging out and his ears perked forward as though it was entertaining to him.
They both seemed to be getting in some pretty good blows, and I winced at the sound of knuckles on bone. God, men were stupid. What was this going to solve? And I didn’t even know why Parker had gotten so angry. Had he thought the police weren’t going to be watching men they knew to be part of the Russian mob?
Back on their feet, Parker swung and connected a vicious right-hook to Ryker’s jaw. He went down. It seemed to disorient him, because although he managed to get onto all fours, he didn’t stand. Seeing my chance, I rushed over and crouched down beside him.
“Ryker, are you all right?” I asked anxiously.
Blood dripped from his mouth and oozed from a cut above his eye. He glanced at me. “Fine,” he rasped, getting painfully to his feet.
I stepped between them. “Enough,” I said. “That’s enough.”
Parker was breathing hard and looked no better than Ryker. His suit was dirty and torn, and there was blood on his face and knuckles. He swiped his sleeve at the blood underneath his nose, his eyes fixed on Ryker. The dry cleaner was so going to hate me.
“You want somebody to plant fucking bugs for you, then find somebody else,” he spat. “You put Sage in danger. Not that I expect you give a shit.”
“Fuck you,” Ryker retorted. “If it wasn’t for you, those assholes wouldn’t even know about her.”
“What if she’d gotten caught tonight, Ryker? She’d be dead.”
“And it’d be your fault. Again,” Ryker shot back. “Another dead woman to add to your tally. How many have there been since Natalie?”
I sucked in my breath at Ryker’s vicious jeer, but Parker didn’t attack him as I’d expected he would.
“I think you’re forgetting exactly why she killed herself,” Parker bit out. “It wasn’t just me.”
Whoa, wait a sec—newsflash. Natalie had committed suicide? Because of them?
Ho-ly shit.
“Tell yourself what you want,” Ryker sneered. “Whatever you have to do so you can sleep at night.”
“Just stay the fuck away from Sage. Don’t pull her into your cop bullshit.”
Hey, now. “I wanted to do this,” I interjected. “Ryker didn’t make me. It was my idea.”
“And you think it was just coincidence that the man who let you put yourself in grave danger just happened to have been in your bed the night before?” Parker asked me, his tone rife with condescension.
Ouch. “So you’re saying that if I screw a guy, I’ll do whatever he tells me to do?” I retorted, anger and embarrassment getting the better of my good sense. “That can’t possibly be true, because I take orders from you constantly.”
Parker’s jaw clenched as we faced off. “I’m saying that Ryker is a manipulator.”
“And you think I’m easily manipulated?”
“Aren’t you?” he shot back.
I sucked in a sharp breath, feeling as though he’d slapped me. Was that how he saw me? As someone he could easily manipulate? But…he had, hadn’t he? Friday night he’d kissed me and touched me—something he knew I wanted from him—and he’d told me what to do…and I’d done it.
Parker seemed to realize he’d screwed up because he muttered a curse, shoving a hand through his hair.
“Sage, I didn’t mean—”
“Save it,” I snapped, cutting him off. I turned to walk away, but he grabbed my arm.
“Listen to me—”
“Don’t touch me,” I sn
arled, ripping my arm out of his grip. “Just go, okay? I don’t want to talk to you or see you right now.”
“Let me take you home,” he said, his tone contrite, but I knew better. He didn’t want to leave me here with Ryker because then it would seem like he’d “lost” and Ryker had “won.” What-the-fuck-ever.
“I don’t need you to take me home,” I said. “Just go.”
He stared at me for a long moment; then Ryker spoke. “You heard her. Go,” he said. “Or do I need to arrest you for trespassing? Just give me a reason.”
Parker’s gaze flicked to Ryker, his expression turning hard and cold. He turned away without another word and we watched as he got back in his car and tore off down the street.
Well.
Tears pricked my eyes as I stared down the street. I tried to process what had just happened, all that Parker had said about what were apparently his real thoughts about me. I felt Ryker’s hand envelop mine.
“Come inside,” he said, lightly tugging.
Wordlessly, I followed him into the house.
He went to the freezer and took out an ice pack, laying it against his jaw, then sat down at the kitchen table with a grimace of pain.
I sat across from him. There was a box of pizza on the table and I lifted the lid. It was still lukewarm and I was ravenous, so I took a piece. I chewed glumly as we sat in silence.
“I take it you didn’t get the bugs planted,” Ryker said at last.
I looked at him. “Ya think?” My sarcasm was thick. “Parker walked in on me, saw what I was doing, then got incredibly pissed off. He threw the bugs out the window on the way here.”
“Something that will count against him when this all goes down,” Ryker said.
I bristled. “I don’t think it’s because he’s working for them,” I said. “He was mad that I was putting myself into a dangerous situation.”
“Still defending him? Even after what he said?”
Ryker’s gaze was shrewd and I opened my mouth to deny it, then abruptly shut it. He was right. I was still defending Parker, like it was an instinctual thing.
I sighed. I was exhausted.
“Viktor’s secretary was there,” I said, deciding to change the subject. I didn’t want to talk about Parker anymore. “Tania. She’s Niki’s sister. I told her about Niki and she swears Viktor was involved. She wants to help the police.”