by Ivy Clyde
Rage gathered inside me like a sudden thunderstorm. Marching up to Christian, I pushed at his chest with both my hands until he crashed against the wall behind him. He stared at me, his eyes widening in surprise.
“You and your uncle weren’t present when Saxon and his pals drugged me and carried me away to a crypt to rape me as a way to make Halloween night fun. You weren’t there when they were deciding on taking turns with me.”
Christian’s face paled. “Skye…did they hurt you?”
“They did and would have done worse things to me if someone didn’t get in their way.”
“I’m so sor-”
I held up a hand, knowing I didn’t want his apologies or concern. He had ignored me since that night he came onto me, making me feel like I was not worth his worry or care. “I need a place that’s shielded from all mobile network connections,” I said, keeping my tone icy. “I will be breaking into Dimitri Volkov’s phone and need to do it in a safe place that can’t be detected or located. No wifi. Just a single landline with broadband would be enough.”
Turning around, I hurried down the stairs before he could stop me. Rage pulsed in my veins, threatening to break all my control. I was so angry at that moment, I knew I wouldn’t hesitate to attack Christian despite knowing I was no match for him.
Thankfully, he didn’t follow me, letting me have the last word and get away.
32
Christian
A chilly wind gushed in through the half-open window of the car as I threw out an empty bag of chips. My gaze swept the front of the road, looking out for signs of the place that had been arranged for Skye. She needed a place that couldn’t expose cell phone and wifi signals and this was the place Uncle chose for her.
A week had passed since the day I confronted her about Saxon’s arrest.
Not only was Saxon firmly implicated in the case of being caught with a ridiculously large amount of cocaine, but he was also charged with rape and abuse of minors. He was out on bail but was expelled from Knightswood Academy. Principal Thorne rarely allowed students to stay once they got involved with the law with irrefutable proof of their wrongdoing. She turned a blind eye to everything unlawful in the academy as long as they didn’t involve the prestige of her precious school.
Saxon wasn’t the only person to come under fire last week. News spread quickly that it had been Miranda Bergeron who sent all the evidence to the police department which had been enough to get them a search-and-seize warrant. She vehemently protested against it but kids at the school with their informants among the cops confirmed the fact that all evidence was sent from her email as well as phone.
Miranda Bergeron, the resident queen bee of the senior year at Knightswood Academy, was dethroned overnight. People at the academy didn’t hate any trait as much as that of a snitch. Miranda was dumped by her friends and now, had a target painted on her back. She used to be the bully before, terrorizing everyone around her but now, even the weakest of the weak kicked at her.
It was hard to believe that the strongest bullies of Knightswood Academy were brought down to their knees by one, inconspicuous little charity case. Skye confirmed it had been her even if she didn’t tell me how she’d done it.
Part of me was impressed by my little bird. And part of me hated the way she no longer seemed to need me.
Back when she was first brought to Ivanov Mansion, she’d been scared and alone. I’d been the only one she’d decided to trust in this violent world of ours. She looked up to me and her desire for me was clear in those crystal blue eyes.
All that only lasted as long as she stayed close to me. The moment she entered Knightswood Academy, she was hounded by both Andrei Romanoff and Dimitri Volkov. While Dimitri maintained some distance from her, Andrei had thrown away all caution and chased her until she’d given herself to him. For the last few weeks, I watched her dine with him, laugh with him and hold his hand while walking to class.
Andrei further laid his claim on her by taking on the people who planned to hurt and bully her at the academy. He’d become her guardian lord and Skye clung to him tightly. I couldn’t blame her though. She needed someone to protect her in a place where she was weaker than the weakest.
And in recent weeks, Skye proved she could handle anything the world threw at her. She was no damsel-in-distress despite the fact she had no physical strength to protect herself. Weak as she was, she’d been smart enough to use her best strength.
I knew she’d hacked into Saxon’s laptop but had no idea how she collected all the evidence against him and then had them sent to the police department through Miranda Bergeron. With one bullet, she’d taken down two enemies.
Uncle had been immensely pleased with the way she handled the situation without getting caught in any of the mess. It was almost odd to see him pat his own back for recruiting Skye under him. He treasured her, despite being cold and indifferent to her face. I didn’t know what made him so mindful of her but he had people keeping an eye on her.
Skye was drifting further away from me. I knew she blamed me for keeping my distance from her, thinking she meant nothing to me. Truth was that my obsession with her was scaring me like nothing ever had.
Uncle commanded me to hide my relationship with Skye. No one at Knightswood Academy could know that she was working for us. He just had no idea about the hunger my body felt for her. That one night with her had me craving her soft warmth all the time. I wanted to capture Skye underneath me and mark every inch of her body as a way to keep away Andrei and Dimitri from sniffing around her.
I. Just. Couldn’t. Do. It.
That was the reason I’d decided to keep my distance from Skye and make her think she meant nothing to me. My coldness was all she would ever see.
I hated that my tactic worked so well. Skye hated me and wouldn’t let me dominate her anymore. She was brisk and cold when I confronted her last week. She blurted out the things she wanted to be arranged and had walked away without a backward glance, reducing my heart into a torn, damaged piece of an organ.
A ring of red maple trees came in my view on the side of the road. Slowing down the speed of my car, I crept nearer for a closer look. The symbols etched onto its tough bark told me I was near the right place. Getting off the main road, I drove the car into the woods. The terrain was rough, making the vehicle bump along the way.
The underground bunker arranged for Skye was kind of a safe house we used to hide our people when they were in trouble from the police or a rival gang. It was an underground cabin built during the Second World War to house soldiers during airstrikes. The depth was enough to cut off all cell phone signals. The thick walls also barred any radio signals from entering the interiors. It was the exact kind of place Skye had requested for.
Parking the car behind the trunk of a large, bare oak tree, I climbed off. My gaze surveyed the map spread out in my hands. Skye had requested to be brought here by regular guards instead of waiting for me. Her dismissal angered me. My own compulsion to come out here to check whether she was safe was even more infuriating. I wish I could ignore her the same way she was ignoring me.
Checking the map, I headed deeper into the woods. The signs and symbols marking the way were easy to spot once you knew what to look for. They directed me straight to the doorway hidden under the roots of a gigantic redwood cedar.
It took me a while to locate the panel to open the door. Hidden underneath a bunch of fallen leaves, it was highly inconspicuous. Dusting away the debris, I entered the passcode. With a hiss, the door cracked in the middle and slid aside wide enough to let a grown man get in by crouching to half his height.
I was welcomed inside a tunnel, just high enough to accommodate my full height. Small light bulbs hung in intervals, illuminating the rest of the corridor. Folding the map, I placed it inside my jacket and strode forward to find Skye.
The narrow corridor was long, taking me close to five minutes to reach the end where it opened up into a tall-ceilinged room. Four large displa
y monitors were placed in the center of the room, their screens illuminated with lines of codes repeating in some set sequence. Skye sat at a smaller desk with an open laptop before her. Even though her head was covered with the hood of her jacket, I could tell it was her. Tendrils of her jet-black hair escaped their confines as she placed all her focus on the screen of her laptop as she typed something out furiously.
Leaning against the wall, I watched her, wondering whether she was aware of my presence.
“Jingyo gei bang tan sonyondon…” Skye’s head bobbed as she sang in a completely foreign language all the while typing away something on her laptop.
Pushing off the wall, I strode forward and came to stand behind her chair. With a sudden move, I grabbed the backrest and swiveled the chair around. Skye gasped, her mouth making a funny ‘O’ as she stared wide-eyed at me. Her lips crumpled in a frown when her gaze locked on me.
“What are you doing here?” she asked through clenched teeth. Her chest was still heaving as she struggled to control the fast beating of her heart.
“I came to check up on you.”
Her eyes narrowed at me. “Why?”
Bending down, I placed my hands on either side of the armrests of the chair and pulled it close, effectively bringing her nearer to me. Her thighs parted to avoid crashing her knees with mine. A thrill of excitement shot through me as warmth pooled into Skye’s cheeks. My close proximity was definitely having an effect on her.
“I don’t have time for your games,” she said, glaring up at me.
I leaned in closer to her, eager to capture those naturally pink luscious lips between mine but before I could get close enough, she turned her face away.
“Why?” she whispered as I stayed frozen in place. Notes of lavender and rose wafted from her skin and hair, making me inhale deeply. I kissed the side of her neck, causing her body to shiver. Next moment, she planted her hands on my chest and pushed me away hard.
The sudden move had me stumbling backward until I could gain my balance.
“What’s wrong with you?” I asked, feeling my frustration rise. She’d never pushed me away this way before and as much as I hated to admit it, it hurt.
“What’s wrong with you?” she asked in return. Rage and tears shone in those sapphire eyes. “You’ve been ignoring since that night. You’ve been nothing but a jerk to me. Why are you suddenly interested in me again?” Her chest heaved as angry tears flowed down her cheeks. She brushed at them furiously. “Couldn’t you find someone else to sleep with? Is that it?”
“Skye…you don’t understand.”
She jumped to her feet and stomped toward me. “I understand exactly what it is you want. There’s no one around here to see you flirt with me. There’s no Nikolai, no one from school. Perfect time to play up a stupid girl like me.”
“I’m sorry about before,” I said, the words feeling strange on my tongue. I doubted whether I’d ever truly apologized to anyone before. “It’s true that I wanted to keep you at a distance. The way I feel about you is too difficult to hide. What if I did something to blow your cover and jeopardize the work Uncle has set you?”
Skye looked slightly calmer as she listened to me quietly.
“I hate how close you’re with Andrei,” I said. The words were bitter on my tongue. “You should be with me.”
“You’re the one who pushed me away and acted like nothing ever happened between us.”
“I was jealous you followed Andrei to his home.” My hands balled into fists as I prepared myself to tell the truth. “I wish you didn’t have to get close to Andrei and Dimitri for information.”
“They’re not that bad,” she said quietly. “Dimitri is suspicious of me but he never stays back when I’m in trouble. You, on the other hand…You did nothing even when you knew what Saxon was doing to me. He was so close to hurting me.” Her voice choked up as tears filled her eyes. Taking a deep breath, she continued. “If Dimitri wasn’t there that night, I might even be dead. Guess that would take care of the problem for you. There won’t be any temptation to distract you.”
“Skye, I am so sorry.” Crossing the distance between us, I pulled her into a tight hug. “I was keeping an eye on you. Andrei was supposed to be with you on Halloween. There was no way to know Saxon would try to get you that night. Trust me, I would never knowingly let him or anyone hurt you.”
“I don’t believe you.”
Pulling away, I looked at her. Silent tears poured down her cheeks. The sight was enough to pinch my heart. Guilt burned my insides. Thinking back, I could have really done something to reassure her or make her feel safer instead of letting her think she was all alone. Uncle had asked me to protect her but always in secret. Neither of us wanted her hurt.
“Think about it,” I said, gazing into her eyes. “Every time Saxon came after you at school, Andrei or Dimitri was always around to help.”
Doubt crept into her face.
“Each time I saw him around you, I would get someone to slip the fact that Saxon was hounding the charity case. That’s how Andrei or Dimitri would always show up before he could do anything to you. Did you know there are people watching you at Knightswood Academy? They couldn’t help you on Halloween night because they couldn’t make out it was you who got dragged away by the bastard Saxon sent to get you. Everyone was in costume. It was dark. That’s how they missed you.”
“So, all this time you didn’t think of me as a one-night stand?” she asked in a hesitating tone. “You were protecting me from a distance?”
My hands went up to cup her beautiful face. “You’re special to me, Skye. I wouldn’t let anything happen to you.”
We gazed at each other and a kind of calm stole over me. I’d been driven crazy trying to forget about Skye and failing constantly. My soul craved to be her hero and protect her. My eyes craved to see her smile up at me. And my body hungered for hers. She’d taken over my life completely.
A sudden beeping noise broke the spell that had settled over us. Skye was startled, whirling around to look at the display monitors. Running toward one, she stared at the screen and jotted down the alphabets and numbers that flashed on it. She exhaled a long breath and put aside the notebook.
“It took more than fourteen hours to decrypt Dimitri’s password to access the Volkov mainframe,” she said, sinking into the chair and slumping against the backrest. “I’m beat.”
“Let me take you out,” I said.
“I don’t know.” She was quiet, seeming to mull over my invitation. A moment later, she looked back at me. “I need to see Nikolai. Once the passwords on Dimitri’s phone are decrypted, I would need a way to get inside their main servers. We need to think of a way to get me inside their headquarters.”
“Give me a minute,” I said, taking my phone out.
“You’ll have to go out to use that,” said Skye.
“Right. No cell phone signal.” Crossing the room, I walked out into the narrow corridor, wondering whether Uncle would be free today. From what I knew, he already had a plan in place in case Skye ever managed to get the passwords to gain entry into the Volkovs’ servers. However, I doubted whether he anticipated it to be this quick.
The breeze felt cold and biting when I climbed out through the hatch. Looking down at the screen of my phone, I noticed the signal bars were still missing. Maybe the entire area was shielded from mobile networks.
I began walking back toward the main road, glancing at my phone from time to time. In another fifteen minutes, I passed the spot where my car was parked. My gaze swept the woods, making sure no one was following me. By now, looking over my shoulder had become a natural instinct.
A tiny beep had me look down at the screen of my phone. The signal bars had appeared on it. Through the gaps in the bare tree branches, I caught glimpses of the highway. Making sure no one was around, I dialed Uncle’s number.
“Yes?” He asked without preamble.
“Skye is close to cracking all of Dimitri’s passwords,” I s
aid, getting to the point straight away. “She needs you to find a way to get her inside the Volkov headquarters that houses their main servers.”
“I have arranged for it,” said Uncle. “Bring her to my office tomorrow after eight P.M.”
“Got it.” I waited until Uncle switched off the call.
Pocketing my phone, I hurried back to the underground bunker to give Skye the news. The crunching of dead leaves and twigs under my feet sounded loud to my ears. Deserted places like these woods heightened my senses even more.
Reaching the hidden doorway to the bunker, I swept my gaze over the terrain, making sure no one was watching me. I didn’t like how she was here all by herself with no place to escape. Since it was a classified location, known only to a rare few in our circle, we couldn’t have people guard it.
I walked inside the bunker and crossed the low-ceilinged narrow corridors to reach Skye. It was much warmer here. Reaching the main hall, I found Skye slumped in the large swivel chair. The four screens before her were running a sequence of codes, casting a greenish glow to the dimly lit room.
Skye didn’t move. She probably hadn’t heard me yet. It would be so easy for someone to sneak up behind her and shoot her dead. My protective urges raged within me. She was too vulnerable and unprepared to survive in my world. If Andrei and Dimitri ever found the truth about her, she wouldn’t be spared. Spies and liars were never tolerated among us no matter how much we loved the criminal. I wondered whether she was destined to have the same fate as the dead Maria Volkov.
Suppressing the unease swirling inside me, I cleared my throat. Skye heard and turned around to face me.
“What did he say?” she asked at once.
“He’s arranged everything for you. We meet him tomorrow evening.”