Page 40 of Victor's Lethal Desire
"Sorry, just trying to help,” I say and suppress a smirk.
"Yeah, yeah," she says and adjusts herself. "You better meet me at the top, or I'll find you."
"Now I'm tempted not to open it," I say, winking.
"I'm serious."
"Okay, wow. Where did the easygoing Danika go?"
"She's not here right now because she's stuffed in a dumbwaiter."
I nod. "That's fair. Now, watch your hands."
I shut the door with a metallic clang and press the penthouse button. The pulley system groans to life, and the dumbwaiter begins its slow ascent.
Once it starts moving, I turn and run.
14
DANIKA
The dumbwaiter jerks as it starts, and I brace my hands against the metal walls to keep from toppling forward. I'm in complete darkness with only the sound of cranking gears and my own breathing.
My heart pounds in my chest, and I can't tell if it's from the cramped space or the stupidity of what I just agreed to.
I laugh quietly to myself, shaking my head.
I can't believe I actually got into this thing.
Victor's charm worked. His ridiculous, infuriating charm actually convinced me to crawl into a glorified food elevator while he dealt with the guards. I should be furious. I should be planning exactly how I'm going to make him pay for this later.
But I'm not.
The metal groans as I shift my weight, adjusting the bunched fabric of my dress around my thighs. The sheath of my blade presses against my skin as I move.
I hate this. I hate waiting. I hate not being in control.
But there's a small, traitorous part of me that admits it's almost nice. Having someone else share the risk. Having a partner, even if it's temporary. Even if I know he's going to betray me the second he gets what he wants.
Because that's what I plan on doing.
I lean my head back against the wall, closing my eyes in the darkness.
Usually, it's just me. Alone in the stairwell, alone at the bar, alone on the rooftop. Ivan gives me the target, the timeline, and I execute. No backup. No safety net. Just me and whatever weapon I can smuggle past security.
This, having Victor out there handling the guards so I don't have to, it's different.
And I don't know if I like it or if it terrifies me.
My fingers instinctively reach toward the handle of my blade.
Can I trust him?
The answer should be simple. No. Absolutely not. He's an Ionescu. He's here to kill Dimitri and steal the tablet, probably to destroy the Bratva's infrastructure and secure his family's position in Eastern Europe. We're enemies. This alliance is temporary, tactical, and whether either of us likes it or not, doomed from the start.
Of course I can go forward with it because I don't plan on him actually getting the tablet, much less blowing up Ivan's network. As for Dimitri, I'll have to figure that out. My main task is clear, however.
And I can't help thinking about the way Victor looked at me in that stairwell, how he handed me back my knife.
