Page 41 of The Bratva’s Monster

Marius nods. “You ought to know that the common consensus around the Brotherhood Water Cooler is that the two of you were a perfect couple. I’ve heard some refer to the two of you as a modern day Bonnie and Clyde.”

I almost want to laugh. “That… that’s a gross overstatement. We weren’t anywhere close to being Bonnie and Clyde.”

“You know how rumors are. An ounce of truth and a pound of fantasy. Still, I guess people liked talking about the two of you because, well, you were a good couple. Good couples are hard to come by in this life.”

I’m a little boggled by this perception of Gedeon and me being the ‘perfect couple’. We weren’t perfect by any stretch. In fact, we were falling apart by the end.

“Have you got peas in your freezer?”

I blink in confusion. “Peas?”

“A bag of peas or mixed vegetables, whatever. Take it out and put it on that lip. It’ll bring the swelling right down. If you’ve got one, make use of it right away.”

I nod. “Thank you.”

“No problem.” He closes his bag with a sound click. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to make sure this door is put on right. You know, Rikki really doesn’t know his own strength sometimes.”

He gets up and walks away, back toward the front door. I sit there for a moment, gingerly touching my slightly swollen lip, then I go to the kitchen.

Walking down the hallway, I’m half expecting signs of the struggle that took place last night. There are none. The kitchen is pristine, even though the three knives that Rikki used last night are missing. I imagine Marius took care of them the same way he took care of the bodies.

If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I’d never believe that a man was tortured to death at my kitchen table. I walk past the chair, touching the arm and expecting to find blood on my fingers from where his hand was cut off. There is none.

I go to my freezer and pull out a bag of peas, putting it on my lip, the freezing cold making me flinch as I lean against the counter.

I start thinking about Rikki and the way he came at me last night… but then stopped. I can still feel the cool metal blade against my throat and feel his rough hands in my hair.

It was terrifying… and yet…

I don’t know how I knew it, but I knew he wouldn’t go through with it. And I know how little sense that makes. All I know is that the look in his eyes changed the moment he focused in on me. They went from dark and soulless to… to the man that I’ve come to know. With the snap of a finger, he came back from the edge.

But somehow, that’s not the thing that’s bothering me in the light of day. It’s the implication of my involvement in Gedeon’s supposed traitorous activities. Rikki thinks that I was involved. And after talking to Marius, I guess I see how he would think that. If they all believed Gedeon and I were just the perfect underworld couple…

I take a deep breath, wondering what the right move is. If Rikki doesn’t believe in me, then that probably means that his brother won’t be too far away from disbelief as well, and then I and this baby are done.

All the looking for something to exonerate Gedeon won’t mean a thing if the Pakhan doesn’t believe me. I need to get Rikki on my side. But how? The idea of even going to him scares me a little.

He won’t hurt me. If I learned nothing else from last night, I learned that much. For all his bluster as the Bratva’s great and all-powerful monster, he could have torn me to shreds last night and he didn’t. Maybe knowing that, I can get him to listen to me.

I toss the bag of peas back into the freezer, then I leave the kitchen and go up to my room to get dressed. One way or another, I’ll make him understand.

I’ve only ever been to Rikki’s apartment a few times, and every time, I was accompanied by Gedeon or Yeva. This is the first time I’ll be going there alone, and I’d be lying if I said I’m not nervous. After last night, I feel like I’ve decided to go into the lion’s den after narrowly escaping a lion attack.

I’m standing in the elevator as it races up to the top floors of the high rise. He lives in the penthouses and his apartment has most of the floor to itself. Gedeon once told me that there was one other penthouse on the same floor but that no one lives in it. Their father, apparently, bought it just in case Rikki ever wanted to expand.

Which sounds like wishful thinking on his father’s part. He was probably thinking about his son one day marrying and having children. Rikki doesn’t strike me as the type to want either thing.

The elevator finally slows and the doors slide open. I walk into the hallway to his door, then I pause with my finger over the doorbell.

Are these second thoughts? Worries that he’ll change his mind and attack me? No, no. I have to do this. We have to talk if I’m going to save my and this baby’s life.

I ring the bell and wait. The hallway is as silent as a grave. It feels lonely standing out here on my own, even knowing that the other door across the hall holds an empty apartment.

The tiny beam of light shining from the other side of the peephole darkens, then lights up again. He’s home.

“What do you want, Liz?” he says from the other side.

“To talk,” I respond. I get nothing back. I sigh and say, “Please, Rikki.”