Page 9 of Mistaken
“I do,” he answered, clearly puzzled. I took a moment to enjoy this; since I had rarely witnessed mySovietnikbeing confused.
“The thievingpredatel'may be dead, and the guns are lost. But there is a beautiful, though somewhat shaken up woman in my bed who has shown impressive intelligence and determination over the last twenty-four hours. And I do require a bride.” Yuri's dispirited sigh made me grin. “Find out everything you can about Ella Givens, we’ll talk tomorrow.”
Chapter 4 - When Life Gives You Lemons…
In which Maksim is such a dick.
Ella…
For two blissful seconds - maybe as many as five or so but definitely two - I was completely comfortable. I was resting on a cloud, or something super fluffy like a wisp of angel’s wings and I was perfectly warm.
Then, I opened my eyes.
I hadn’t seen this room before but it bore the unmistakable stamp of Maksim Morozov. More dead animal heads nailed to the walls. A nice fire in the gigantic hearth - no poker in the flames this time, thank god - and of course, the gigantic Russian is sitting casually in another wingback chair by the fireplace, he’s only wearing thin sleep pants and there’s a laptop open on the table next to him as he spoke into a headset.
“I am not interested in what he told you. The senator is about to come home to find his house on fire if he doesn’t come up with those files in a big hur-” He looked over at me with a grin. “I’ll get back to you,” he said before pulling off the headset.
“Well, look at you,plokhaya devochka.And you were worried about me hurting you? You did a fine job all by yourself.”
There were so many things I wanted to say. First, a stern commentary about how blatantly he was showing off his bare, gorgeous chest, with those sculpted pectorals and massive biceps. It was almost desperate.
Also, at this point, I was totally rooting for my tragic disappearance as opposed to one more second in the company of this heartless lunatic.
Then, the fact that whatever he was drinking smelled like ass and it was not helping my mild nausea at all.
But I settled on, “What’re… what… uh… are you drinking? It looks likepuréedlizard.”
Chuckling indulgently, Maksim rose and strolled over to me. “How are you feeling, my sweet little invalid?”
Trying to rub my stinging eyes with the back of my hand, I noticed it had an IV taped to it. “No, seriously. Is that lizard in that glass?”
Taking a huge swig, he clearly enjoyed watching my face turn green. “It’s delicious. Do you want a sip? It’s flaxseed, kale, chia seeds, spinach, swiss chard, and cinnamon.”
“Oh, god…” I gagged a little. “I’d rather drink the lizard.”
He shrugged, tapping the clear bag dripping something into my veins. “That’s fine. You’re getting all your nutrients from this bag right now. My personal physician made a stop to check on you and she’s rehydrating you with an IV fluid.”
I ignored him as contemplating the horror of a kale-sucking, sociopathic, serial killer made tears come to my eyes.
“I’m not a serial killer,” Maksim corrected me.
“Oh, did I say that out loud?” I sniffled, “That wasn’t planned.”
“Yes, well…” he clicked his tongue thoughtfully, “Did my doctor add something extra in your IV? But, back to the point, I’m not a serial killer, I…” he paused, as if finding something terribly amusing. “I run the family business.”
“Which apparently includes killing people,” I croaked.
Shrugging, he straightened my IV tubing and took my pulse. “Well, that’s not all of it. I do start and end wars. Deliver weapons and explosives. Retrieve desired objects and desired people. I golf.”
For the first time in my life, I didn’t know what to say. I was a swollen, bruised bag of skin and not much else. I don’t think I have ever been this beat up and so exhausted. I couldn’t run; he hadn’t even bothered to shackle me; he knew I’d be lucky to flee as far as the bathroom. I just…
God, I hope he isn’t going to sleep in here.
“No, I’m not going to sleep in the same bed with you,” he had the nerve to look offended. “Yes, you said it out loud. Don’t take this personally, but you’re not at your most enticing. Get some rest. We’ll talk tomorrow when you’re not quite so fragile.”
“There’s something to look forward to,” I mumbled, so exhausted that being terrified seemed like too much work.
“Rise and shine!”
