Page 84 of Mistaken
“You must be nuts. I show up and you just kill us both. A public place so I can see Tania walk away safely.”
Who is this stone-cold bitch?I wonder.Oh, me. Tania would be so proud.
There’s a scream that echoes through the receiver and I jam my fist in my mouth. “It’s almost like you want your best friend to suffer,” Katya giggles.
“Stop it,” I hissed, “you want me, so stop wasting time. Public location.”
Am I going to wet myself? I’m definitely going to wet myself.
Waiting for another scream, I sag with relief when Katya snaps, “The NJ Galleria. The food court. You have an hour.”
“Got it,” I managed. “Now leave her alone. Save your energy for me.”
Would this woman ever stop laughing? “Oh, I am darling.”
It takes me ten minutes to copy off the gas formula and scribble a note to Yuri, who I know is in Maksim’s study right now. Then, it takes less than sixty seconds to steal Ludmilla’s key to the service elevator in the pantry next to the kitchen. There’s supposed to be a guard there but I get lucky. Maybe he’s on a potty break or something.
Managing to flag down a taxi was my biggest fear - this is New York, after all - but one swooped right up as if the Fates had decided it was absolutely time for me to die and were just helping things along. Ten minutes later, my phone started buzzing. First, Ivan. Then, Maksim and then Yuri and then Maksim again. I put the phone on silent and stared out the window.
Chapter 22 – The Rescue
In which Ella sees her Christmas Tarot reading come true. In all the worst ways.
Ella…
Walking through the mall made me chuckle. Apparently, I’d lost track of time because the Valentine’s Day swag was up and stores were aggressively promoting all the crap you should buy your sweetheart if you really,reallyloved them.
Well, Tania wasn’t my sweetheart but she was the only person I really, really loved and she was in this position because of me. Sure, Maksim is really responsible for this cavalcade of complete crap. But in the end, Tania wouldn’t be terrified and hurt if it wasn’t for me.God, I hope I can get her out of this alive,I thought.One of us should live through this. Because I’m pretty sure it won’t be me.
Tania was sitting at one of the grimy tables in front of the Chick-fil-A and my knees nearly buckled. She looked okay. They’d made her arrange her hair to cover the bruise on her cheek, but my girl lookedpissed,which was so much better than terrified.
Katya’s husband Vasily was sitting next to her, looking vaguely hilarious with the chair straining under his massive bulk. Another two men were hovering, scanning the food court.
“Els!” Tania tried to burst out of her chair to hug me, and he grabbed her arm in his meaty fist, not gently, by the way she was flinching.
“I came alone, just like you demanded,” I said, clutching my messenger bag, “so just let her go, all right? That was the deal.”
His mean little eyes stared at me for a moment. They were pale blue, like a weak skim milk blue so it almost looked like he didn’t have irises at all. Finally, he grunted, nodding his head at the men and releasing her.
Tania’s hug almost knocked me over the neighboring table. “Let’s run,” she whispered in my ear, “just take off. They’re not going to start firing in the middle of the Galleria, for fuck’s sake!”
I looked around, there was a table of six teenagers, an exhausted mom barely holding on to two toddlers as she tried to eat her sandwich, a couple of businessmen scrolling through their phones…
“I can’t, honey. This guy is as crazy as his blushing bride.” She tried to protest and I squeezed her tighter. “Look. Just go to the nearest exit. Call Yuri, he’ll have bodyguards on you in a second.”
“I don’t have my phone,” she groaned.
“Here-” I started rummaging in my bag and the two men crowded me, hands inside their jackets. Slowing down, I held one hand up. “I’m just getting my phone, okay? It’s not like you’re not going to take it from me anyway.”
Did Vasily just smile? His mouth twisted like he’d just eaten a ghost pepper but he nodded to his men. “Give her your purse,” he grunted, “you will not need it again.”
“No, nononono NO!” Tania moaned, and I hugged her tighter.
“Honey, you have to go now, okay?” I whispered, “If you don’t, they’re just going to kill us both. Maybe… I’ll bet Yuri can find me, okay? So work fast. You have to go, please!” Pushing her away, I nodded, a big, fake smile on my face.
She backed away, sobbing but I nodded my head like a broken marionette, hoping she would keep going.
The extremely strong smell of Hugo Boss nearly gagged me and I realized Vasily was right up against me. He leaned down and I swear I could hear all his joints creak from having to move that pile of muscle and bone around. “You speak like you have experience with kidnapping.”
