Page 25 of Bedazzled
I ran and jumped off the cliff, but this time, there was concrete greeting me at the bottom instead of the cool, dark water.
Two days later…
“What the hell are you doing?”
Ella was standing in the middle of my living room between piles of boxes and haphazard stacks of my clothes and all the sports gear I bought and never used.
“I’m moving,” I skirted around her to dump another box on the floor.
“Yeah, I see that, thank you. But you can’t move, you know that place has the best security-”
“I don’t care!” I shouted and she stepped back in shock. Picking up the tape, I angrily secured the flaps on the box. “I don’t need the Morozov family charity, I am done with this mobster circus of bullshit.”
“It’s not charity,” she tried to argue, “those idiots owe it to you for putting you in danger and anyway you pay rent every month-”
“I pay rent for what I could afford for my one-bedroom in Queens,” I scoffed. “They probably use my rent payments to buy like, bullets. No, that would be too expensive. For gum? Rich people lip balm?”
Moving a stack of files over, she sat on the couch. “Is this why you haven’t been answering my texts or calls for the last two days?”
“Did Yuri tell you?” Oh, for fuck’s sake my voice was quivering.
Get it together! Suck it up!My mom’s stern, no-nonsense voice was so clear and I laughed a little.
“I didn’t know he was leaving until today. Maksim finally told me.” Her eyes were narrowed and I knew he was going to pay for that little oversight.
“Oh, well, here’s how I found out,” I took the letter back out of my trash bin and handed it to her. “After the most emotional, intimate night we’ve ever had where we both cried and said we loved each other and shit, I found this.”
Oh, my girl waspissed. Ella’s lips thinned to near invisibility and when she looked up, she had the crazy rage eyes going. “I’m going to set his Aston Martin on fire. I’m going to burn all his Italian suits. That chicken-hearted-”
“Yeah.” I pulled a bottle of Yuri’s expensive wine out of the cooler and held it up. “Cocktail? And don’t bother telling me what time it is.”
Two bottles later, we drunkenly decided to go out to dinner.
Ivan had the audacity to attempt a smile as he helped us into the SUV.
“Ivan?”
“Yes, Miss Tania.”
“No pity smiles. Be the grim Russian bulldog you’ve always been. Smiling is beneath you.”
“I’m Ukrainian, Miss Tania.”
“Be the grim Ukrainian bulldog you’ve always been, Ivan.”
“Understood, Miss Tania.”
“Where are we going?” I looked out the darkened window while Ella tapped furiously on her phone.
“Marcel’s. Yes, I know it’s a Morozov property but we’re going to burn through the wine cellar and make it hurt Maksim and Yuri where it counts.” She smiled grimly and I have never loved that girl more.
The driver stopped in front of the restaurant and after getting out of the SUV and taking a deep breath, I nodded. I could do this. We linked arms and headed for the door while she went through the wine list on her phone so we could pick the rarest and most expensive bottle.
“I might even make them use it to cook our Coq au Vin…” she said before looking up from her phone. Her eyes widened like a cartoon cat’s. “Hey, Tan, I forgot something in the car, let’s go back for a minute, c’mon-”
”What’s going on with you?” I pulled my arm loose, “Just send one of the guys for it…” My gaze went to the entrance and my breath left me in a gasp, like someone just punched me in the heart.
Yuri was leaving the restaurant with a blonde girl. Tall and sleek like him. Crazy expensive dress. Crazy expensive nose job. She was clinging to his arm like it was a life preserver on the Titanic. And giggling. There was only the slightest hitch in his step when he looked up to see Ella and me, mouths open. There was only one second where the heartless bastard looked me in the eye, then turned back to his date, guiding her past us. They were speaking Russian to each other. How fucking sweet is that?
