Saved by the Outlaw(202)
I make a show of trying to take slow, deep breaths. “I...I took your number from Ivan’s phone when he was in the bathroom. I’m at the Amber Room now, he’s away on some kind of business.” Ivan had told me some of his associates would back this story up. “Oh my God, Konrad, I’m so scared!”
“I know, I know, mishka,” he tries to assure me, and I feel my blood boil as he tries to use the same pet name Ivan uses for me. “I knew this would be a risk for you, but I couldn’t hold this secret while he was abusing you so monstrously, I had to tell you.”
I have the phone volume up loud enough that Ivan can hear, and I see his face going red at the bile coming from Konrad’s mouth.
“It’s okay, Konrad,” I breathe, “I...I can’t imagine how I might have felt if I’d learned even later. Oh God, I’ve been living with a monster!”
“Don’t worry, Katy,” he says, “don’t you think I thought ahead for this?”
Oh, I bet you did, you rat.
“What do you mean?” I ask, trying to sound as clueless as I can, going so far as to twirl my finger around my hair innocently. Ivan would be cracking up with laughter if he weren’t trying to contain his anger at Konrad’s brazen acts.
“I’ve had a car ready,” he explains, “and I’ve been skimming money from jobs for months, enough to have a nice little nest-egg stashed away. All cash. And I know a man who owes me a favor; he’s ready to give us new names, IDs, everything — new lives, Katy. We can disappear together. Ivan is a clever bastard, but he can’t catch someone who’s gone off the map.”
The cruel smile on Ivan’s face tells me Konrad’s scheme would have gone off about as well as my father’s ‘interrogation’ did, even if it weren’t a trap.
“A new life?” I gasp, not wanting to sound too pliable, “Konrad, that would mean leaving behind everything, everyone I’ve ever known, and-”
“Would you rather stay here and risk the mafia’s wrath?” His voice is suddenly sharp. Typical. He’s a textbook abuser. Sweep in to save the day, isolate me from everyone but himself, and get angry if any part of that goes wrong.
“No, no, you’re right,” I assure him, sounding as demure and defeated as I can. “My life is in your hands, Konrad, I...I think you know better than me in all of this.” I know he’ll like that.
“Oh darling,” I hear him rasp, lust building in his voice sickeningly, “I’ve waited for you to realize this for so long. Stay put, I will come over immediately.”
“Please, hurry! I’ll be waiting in the VIP lounge, none of the staff is here. I...I just needed some time alone. But I need to see you, Konrad, please!” I make my voice sound as needy as I can, positively dripping with desire, then end the call. Immediately afterwards, I collapse into Ivan’s arms, shuddering.
He rubs his hands up and down my back, burying his face in my hair. “You did so well, Katy,” he reassures me, and his deep voice is so much more sincere, so much more authoritative in its tone than Konrad’s slimy lies.
I turn my face up to look at him with wide eyes, my fingers curling around his jacket for security. “I just cried for help from my father’s killer.”
“I couldn’t have put on a better act myself,” he says with a smile, taking my chin in his thumb and forefinger.
I smile, despite my nervousness, because I know he’s going to be here for every step of our plan.
To say I’m dressed scantily is putting it lightly. I’m wearing my lacy red top that leaves the whole of my back exposed, and my black miniskirt shows off my legs in their entirety, all the way down to my stiletto heels. I’m wearing makeup, but not enough to make him suspect I’m gussying up for him too much. I have to look distressed, after all. I am, but not for the reasons Konrad thinks.
I feel like I’m putting myself out as chum for a shark.
“It’s okay to seem nervous,” Ivan strokes my back as we make our way to the VIP lounge. “Looking too confident is a rookie mistake. He’s expecting a damsel in distress, he might suspect something if you throw yourself on him without restraint.”
I nod. “And you’ll be waiting to move as soon as he’s...as he’s on me?”
Ivan stops me just as we’ve reached the door to the VIP lounge. “I won’t let him do a thing to you that you don’t want.” His voice has a deadly seriousness to it, and I look down, swallowing hard.
“I don’t know if I can do this, Ivan. To...to actually kill a man.”