“Mikhail, I don’t know if we can do that right now,” Leon says sadly, shaking his head. I can tell it pains him greatly to disappoint his brother. “The FBI is on our backs, brother, and there’s not a single place in this town we could hide her without them sniffing her out. It just isn’t safe here in Bayonne. It’s not like it used to be when we were boys.”
“Pozhaluysta. I beg of you,” the older brother answers, a pleading edge to his tone.
“What happened to the usual safe houses?” Leon asks, frowning.
Mikhail looks aside as though embarrassed. “They’ve been… compromised.”
“What? How did that — ” Leon stops abruptly, seeing the authentic sadness on his brother’s face. I know the last thing he wants to do is let him down. I wonder what they were like growing up together as young boys and teenagers. I only saw Leon the one time at the beach, and I can’t recall ever seeing Mikhail around. Then again, it’s nearly impossible to imagine what this cold-blooded hitman would have looked like as an innocent child. The idea is almost laughable.
“I need to get her somewhere. She won’t last in the city.” The cold-hearted killer has a major weakness for the woman with him. And I can only imagine the trouble she’s in. It doesn’t seem like Mikhail has been back here in quite some time considering how Leon’s acting.
Leon glances down at me beside him, and I wonder if he’s thinking about me that way. If he’s considering what he’d do in Mikhail’s situation.
The two lovers that just arrived quibble. But it’s the kind of quarrel that happens between two people who care for one another, when what’s best for one isn’t what’s best for both. She doesn’t want him to leave her, and I can’t really blame her.
On the upside, their heated discussion gives Leon time to think.
When Alicia raises her hand to gently stroke Mikhail’s cheek, Leon breaks the silent tension in the room. “I need your help, too. I think… maybe we can work out a deal.”
Mikhail gives him a critical look and crosses his arms on his chest. “I will help you in any way I can. Whatever you need.”
Leon takes a deep breath and then says flatly, “I need you to eliminate someone for me.”
My mouth falls open again as my head whips around to look up at him in disbelief. Surely that can’t mean what it sounds like. Leon is a tough guy who runs with a kind of dangerous crowd, I know, but he can’t honestly be asking his brother to commit murder for him? Maybe it’s some kind of code or something I just don’t understand.
Mikhail doesn’t react with the appropriate surprise or indignation at his brother’s request. Instead, he just lifts his chin a little, narrowing his eyes and straightening his shoulders as though squaring up for a business deal. Like they’re just talking about buying a car together—not killing somebody! He takes his chin in his huge, calloused hand and looks at Leon thoughtfully for a long moment. The silence is killing me and I almost want to jump up and down and wave my arms, shouting ‘WHAT THE HELL?’
But I don’t.
Until finally I can’t stand it anymore.
“Leon, what’s going on? What do you mean, ‘eliminate’ someone?” I ask, my voice higher and more shrill than I hoped it would be. But under the circumstances, how could anyone expect me to keep a level tone, anyway?
Both brothers turn their eyes to me and I instantly feel my face start burning. They’re both so intensely attractive and intimidating that I want to just shrink down into a ball and hide for even daring to interrupt this discussion. Alicia just looks at me with a mixture of pity and envy.
I half expect Leon to kick the two of us out of the office so the men can continue their talk in private. But I should know by now that he’s better than that—he’s not like the snobby, dismissive, condescending guys I sometimes had to contend with at work back in the city. Those guys looked down on me for my name, my looks, my girly journalism. As if their boring sports articles were any more world-changing than my fashion pieces, anyway.
Alicia disentangles herself from Mikhail and sits in one of the nearby chairs, her face distant as though she’s in a trance, but I can’t worry about that now. Right now, I need to worry about the fact that my boyfriend is asking his brother to murder someone in cold blood.
But Leon just places a gentle hand on my back and gives me a sympathetic, meaningful look.
“Cherry, if this is getting to be too much, I won’t hold it against you if you want to take a step back. I don’t want you to be in any danger, and I don’t want to force you into anything you don’t feel comfortable with. I promise I will do anything and everything in my power to keep you safe from harm or retribution, but I will warn you that this is dangerous territory we’re going into now. It’s always been this way, and I’m in too deep to dig my way out. But it’s not too late for you to back out if that’s what you want. I won’t stop you. I just want you to be okay,” Leon explains, his voice so patient and gentle.