His finger briefly brushes the skin on the back of my neck.
“No …” he mutters under a heavy breath.
I manage to wriggle away from his hold and push him away. “Let go.”
His eyes smolder with rage. “Get out.”
I grimace. “What? You just gonna tell me to leave?”
“Get out!” he screams, his bellow loud enough to make me cower.
Shit. He looks like he’s about to attack me.
“GET OUT!” His stance is so aggressive, so violent, that my instincts take over.
I don’t think.
I just run.
I don’t go to my room to collect my stuff.
I just rush down the stairs as quickly as possible, to get as far away from him as I can.
Before he changes his mind.
Before he follows me and decides to make me stay anyway.
He’s giving me the opportunity, and I’m taking it.
The door is in my sight and adrenaline pulses through my veins at the sight of it.
Only a few more steps and I’ll be outside again. Minutes, hours, and I’ll be with Alisha again.
“Where are you going?” I hear Winston yell from the kitchen, and he comes running out as I pass him.
“I’m not fucking staying here anymore,” I growl. “Open the fucking door.”
“I can’t—”
“You heard him! I can leave. Now.” I look him straight in the eyes. He knows as well as I do that he could hear Viktor’s scream.
Winston silently walks toward the door and pushes the key into the lock, opening it for me.
“Sad to see you leave,” he says as I pass him.
A brief cold draft makes me shiver, but I don’t look back.
I won’t stay here for one more minute.
Chapter 9
Viktor
Through the window, I watch her run through the yard; her feet quick as lightning as she jumps the fence and makes the leap. There she goes. Disappearing from my life forever. Again.
Not even for one second does she hesitate. I don’t blame her. I’ve made a mess of this.
I wanted her to stay, but when I heard what she’d been through, I couldn’t keep her here any longer. There was a reason I wanted to look on her neck.
She had the mark.
The inked barcode tattooed on the back of her neck.
A sign of ownership.
She was one of the girls at the facility where I once worked.
I slam my fist into the wall again and let my head drop against it, growling softly to myself. I can’t believe I didn’t see it before … Her hair must’ve covered it up. But still, I should’ve asked. Should’ve told Winston to do a background check on the girls he got for me. Shouldn’t have yelled.
Now, she’s gone forever.
The only girl who didn’t fear me, who fought back against me with every inch of her strength…
Gone.
Just like that.
I let her go.
It was for her own good.
“Viktor?” Winston appears in the doorframe.
“I know. I’m not interested.”
“I think you are. Are you sure this is the right thing to do?”
I shrug. “I don’t care.” I frown at him. “Weren’t you the one telling me to be nice?”
“This isn’t about her, Viktor. It’s about you. She knows about you now. I know you told her because I could hear it downstairs.”
I swallow, listening reluctantly to what he has to say.
“She knows everything about your past. If she goes to the cops with this, it could mean—”
“The end. Yeah, I know,” I interject. “But I couldn’t keep her here. Not with that … thing on her neck.”
“What thing?” He pushes the door open farther.
“She had the mark of the company.” I point at my neck. “The barcode.”
His eyes widen, and he almost stumbles back. “Oh, no …”
“I can’t keep her here, Stan. If she stayed, and Vladim found out … it could get me killed.”
Vladim. Just mentioning his name gives me the chills.
Motherfucking Vladim … head of the Snatcher Division.
The target of all my hatred.
“No, no, you’ve gotta go after her.” Winston rushes into my room and grabs my arm. “If she talks, he will find out. You said he has connections.”
“So? I let her go. I’m washing my hands of this.”
“Listen to me.” He manages to shake me with his old, brittle hands, which surprises me. “If she’s one of them, and she escaped, and they find her … they’re taking her back there.”
My face suddenly turns completely white.
Winston licks his lips. “She’s been active as a call girl for a while now. They’re probably onto her already, even if she doesn’t know; she may have already been in danger to begin with. There’ve been rumors going around about a pretty girl with black hair and tattoos. That’s how I found her. And if I know … they know.”