Shock bolts through me like lightning and my eyes are wide with fear.
“Do you hear me—don’t make a sound,” Van snarls.
I glance inside, to the stairs that lead up to the bedroom, to Andrei.
Van laughs coldly. He holds up his hand to show me a device.
I don’t know what it is. But it doesn’t look good.
“Have you ever seen a detonator before?” he whispers.
I shake my head, swallowing hard.
Van looks down at the thing in his hand and smiles. “This little button, right here, will end your boyfriend’s life in a split second.”
I stare from his hand to his face. “Why?” I stammer.
“It doesn’t matter why. The point is that I am in control right now. If you make any moves, or if you decide you aren’t going to do exactly as I tell you to, then I press this, and the bomb goes off, and he dies. It’s that simple.”
“We’ll all die,” I hiss. “You’ll kill yourself too.”
“No, sweetheart. Just him. I have plenty of experience with explosives. But if you want to take the risk, that’s your choice.”
“Van, please—Boris would be furious if he knew you were doing this.”
He snorts with laughter. “The boss gives the orders, sweetheart. I follow them. Are so fucking stupid that you don’t know that? Now decide. I don’t have all night. Are we blowing up your boyfriend, or are you coming quietly?”
I clench my jaw and fight tears of anger, frustration and fear. There is no choice at all. I refuse to risk Andrei’s life. Especially seeing as Van will take me anyway.
“I’ll go,” I whisper, my words are a betrayal because Andrei will think I ran away. He’ll wake up and find me gone and he’ll think that I left, and that everything that happened between us wasn’t real.
Inside my chest, my heart is filled with pain as I step towards Van and nod. “Let’s go.”
He smiles, and it’s so cruel it makes me scrunch my face in disgust. “Wise choice,” he says, wrapping his steel grip around my arm, and he tugs me close to his face. His breath is hot against my skin as he snarls, “This has an incredibly long range. We can be back in Boston and I can still set it off.”
I nod again. “I get it. I won’t fight.”
He’s satisfied with my answer, so he gestures for me to get moving.
Van lets me walk ahead of him out of the villa and towards the cars. I open my own door and climb into the back seat, not wanting to sit next to that asshole of a man.
The windows are tinted dark, and it feels claustrophobic inside. I turn to look at the villa as we drive away. My heart is breaking for Andrei and how disappointed he will be when he thinks I’ve left. I wish there was some way I could leave him a message—but I can’t take any risks. Not when the risk involves his life.
To my surprise, Van does not take us to the airport; he takes us to a hotel nearby. Parking outside, he tugs me out of the car, and I swear at him, telling him I’m coming willingly. There is no reason to be rough.
He ignores me and drags me up to the penthouse and shoves me inside, to where my half-brother is waiting. The smileon his lips when I step inside is so smug, I want to slap it right off his face.
“What is wrong with you?” I shout angrily.
He laughs. “Oh, darling little sister. You waste of oxygen, brat. We don’t have enough time to discuss my psychology. There is so much to do. We have to find a use for you.”
“Olivia, get in here,” Boris snaps, and one of my housekeepers from back home comes scuttling into the living room. “Find some clothes for her to wear. She can’t be wandering around in that.” He waves his hand over my red dress, the one I wore last night. The one I walked on the beach with Andrei. The one I wore when I snuggled next to him on the sofa for hours.
Tears spike at the back of my eyes and I swallow, pushing them away.
Chapter 21 - Andrei
My legs stretch out beneath the blankets as I stretch lazily across the bed. I haven’t slept that well in years. Talking to Nico, and afterwards talking to Tia—I came to realize so many things yesterday, and my heart feels lighter than it has in far too long.
