Page 34 of Pageant

“Why do you care?”

“I like to be entertained.”

“There’s not much to say. Elyah tried to flirt with me a few times, but he was very clumsy. When he finally got me into bed, nothing even happened between us. Maybe he had a problem, you know, down there.” Number Eleven gives a pointed glance toward my groin.

“I could kill you right now and no one would stop me,” Elyah seethes.

Still looking at me, she replies, “And yet you’re sitting there doing nothing. As usual.”

In one swift movement, Elyah jumps over the table and grabs her by the throat. Number Eleven’s eyelashes barely flutter as she glares up at him, fearless and proud.

“You lying fucking whore.” He squeezes her throat tighter and gives her a shake.

“You don’t scare me, Elyah Morozov,” she wheezes, her expression burning with hatred. “My father is Aran Brazhensky. My husband was Ivan Kalashnik. Who are you? A little boy who likes to get his dirty hands on what’s not his. You were sent to prison for stealing. You tried to steal me. You’re nothing but a common thief.”

“You will die like bitch,” he roars.

“I’ll die with dignity. You’re the one who’ll have to clean up the mess I leave on the floor,podkhalim. That’s what Ivan called you behind your back, did you know?”

Bootlicker.

Her expression fills with goading. “You never figured it out, did you? God, you’re stupid, Elyah. I was planning on manipulating you into killing my husband, but the feds got there first.”

“Why?”

Number Eleven shrugs. “He was old and ugly. I didn’t like him and I was bored with playing housewife.”

His lip curls back in a snarl. “Everything is game to you.”

She lifts her arms and gestures around the room, at the desk Kirill and I are sitting behind. “Well, what the fuck is this?”

Kirill lets out a shout of laughter and claps his hands, loud and slow. “Ten fucking points. Five stars. What’s our scoring system? I don’t know, but Number Eleven wins round one for me.”

Elyah shoves her away from him and her back hits the wall. They glare at each other, mutual hated sparking between them. His cheeks are flushed red. Number Eleven has completely humiliated him.

“You will fucking pay for this,” he growls.

I press the intercom on the desk. “Send in the next woman.”

As she’s being escorted from the room, Number Eleven flashes me a challenging look over her shoulder, one eyebrow arched.So, are you entertained?

Kirill is still laughing. Elyah is pacing up and down the room like a caged tiger. Number Eleven just detonated a bomb in this room and now she’s gone, leaving us with the shock waves.

7

Lilia

As soon as the door closes behind me, I allow myself to take a heaving, panicked breath. I’m in a stuffy narrow room, and I brace my palm against the wall with my head bowed. I can still feel Elyah’s hand around my throat, squeezing so tight that my pulse was throbbing against his fingers.

When I finally look up, there are ten sets of frightened eyes staring back at me in the gloom. All the women who went before me. They’ve been sitting in a double row of folding chairs before a…window?

No. A two-way mirror. We can see into the room where the men are holding the pageant, but those inside can’t see us.

Someone stands up. “Lilia, what the hell were you thinking?”

It’s Olivia, and she’s staring at me with wide, shocked eyes, and she’s so terrified that my heart starts to pound. What did those bastards do to her? As I look closer, there are no marks on her face or neck. No blood running down her body. I hurry forward and examine each of the women closely, scouring their bodies and faces for blood and cuts.

“Are you all okay? Did they hurt any of you?”

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