Page 66 of Refrain

I would eagerly return to those vices rather than become an addict to a drug I’ve only gotten hits of. A full dose might kill me. Maybe it’s a good thing I’ll never experience it.

My time is running out. I know it. I feel the inevitable sense of urgency—like there’s an invisible clock ticking the minutes down. Piotr’s still coming for me.

But, once the lunch rush hits andI’mswamped with work, I can almost forget. Almost. I’m sweating by the time I join Domi behind the bar. I slink past her for the faucet, but her hand on my shoulder keeps me in place.

“Your phone rang all night,” she says around a yawn. “I didn’tanswer it, but here.” She reaches into her pocket and tucks something into my hand. “I had to turn off the noise, but I think they’re still calling.”

When I rouse the phone from sleep mode, the notice of twenty missed calls flashes across the screen. They’re all from the same number—Grey’s.

I leave my broom in a corner and slip away to the back while Francisco isn’t looking. Only when I’m safely in the alley with no one else in sight, do I hit the redial button. Grey picks up on the first ring.

“It’s bad,” he says without wasting time on pleasantries. “Either you return from ‘vacation,’ and try to find some way to cover your ass, or you stay gone.”

I swallow hard. It’s quite the dilemma to be faced with this early in the day. “What happened?”

Grey inhales raggedly and releases the air on a sigh. “I got an email last night,” he says. “It contained a certain little video…of you.”

He doesn’t have to describe it. I can picture it easily enough. Piotr’s grown impatient, it seems.Apparently,he thinks I needincentiveto run.

“It’s bad, Parker,” Grey says. “I think I’m the only one who got it so far. But if the brass sees that—”

“Who sent it?” It’s a pointless question. I’m just stalling for time. I need to think. I need to plan. With one hand braced against the wall of the alley, I start walking.

“Blocked address,” Grey says tightly. “I’d have to enlist IT to track it, and I don’t think you’d want me to do that.”

“What do they want?” There’s always a catch. Always a hook to the bait.

“They want me to give you a letter. I found it in my mailbox this morning. Your name’s on it—”

“Which name?”

If he heard the hollow note in my voice, he doesn’t question it. “Yourname,” he says. “Chloe Anne Parker. The note says I have twenty-four hours to give you the letter before that video goes department-wide. I got it at four p.m. last night. You have two hours to get your ass down here.”

“Where?”

“Not the fucking precinct. Maybe… Meet me down by the harbor, near the docks. Look for the station wagon. Don’t bring anyone and I won’t fucking call for backup, got it?”

“Got it.”

He hangs up and I…breathe. I try to. My steadying hand against the wall grapples for leverage. It feels like I’ve run a mile, but I’ve only gone a few feet away fromMulligan’s. The feeling building in my chest should be grim acknowledgment—I’ve known that this was coming—but it’s not. It’s a different pinching sensation I recognize all too well—fear.

This isn’t like Piotr. He doesn’t set traps for his victims and invite them to spring them. He is a hunter. A predator. He sent me his little gift and should have waited patiently for me to run, allowing him to track me down.Thatis how a wolf operates.

It used to be our favorite game to play.

Not this. He’s impatient, but not in the way I’m used to. Though, hell, maybe the bastard learned a new trick over the years.

I consider running anyway. I could hop on the next plane and leave Grey and my reputation to ruin but buy more time. Chloe Parker would become an outlaw, wanted for the murder of a criminal, yet Ksenia could be free for just a little while longer.

Then the truth hits me.

There is only one way this will end. One outcome…

A pair of blue eyeschase the dark thought away before it can really take hold. It’s been hours since I left him and I’m still high on his scent. How funny. How pathetic.

I do my best to hasten the withdrawal as I return to the barand mount the staircase to the upper level. I enter the borrowed apartment and rummage beneath my bed just long enough to find the gun. It fits perfectly in the pocket ofEspisido’sborrowed jacket.

Maybe he’ll miss it. But he won’t miss me.

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