Page 12 of Toxic Temptation
“That’s for me to know.”
She grinds her teeth. “Luka mentioned the Keres… Is that what they are?”
The elevator doors peel apart. “A smarter woman would have pretended to forget that name.”
I watch her throat bob as the seriousness of my voice finally begins to carve its way through her meltdown.
She’s no idiot—her actions to save Luka’s life, amidst a shootout no less, proved that. And she’s no coward, either, for the same reasons.
But she still thinks that she and I are on roughly equal footing. Shockingly, the gun in my hand has not persuaded her otherwise.
So I’ll use my words to make her understand: She does not have a choice in what comes next. We are in a precarious situation, the two of us, walking a razor’s edge with an abyss of pain on either side. One stumble, one misstep, and we’ll both go tumbling down.
I don’t intend to fall.
And I don’t intend to let the good doctor drag me down with her.
So she’s going to listen, whether she fucking likes it or not.
“I told you already,” she’s saying, “I’m not gonna go around blabbing about this. I have every intention of forgetting everything I saw and heard today. Keres? What’s a Keres? I’ve never heard of such a thing.”
It’s my turn to suppress a chuckle.
“Don’t take this personally, but I’m afraid your word is not enough.” I guide her towards the sliding doors of the hospital’s back entrance. They whoosh open and the damp, balmy air of autumn in San Francisco blankets us, like the hospital is exhaling us back out into the city.
Parked amongst the idle ambulances is a caravan of blacked-out SUVs. They look like exactly what they are: off-limits to anyone who doesn’t bear the scars and the ink that set my men and me apart from the rest of the civilians who call this place home.
Vesper digs her heels in at the edge of the driveway. Her gaze roams from one car to the next. It’s all one-way glass, so she can’t see who or what is waiting for her inside.
But like I said, she’s no fool. She knows it isn’t likely to be good for her.
“No,” she starts to stammer. “No, no, I can’t, I really can’t?—”
“At no point have I asked you a question, Doctor.” I touch her with the gun again. Just the lightest graze of it at her hip, toying with the open gap between her scrubs top and bottom, that little sliver of skin that doesn’t see enough sunlight.
But she doesn’t want to move. “No, please. Please—” She turns to me, eyes wide and pleading. “I swear I’ll just?—”
“Uncle Kovan!” Luka cries as he emerges from the hospital door behind us. He slips to my side and clusters close to my leg.
Normally, he’s a stone-faced boy, quiet, reserved. Today’s brush with death has put more of a childlike spark in his eyes, one I haven’t seen in years. As much as that kind of thing can be a liability in our world, I don’t hate it.
The boy should be a boy. Some of us had to grow up too fast.
I cup his head. “You were supposed to stay with Pavel,” I chide.
Pavel and Osip come sauntering out. “He’s too fast, Ko. Can’t keep up with the little lightning bug.”
Luka grins at the praise, but he looks up at me. “Can I ride with you guys?”
“Not today. Dr. Vesper and I have to make a pit stop first.”
Before I can stop her, Vesper spins around and kneels in front of Luka. She sandwiches his hands between hers and, putting on her sweetest voice, says, “Luka, honey, you know how I took care of you today? There are other patients who need me to take care of them, too. Can you be a sweetheart and tell your uncle that I’m gonna stay with them?”
My mouth twists up in irritation. But if she thinks Luka was going to sway me to her side, she’s badly disappointed. Because Luka’s eyes light up as he looks at me again and asks, “Vesper is coming with us?”
He sounds delighted. Vesper looks crestfallen. I bite the inside of my cheek so I don’t laugh.
“For the moment.” I tuck my gun away in its holster. “You can tell Vesper that her patients will be fine without her for an afternoon.”
