Page 38 of White Rabbit
“You should be so lucky.”
“What does that mean?” she exclaimed, and I glanced over at her. She was a mess. The ice queen perfection she’d curated for years was ruined by faded makeup, disheveled finger-combed hair, and wrinkled clothes since she wore the same garments she’d had on when she’d arrived home without Brecklyn.
“It means…” I said as we pulled into the private airport north of the city, “I have plans for you. Plans you won’t like, and in about five minutes, you’ll no longer be my problem.”
“Why?” she demanded. Then she looked around and the color drained from her face.
“No!” she screamed as Anatoli parked. “No! Valariy, don’t do this! No!”
Ignoring her, I got out of the vehicle and rounded it to meet the man waiting for us. Nikita tried to jump out and run, but two ofhis men caught her before she could take two steps. Her screams continued as she was dragged to the plane.
“I was surprised when you called me,” Giorgio Romano said.
“But you took me up on my offer.”
His hungry eyes followed the path his men had taken with Nikita. “Of course. I have wanted her for years. She’ll be…mine…before we leave American airspace. And she’ll be my wife as soon as we land in Italy.”
I shrugged. “Deal with her as you will. She betrayed my family. She’s dead to us.”
Killing her hadn’t been an option, but I didn’t care what he did with her. It wouldn’t come close to what she deserved.
I turned away then turned back just as quickly. “Don’t let her have access to a smartphone or the internet. She’ll plan your demise quicker than you can saymorte.”
He winked, a wicked grin curling his lips as he took up the challenge.
“Arrivederci, amico,” he called then jogged to the steps to his plane where I could still hear Nikita screaming and crying.
When I arrived home, Zlata met me in the foyer. Silently, she handed me an envelope then turned and headed back to the kitchen while I stared down at it. Addressed to me.Brecklyn Winchellwritten in the upper corner where the return address would be. It was postmarked from here, so it told me nothing about where she’d gone.
I started toward my office to read it, but only made it as far as the west stairs, a few strides away, before I sank onto the bottom steps and ripped open the envelope then pulled out the single sheet of paper.
One fucking sheet. That was all she gave me? One piece of paper? A couple paragraphs?
Dear Valariy,
I love you.
She loved me? Then why did she fucking run from me? I stared at the words, stewing in the pain they brought.
I felt someone drop down next to me, but I didn’t look over to see which of my brothers it was, because only one of them would have the audacity. I was too focused on the three words that should have sent my heart flying but instead ripped it into tiny pieces and set it aflame.
I love you.
ButI know you could sense something has been wrong these past weeks, but it’s not what you think—I don’t think. This might not make sense to you—of course it won’t because you’re the king of your world. I can’t be a victim any more.
A victim? What the fuck?
You’re probably mad right now. But try not to be The Pakhan and see things from my point of view and understand. I hada life, autonomy, purpose, and that was all ripped away from me a little over two years ago. And even here, I don’t have it back. You…you are wonderful to me, but I’m also just a plaything to you—and I won’t be that. I can’t be that. I can’t just be the ghost who wanders around your mansion all day then warms your bed at night.
I need more reason to exist than that. You live in a dark wonderland and I don’t have a place in it. When you read that, you’re probably saying my place is at your side. It’s not. Not if I have no other function.
I love you. But I need my worth back.
B
Worth? She was worth everything.
No. This wasn’t how things would go down. I would find her and bring her back to me.
