Page 4 of Beautifully Ruined
I can’t.
Even if I could, I wouldn’t.
Too many men here are armed, and I don’t know where they have Vi.
The longer Igor looks, the more time I buy before I have to hack the Andronski’s enemies accounts.
My client’s.
A man who doesn’t understand the word forgiveness. Just like he doesn’t understand the word reasonable.
But that’s something to worry about only if I survive and I can’t get his money back.
It’s something I will worry over if no one turns up to help me and Vi get the fuck out of here.
They finish talking, and it seems they’re satisfied.
The hacker finds nothing wrong or untoward with my work.
Andronski shoves the gun into my spine. “Do it, no stalling. Or your girl dies.”
“And if I do it? You know a man like me in this business won’t talk. It’s all based on discretion, and you’re asking me to rob a very dangerous man for you. I’m not talking. I promise that. Both our heads would be on the line.”
And it’s very easy to say because it’s the truth. We’d both be hunted and killed.
“Do it and you walk,” Ivan says easily.
A little too easily.
“And Violet?”
“Both of you.”
I nod. “Okay. We have a deal.”
“Yes.” Andronski moves to a seat and takes it. He motions me to the computer with his gun. “Now, get to work.”
There’s no option left for me other. I hope like fuck Enzo got the first alert, and he’s now looking for my next move.
I leave enough of a trail into the accounts to make sure Enzo can track the laptop I’m working from, and he can get here to help me and Vi out of this mess.
A mess of my making.
I go as slow as I dare. Taking a circuitous route for security’s sake.
There’s no fucking way Ivan is letting me live. Even if I’m of use in getting whatever information Isaac promised, I think he’d let that go or find another way over letting me live.
Or maybe I’m wrong. Maybe he’ll keep me breathing long enough to get all the shit promised to them by the councilman. But, once that’s all done and dusted, it’s good night to me and good night to Vi.
A wave of ice-dipped dread passes through my bones.
Her fate might be worse than death.
She’s young, pretty. Worth something.
I don’t know enough about Andronski to know what he’s into. I never scraped his information. I know surface level stuff, and I know he’s bad news.
The world is full of bad people. I work for a lot of them.
