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“That I’m paying her for pussy,” I answered. “If I’m supposed to be so enthralled with her talents in the bedroom, then it would stand to reason that I might provide for her financially.”
“If you can find a way to ‘bump’ into her before the weekend, do it,” Avgust ordered. “I do not like waiting now that we’re so close to finally catching him.”
“Of course, Pakhan,” I automatically replied.
“I need a goddamn drink,” Akim grumbled, and he wasn’t the only one.
In fact, I probably needed a few.
Chapter 14
Katja~
I was becoming a complete basket case, and I didn’t know how to get out of my head long enough to calm the hell down. I still hadn’t heard from Maksim, and so my conversation with Klive felt like a ticking bomb inside my brain, my mind worried that I might forget something.
At any rate, with panic eating at my insides, I decided to go visit my grandfather to remind myself of why this was all worth it. Even though he was never far from my mind, I needed an extra dose of strength to see this disaster through. In all my life, I hadn’t ever imagined that I’d get embroiled in a criminal espionage, so I hadn’t trained for this shit, hysteria something that I found myself battling daily since the day that Klive Simpson approached me.
Practically on autopilot, I pulled into the parking lot of Windmill Gates, got out of my car, hit the key fob to lock it, then made my way through the lobby to find my grandfather. While I was early and would probably catch him during dinner, I didn’t care. I needed to see him, and I also knew that he wouldn’t mind the interruption. Besides, it wouldn’t be the first time that I’d eaten in the eatery with him and his new friends.
However, before I could go looking for him, Devers Branch was making her way towards me, stopping me. “Katja, I’m so glad I caught you.”
“Hello, Mrs. Branch,” I greeted. “How are you?”
“Oh, I’m fine, child,” she answered kindly. “I’m always fine.”
I smiled at that. “Well, what can I help you with?”
“I just wanted to tell you that we are going to miss your grandfather terribly,” she said, surprising me. “Mr. Antonov is such a delight, and he’s made our lives better by knowing him.”
Doing my best to act like I knew what she was talking about, I said, “Yeah, he…he really loves this place.”
Her face quickly softened. “Well, you know…when we first heard that you were taking Mr. Antonov home with you, some of us were immediately worried that something had happened, or that you might feel as if he wasn’t getting the proper care here,” she said. “But when Mr. Dubie assured us that you were simply taking him home because you were able to afford his personal care now…well, while we were all happy for the both of you, we’re still going to miss him so much.”
“He’s definitely going to miss everyone here,” I assured her, my mind spinning at how Maksim had already arranged for my grandfather to come home, yet hadn’t even called me to tell me. “Plus, if he ends up deciding that he prefers the comfort of his new community to sitting home with just me to entertain him, we can always see about bringing him back here.”
I was rambling.
Suddenly, I realized that I had no idea what I was doing. Once the Kotovs captured Klive Simpson, my grandfather and I were no longer going to be in danger, and then what? I couldn’t see Maksim Barychev paying for my grandfather’s care indefinitely, and since I wouldn’t be able to afford it on the salary that I made now, would I have to whore myself out to Maksim until my grandfather finally found peace in the afterlife? Then there was also no guarantee that Windmill Gates would have any rooms available whenever the money dried up. I’d made demands without thinking them through, and it wasn’t lost on me how it’d be in my best interest for the Kotovs not to find Klive Simpson.
I could feel a bubble of hysteria making an appearance, so I quickly said, “Well, I need to go find my grandfather, Mrs. Branch. We’ll be sure to say our goodbyes to everyone when we finally get around to moving him home.”
She graced me with a genuine smile that made me feel like crap. “Of course, Katja.”
Turning from her, I went in search of my grandfather, and when I found him reading quietly underneath the big oak near his bungalow, my heart thumped painfully in my chest. He looked so damn peaceful, and a part of me wondered if I was making a mistake by taking him away from all of this. Of course, with his safety the priority, I was confident about why I was taking him home with me, but was he going to miss the social interaction that this place provided for him? Was he going to be lonely while I worked all day? Plus, now that I had to pay for his safety by spreading my legs for Maksim, was that going to make my grandfather lonely during the evenings as well?
Tears were quickly making an appearance as the weight of confusion threatened to crush me. I no longer knew what the plan was, and it was killing me to think that I didn’t even have enough sense to do something as simple as taking care of my grandfather.
When I finally approached his chair, I said, “Hey, Dedushka.”
He placed his book on his lap, his light brown eyes regarding me carefully. “I hear that I am going home,” he said, cutting to the chase. “How is that possible, dorogoy? How is that you can afford such a thing?”
I took a seat on the bench next to his chair, and hating myself inside, I was going to do my best to convince him of my lies, praying that it worked. After all, this was the man that knew me best, and I’d never been able to lie to him before without getting caught. My grandfather might be eighty-three, but he was still as sharp as a tack, and that was going to make this so much more difficult.
“Well, first off, it was supposed to be a surprise,” I lied. “I wanted to be the one to tell you, but I forgot to let Mr. Dubie know that, and for that I’m sorry. You should have heard the news from me.”
“I am more interested in how you can afford this, Katja,” he repeated. “We did the math until we couldn’t see straight, and so I know how much the care costs.”
“The Tremaine Group got a new CEO about three months ago, and…well, he seems like a real for-the-people kind of boss,” I said, the lies feeling like broken glass on my tongue. “He’s the great-grandson of Kenneth Tremaine, and according to the gossip at work, he claims that he has more millions than he and his family will ever need, so he wants to give back to the employees.”
