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She rolls her eyes. “I know your bored face. It’s very similar to yourI’m-going-to-kill-youface.”
I look between them, feeling the disappointment sink into my pores like dry heat. “You… work for him?”
“I workwithhim,” she corrects pridefully. “I’m his right-hand woman.”
And to think I was just starting to like her…
I draw myself up tall. These two are like lions playing with their food, but I won’t go down that easy. “So you’re complicit in my abduction?”
Kolya pushes himself off the wall and takes a sauntering step towards me. “What did I tell you?” he says to Milana. “She has a flair for the dramatics.”
“You did pluck her out of her life and force her into your little cage,” Milana reminds him in a measured voice. “Some dramatics are the least you can expect.”
His eyes flash. “I thought you were supposed to be on my side.”
“I am. And part of my responsibility to you is honesty. A man would kiss your ass. I’m not interested in puckering my lips, babe. No matter how pretty you may be.”
My eyes ping-pong between the two of them. Their easy banter throws me off-kilter. Along with, y’know… everything else that’s happening to me.
“How about we table the flirting for later?” I snap. “And concentrate on the fact that I have a fucking life I need to get back to.”
“It’s not much of one if you ask me,” Kolya remarks. He looks unimpressed with my fire. “Guards,” he says, barely raising his voice. Just like when he first brought me to this godforsaken castle, two of his men materialize instantly.
They each grab hold of me, but my eyes are trained on Kolya and Milana. “You can’t keep me here forever,” I hiss, trying my best not to show fear.
He seems to sense the challenge in my eyes. He moves forward, stopping only when his face is inches from mine. “Tell me, June. Are you scared of me?”
“No.”
He smiles. The titillating scent of vanilla makes me want to lean in. The sinister promise in his smile makes me want to run away screaming.
“That’ll change,” he promises. “That’ll all change soon enough.”
8
JUNE
Hours pass in my room. I lie on my back and stare at the ceiling until the beams start to shimmer and move like they’re alive. A lone tear escapes and tracks down my cheek.
I’d probably lie there forever if I didn’t hear a knock on my door.
I prop myself up on my elbows and watch. The lock turns and it opens. More maids coming, I’m sure, to clean or force food down my throat.
But it’s not maids.
It’s him.
Truth be told, Kolya was the last person I expected to see. He’s never once come to the room since the moment I was dragged here. The fact that he’s here now fills me with dread.
I leap off the bed and eye him warily, fists knotted at my sides. “What are you doing here?”
“I came to invite you to dinner.”
He shifts to the side and I notice a cut running down the left side of his face. It’s fresh, bruises spreading from it on either side like blossoming petals.
“What happened to you?”
“I walked into a wall,” he drawls, recycling the lame excuse I’d given him not long ago.
