AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I treat her better than you do,” he answers coolly. Then before she can say anything else, Kolya looks past her at someone outside my line of sight. “Samuil, see that she’s off my property in the next five minutes. If she isn’t, throw her off.”
I expect the door to shut on me. And it does—with Kolya on my side of it. I feel the hairs at the back of my neck stand on end.
He turns to me. The shards of blue in his eyes have never looked more dangerous. “It’s time for the two of us to talk.”
24
KOLYA
The recording device was effective—up to a point.
It caught most of their conversation, except for a few moments when it stifled out. Sometimes, it sounded like June was pacing. I could hear the thump of her footsteps growing and shrinking, her words coming out breathy and convoluted.
“Had a nice chat with your sister?”
“As nice as can be expected,” she retorts. “Given the circumstances.” There’s worry in her eyes that has nothing to do with me.
“Worried about Mexico, are you?”
She stops short, her eyes going wide with realization. She looks around the room as though she expects someone to jump out of a dark corner.
“You were eavesdropping?”
I shrug. “There is no such thing as a private conversation on my property.”
She just stares at me for a moment, but I can tell she’s running through the conversation she just had with Geneva. She’s trying to remember what she said. What I heard. What bits of it might be used against her.
I can’t speak for June, but the part that stuck out to me was when she not-so-subtly let her sister believe she was carryingmybaby.
Or maybe I can speak for her—because right then, realization tints her cheeks bright scarlet and she’s suddenly very interested in the grouting of the tile floor between her feet.
“Something the matter, June?” I ask innocently.
She fidgets but doesn’t meet my eye. “It’s simpler this way. If she knew the truth…” Her blush deepens. I didn’t think it was possible for a person to turn so red. The color is disarmingly attractive on her. Especially against the flecked hazel of her eyes. “It had nothing to do with you, okay? I just don’t want Geneva mixed up in this horrible world.”
I raise my eyebrows. “It seems it’s a little late for that.”
The blush recedes as worry takes center stage. “You heard about her new client. The one that somehow magically connected the two of us together based on our very common last name.”
“You smelled a rat, too?”
“I think we’ve already established I have an extremely sensitive sense of smell.” That makes me smile. “I was thinking it might be your cousin. But the man she described—”
“Was probably just a decoy,” I conclude. “Ravil might have been part of the entourage. Or he might not have been there at all. He used a plant to muddy the waters.”
June frowns, but not with surprise. Just disappointment, really. I’m quietly impressed by her ability to connect the dots.
“She’s going to Mexico for this job,” June murmurs.
“Another giveaway. Ravil has a lot of business in Mexico.”
“What kind of business?”
“The kind that involves very bad men with lots of money, lots of drugs, and lots of guns.”
June blows out a gust of panicked air. “See? I need to speak to Geneva. I need to tell her to turn down the job, no matter how much money he offers—”
“No.”
