AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Hm...”Charlie hums, staring right at me with brazen audacity.I get the feeling he isn't a pawn in Maksim's game. He's too confident.
“She sounds kinda Russian,”he says after a while, still tapping his fingers against the couch.“Where's she from?”
“She's not Russian,” Maksim says, and I see that he shakes his head at Charlie.
Charlie nods once, understanding that head-shake. “How old are you, Blaire?”
I look at Maksim. He nods.
“Eighteen.”
Raising his eyebrows, Charlie seems stunned. I'm not sure why.
“What'd you do, exactly?” he asks. “I've heard various stories.”
Maksim gives me the go ahead, so I say, “I deal in technology.”
“And she's also on my security detail,” Maksim adds.
“This small girl is part of your security?”Charlie stops tapping the back of the couch, his eyes taut with confusion. A crease forms between his eyebrows. It makes him look evil.
“She is.” Maksim smiles up at me again, knowingly proud. “She is a beauty in battle. Trained to defend me on instinct unless I say otherwise.”
I am trained to defend him however I can, though I wouldn't just say I'm trained. I'd say I'm more... conditioned. My brain works to please and protect Maksim without me actually having to think. I used to find it disturbing. Now... I'm used to it.
Charlie doesn't believe Maksim—it's written all over his face—but that's good. This is Maksim's trick with me. I have always been the element of surprise for his enemies.
“And your parents?” Charlie says, still frowning at me.
I don't show my confusion to that question, just look at him.
“Erm, Charlie,” Maksim starts to say but is cut off dead.
“I'm not talking to you, am I?”
My heart drops through me like a boulder.
“Don't you understand me, girl?” Charlie says with austerity. “Where are your parents? I won't repeat myself again.”
I have no idea why he's being like this. It's not like I've done anything wrong.
Thumping the desk with a fisted hand, Maksim says, “Answer him, Blaire.”
I cringe as he uses my name. “I only havec?pMaksim.”
Silence.
Charlie's glancing between us, an air of frustration on his face.
“Where are her parents?” he demands to know, executing his attention on Maksim. “Dead? Did they sell her to you? Where are they?”
My eyes flitter between them, and I'm so confused. I don't get why he's being so ascetic all of a sudden or why he'd want to know if I have parents.
Maksim manages to give Charlie another curt head-shake, which Charlie also understands.
The next questions are sharp and snappy, like the tension that's now in the room.
Charlie states my address in London. “Is that where you live?”
