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“How’s Mom?” I asked.
“Good. She’s here.”
Immediately, a secondary voice came though the speaker.“Hello sweetheart, how are you? How are you feeling? Do you have enough food still? I can have someone bring more.”
A grin tugged at the corner of my mouth. “Hi Mom. I’m okay. I have enough food. Thank you.”
“What about clothes?”
“I have enough clothes.”
“What about—?”
“Marcella, my love, he’s fine.”
“How can you know if you don’t ask?”my mother argued, voice thick the way I knew it got when she was about to cry.
I loathed the idea that she was hurting for me. I would have given my right arm to save her from that.
“I’m okay, Mom. I promise.”
I heard the faint sniffle.“I know you are, baby. It won’t be much longer, okay? Just a few more days, then you can come home.”
I knew she was counting those days religiously. I probably should have been as well, but I wasn’t at the lodge simply to amuse myself. I may have needed a day or two to get my head on straight, but the reality of the situation was that I couldn’t go back.
Not yet.
“Have you heard anything?”Mom pressed.
I would have pointed out that only a handful of people knew I was out, and only two knew where I was — her and father, so unless they called me with news, I was completely in the dark, but Father spoke up before I could.
“We’re going to discuss that. Why don’t you get going? You’ll be late and you know how your mother feels about tardiness.”
“Oh, she can wait!”Mom huffed indignantly.“I’m talking to my son.”
“Marcella…”
Mom sighed.“Fine. I love you, baby.”
“Love you too, Mom. I’ll see you soon.”
I heard the vicious crack of her heels fade out of the room followed by the distinct bang of the office doors closing behind her. Then silence for a pregnant moment before the quiet sigh.
“I’ve had to stop her from driving down at least four times since this morning.”
I felt myself grin slightly, not at all surprised by my mother’s stubbornness. “I’m honestly surprised she hasn’t shown up yet.”
Father gave a soft grunt.“She’s been hovering over my desk since dawn, waiting for me to give her the good news that you were on your way back. Eventually, we’ll have to tell her why we decided for you to lay low for a little while but not until we figure this shit with Volkov out.”
I pressed hard to keep my tone even. “So, there’s still no word on what he has planned?”
The low whine of his chair adjusting to his shifting weight muffled the low exhale I could just make out.
“Nothing,”he murmured.“I got mixed responses when I asked if he knew of your release. My informants haven’t heard anything but I suspect he knows you’re out by now. I spoke to the uncles yesterday and there’s been talk of your release so it would have been a matter of time, which would explain his silence. For months, I’d been hearing noise of him running around the city, doing business. He opened a club in the neon district a few months back and spent a lot of time there until recently. I don’t know what he’s cooking up, but if the chatter stands correct, he wants your head on a spike. You probably have a few more days before he starts getting tired of waiting for you.”He exhaled loudly.“It’s been a battle trying to keep all this from your mother and sister. Your mother would lose her mind with worry and your sister, well, you know what Lavena is like.”
I did know. Lavena would immediately go into full protective mode. She would charge into Volkov’s office with a gun and a head full of steam. She’d be reckless and irrational, and in danger. Volkov would not hesitate to use her to send me a message in the most gruesome way possible, just like he would only put up with my absence for so long before he started lighting fires to lure me out.
“Do we have a plan?” I asked. “I can only lie low for so long before he gets tired of waiting.”
