“The hotel offered us a private room to wait for our car,” Maverik stated without inflection.
I allowed him to lead me to where my mother waited with the others. If Nina had the stupid map, I’d gladly steal it from her. However, I wasn’t naïve enough to think Sergei would forget about me once he had it. Men like him would keep taking from you until you had nothing left. His first request might be to steal a small item, but it wouldn’t stop there.
I narrowed my eyes at Nina as Maverik and I walked into the room. What had she been doing for Sergei? Was she with Richard for more nefarious reasons than greed?
I had a feeling that breaking free of this family was going to be even more difficult than I’d thought. Even if I made it back to New York, how would I get Sergei out of my life?
Chapter 35
Katya
Once again, I found myself on a private jet heading from NY to Seattle. This time, Kingston plopped down in the chair opposite mine with a friendly grin. Maverik sighed, but he followed Kingston’s lead and took the seat next to mine.
Richard was sucked back into his business the moment we stepped on the plane. I guess a couple of hours was the longest that Awake could go without their leader at the helm.
I tensed when Nina gracefully sat in the seat next to Kingston. He gaped at her in surprise, but she ignored him entirely and leaned in to speak with me.
“You made me look bad in front of Richard,” she said coldly.
Kingston scoffed. “You do that just fine on your own.”
“I’m speaking with Katya,” she snapped. “Why don’t the two of you go find something else to do?”
“You’re crazy if you think we take orders from you,” Kingston exclaimed.
“He’s right,” Maverik added. “We’re not going anywhere.”
I looked at my mother. Unfortunately, she was anything but crazy. She was in complete control over herself at all times – which just made her decisions ever worse. Mental illness would give me an explanation as to why she couldn’t love me, but this was just who she was. She had perfected her acting skills over the years to manipulate the people around her, and she had no moral qualms about hurting others.
“The boys received their punishment,” Nina said as she ignored the guys. “But I had to think about what yours should be.”
I paled at the thought of what she might be planning, but I kept my spine straight. My visit from Sergei might have been unwanted and unpleasant, but it might give me some leverage over Nina in the future. Or blackmailing her might lead to her asking Sergei to kill me. I’m sure he’d be happy to do so – for the right price.
“And?” I asked coolly.
Nina leaned back and tapped her manicured nails on her armrest, probably enjoying drawing out the moment. Of course, she would want to make this as painful as possible.
“My assistant received a phone call yesterday,” she said with an unpleasant smile. “Apparently, my signature was forged on an enrollment form for a ballet school not far from Bedford.”
I flushed. “I didn’t want to bother you with something so silly,” I lied.
“You will not fake my signature on anything, ever again,” Nina said in a low voice. “I don’t care what your reasons are.”
I forged her signature because she was an evil bitch, and I didn’t care to speak with her unless I absolutely had to. Plus, she wouldn’t have signed the paperwork without putting me through a bunch of shit – if she signed it at all. I hated that my future in ballet rested in her hands right now. I was surprised that the school found out it was forged - I never expected them to check on it. How did they even know to call Nina’s assistant? I didn’t put any of her real information on the enrollment forms. Either Nina or Richard must be watching me more closely than I thought.
I gripped the armrest, my nails sinking into the plush leather. Maverik surprised me when he laid his hand over mine in comfort. His action didn’t escape Nina, and I swear I saw her eye twitch.
“You won’t be enrolling in any ballet classes this summer,” Nina said coldly. “Richard will agree that your focus needs to be on academics.”
I jumped up out of my chair. “You can’t do that!”
“Keep going, and I’ll have a padlock put on your studio,” she warned. “Ballet is a privilege and not a right.”
I clenched my fists and glared. I’d never hated anyone so much as I did right now.
Nina raised her eyebrow and rose slowly. “I’m your mother, don’t forget that.”
“Oh, I won’t,” I spat.
“You may want to consider,” Maverik interrupted in a bored tone.
Nina switched her poisonous gaze to him. “You may want to keep your mouth shut if you still want to go to hockey camp this summer.”
Maverik just narrowed his eyes, but Kingston sucked in a breath.
“Ohhhh,” Kingston called out. “You just made a big mistake.”
Nina lifted her chin and looked at all three of us derisively. “I doubt that.”
“We’ve been playing nice with you,” Maverik said in a frosty tone. “But that can change at any moment.”
Nina laughed dismissively. “Is that a threat?”
Maverik spoke softly, but the ice in his voice chilled the air. “What do you think?”
Nina laughed again, but this time it had a nervous edge. Her eyes darted over to where I was still standing with my hands on my hips and her lips twisted hatefully.
“You’re looking quite thin, dear,” she said viciously. “Maybe we need to talk about sending you
