Bella stares at me, waiting for an answer I don’t want to give. I brush past her and head to the minibar. I crack open a ten-dollar mini bottle of a liquor I don’t even bother to read and toss it back in one drink.
Chapter Six
Bella
I don’t know who to trust anymore. I thought I could trust my father, but now I don’t know anything. Who has he been doing business with? Or is all of this an elaborate plan by Yuri and his father to tear down my mental defenses? To make me doubt myself and my family?
Yuri’s father, Ivan, can’t be trusted. I knew that the moment he spun around and smiled at me. He’s a liar, a manipulator. But Yuri? With Yuri, I’m not so sure. I saw the way he gripped the knife when his father handed it to him. I saw his knuckles go white, saw his face go white. Either he was pulsing with rage, or he didn’t want to kill me. I lean towards the second option.
I believe Yuri would have done it, but I don’t think he wanted to. That distinction gives me a small amount of comfort as Yuri dodges my question and heads straight for the minibar.
“You don’t have to answer that,” I say as he tips back a shot of what looks like vodka. “I’d much rather you answer my other questions.”
He looks over his shoulder at me, grinds his teeth, and then sets the small bottle down on the counter hard enough I think it will smash. “What questions?”
“Why is my father working for you?”
Yuri turns around and leans back against the bar. He’s wearing a leather jacket with a plain white T-shirt on underneath, and I can hear Ivy berating me for being so predictable. You’d French a dog if he was wearing a leather jacket. That isn’t even remotely true, but Yuri isn’t a dog, and he’s a lot more handsome than even most men. And a lot more of a kidnapper. I swat the invisible Ivy away.
“Apparently, he isn’t,” Yuri says with a shrug. “Though, he was working with us for the same reasons anyone does. Money.”
I shake my head instantly. “He’s never cared about money. He became a senator to do the right thing.”
Yuri pushes himself off the bar and walks towards me slowly. I know I should cower and shy away from him, but when he’s near me, I feel like a sunflower stretching for a drop of sunlight. I can’t help but fix my gaze on him.
“For someone so smart, you sure are naïve,” he whispers, his shoulder brushing mine as he walks past me and drops down on the couch. “It’s simple. We wanted more power in Washington, and your father wanted more green in his wallet. Our desires matched up, and we became partners. Now, it seems, someone else has offered him more money.”
“Even if that’s true, there has to be more to it than that. He wouldn’t do this just for the money.” Whether it sounds naïve or not, it’s what I truly believe. My father may be in deep trouble, but he isn’t a bad man.
“His motivations are a mystery to me,” Yuri says with a shrug. “I only know that he has worked with us for years. And now he isn’t.”
“Something must be wrong. Something must have changed.” Maybe he was threatened. Forced to work for whatever this secret organization is or face death. Or maybe they threatened me. Maybe my dad is only doing what he can to protect me. The thought makes my knees weak, and I practically stumble to the couch and sit on the cushion furthest from Yuri.
He looks over at me. “Are you okay?”
I scowl at him. “It’s been a long day.”
“Then you better rest up. We have plans tonight.”
I remember his words to the valet. We have a meeting tonight, so she won’t be able to make it. Sorry. “You were serious about that? Who are we meeting?”
“We’re just going out,” he says. “You look like you could use a little fun.”
I cross my legs and my arms and turn away from him. “I’m not going anywhere. You kidnapped me, but I’m not going to be paraded around like some puppet with you pulling the strings.”
“You act like you have a choice. You don’t.” He laughs like this is all some big joke.
“I thought we came here to lie low,” I say, repeating what he told me in the car.
Suddenly, Yuri slides across the couch until we’re only six inches apart. His arm is hanging over the back of the sofa, and I can feel the warmth of him sinking into me like he’s a space heater. I suppress the shiver that wants to rock down my spine. “We could always stay here if you’d rather.”
His voice is softer, warmer. I glance over to verify what I think is happening is actually happening. When I see his heavily lidded eyes and pouty lips, my stomach clenches. He’s coming on to me.
I turn away and take a breath. He’s trying to rattle me. He doesn’t actually want to stay in with me. He wants to scare me into leaving the room, but I’m not going to budge so easily. I turn towards him so I’m cradled in the crook of his arm and look up, eyelashes batting. “What would we do?”
His Adam’s apple bobs. “What?”
“If we stay in the room,” I say, pulling my leg up onto the couch so my knee brushes along his thigh. “What would we do?”
Yuri stares at me, his pupils dilating. His lips twitch like he wants to say something but isn’t sure what, and after several long seconds of waiting for him to respond, I smile and stand up. “I knew it.”
I
