“No,” Kage says for the third time in twenty seconds. “Absolutely not. No.”
Four.
Viola scoffs. “Will you just let me—”
“No.”
“That’s five,” I murmur quietly, earning a glare from them both that has me sinking back into my seat.
“You can’t keep her cooped up in here!” Viola argues.
He slams his head down on the counter that separates the kitchen and the living room. “You are not taking her shopping, and that’s final!”
She stops her foot like an actual child having a tantrum. “Why not?”
“She’s supposed to be dead!” he roars. “Dead people don’t go shopping!”
“Well, if you’d let me finish, I have a solution for that.”
“Oh, this ought to be good.”
She puts her purse on the counter and pulls out a brown wig and a pair of oversized sunglasses, holding them up like they're the answer to all the world’s problems. “See? No one will know it’s her.”
I chuckle in amusement while Kage pinches the bridge of his nose. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“Shut up,” she chastises. “You’re the one who stuck a baseball cap and a hoodie on her and called it a disguise.”
He takes a deep breath, looking like he’s trying to convince himself not to really kill her this time, and then turns to face her. “Let me make this very clear. Over my dead body will you be risking her life by putting a wig and sunglasses on her and taking her fucking shopping.”
“But she’s practically fully healed. She can handle herself.”
Kage snorts. “I’d hardly call having her stitches removed last week fully healed. And besides, this is about her safety, not her health.”
Viola puts a hand on her hip. “Has anyone ever told you that you suck the fun out of everything?”
He looks back at her, fully fed up with her shit. “Aren’t you a little old to be quoting Freaky Friday?”
She scrunches her nose and shakes her head. “You’re a fun-sucker.”
“Really mature. Seriously,” he says. “How you don’t have a boyfriend is a mystery to me.”
Accepting defeat, she gives him a dirty look and plops herself down on the couch beside me. Meanwhile, the door opens and Beni rushes through the door from outside.
“We’ve got to go,” he tells Kage. “I’ve got intel on where Vladimir is, but we have to act fast.”
Kage’s eyes widen. “He’s back?”
“I’ll explain everything in the helicopter. We don’t have much time.”
Kage runs a hand through his hair, looking conflicted. He clearly doesn’t trust Viola worth shit, but when he looks at me, he exhales.
“Go,” I tell him. “I’ll be okay.”
He nods and comes over, covering my mouth with his own in a kiss much more passionate than the cheap things I’ve been getting recently. When he pulls away, he focuses all his attention on Viola.
“Anything happens to her, and I’ll have your head mounted on my wall,” he promises.
She says nothing as the helicopter outside starts up and Kage heads to the door where Beni waits.
“How’d you get information on Vlad?” Kage asks.
Beni chuckles. “The little bitch in the shed gave him up for a Snickers.”
Kage throws his head back and laughs as he pulls the door closed behind him.
My attention turns to the backyard, seeing the shed that Beni must have just come out of. I had assumed they’d got rid of him by now. Never did it occur to me that they’d keep him alive this long. But I guess when you have someone you can get information out of, you do what it takes.
“Thank God,” Viola says, getting up from her spot on the couch. “Now that he’s gone, we can go shopping.”
My brows furrow as I look at her like she’s the eighth wonder of the world. “You really don’t value your life, do you?”
She waves me off. “Please. He doesn’t have to know. If he’s going to get Vladimir, we’ll be back long before he is.”
“And what if it’s bad intel?” I counter. “What if Vlad isn’t there?”
Biting her lip, she considers it for a second. “Then I’ve heard Cuba is really nice this time of year.”
I chuckle and shake my head. “As fun as it would be to watch you get yourself killed, I’m going to pass. I’m exhausted. I really didn’t get much sleep last night.”
Her hand flies up to her mouth as she fakes a gag. “Please spare me the details of yours and Kage’s sex life.”
“Why?” I smirk. “You were so keen on knowing them before.”
She glances over at me, trying to fight the smile that is forcing its way through. “Bitch.”
To be honest, the reason I didn’t get much sleep has nothing to do with sex and everything to do with the dreams I’ve been having. However, there’s absolutely no part of me that’s going to tell her that. If she wants to believe that Kage and I have been fucking each other’s brains out from sun down to sun up, I’m not going to correct her.
“Okay, well, I came all this way,” she reasons. “We can at least watch a movie first.”
She grabs the remote and switches to Netflix, typing in the movie title. When I see her hit play, I can’t help but laugh.
“Freaky Friday?” I ask. “Really?”
Shrugging, she grabs one of the throw pillows and makes herself comfortable. “Blame Kage for reminding me about it.”
AS THE END OF the movie plays, I keep my eyes closed and my head against the cushion. Faking being asleep became a practiced skill of mine by the time I turned thirteen. It was the only way I could get out of family game night so I could sneak out the fire escape and go gallivanting through the city with Nessa.
I can hear as Viola turns off the TV and slowly gets off the couch, careful not to wake me. The feeling of a blanket being draped over me almost makes me feel bad for not being honest with her, but I need her to leave. She can’t be here for what I plan to do.
I listen carefully to the sound of her heels clicking across the tile until the door opens and shuts. Letting out a breath of air, I run into Kage’s office and watch the cameras as she gets into her car and drives away.
Finally, I’m alone.
My bare feet pad across the floor as I head for the back door. Stepping outside, the humid, late summer air warms my skin. I quietly shut the door, despite the fact that no one is around to hear me, and cross the patio.
The closer I get, the harder my heart starts to pound. My toes dig into the grass as I cross the yard, until I’m standing in front of the shed. When I see the keyhole on it, I’m almost positive that it’s going to be locked. My experiment is going to end before it even begins. But to my surprise, it opens.
Beni must have left in a rush.
I pull the door open and see a man, only a little older than I am, chained to the wall. Dried blood and bruises cover his exposed torso, and his jeans are soaked in what smells like his own piss. The smell is nauseating, but I push down the bile and breathe through my mouth. He lifts his head and sighs in relief when he sees me.