However, Molly’s example shines like a lighthouse in the distance, guiding me home. She saved Hannah as her last act of freedom, and I have to believe it means something. I have to trust her instincts even when my own instincts are screaming at me to disconnect the call.
I drop my face into my hand and shake my head. “How can you help?”
Hannah sighs with relief. “I have an idea.”
23
Molly
I don’t know how long it has been since the phone call with Viktor. It feels like hours since I heard his voice through the speaker, wondering where I was and if I was okay. I could hear the fear in his voice. I could sense how much he loved me. But still, when Fedor revealed that Viktor had hired—or rather, nearly hired—men to break into my house and scare me, it made me doubt everything.
As soon as Fedor hung up, two of his men dragged me back to my cell, and I’ve been here ever since, trying to understand my own feelings.
I told myself before that feelings didn’t matter in here. They wouldn’t help me escape. But now, my feelings feel as inescapable as my cell. No matter how hard I try to push them away, they rise back to the surface, demanding to be felt and understood.
Betrayal.
That is the first and strongest emotion.
Viktor was willing to terrify me and invade my privacy and traumatize Theo to get me to marry him.
Whatever Viktor may think his motivation was, it wasn’t love. Love does not hurt like that. Love is not vindictive or scheming.
But he chose not to send the men in. He didn’t hire anyone to come and scare us—Fedor did. The fact that Fedor got the idea by listening in on Viktor’s conversation adds an entirely new and confusing layer to the situation.
I go around in circles, trying to be angry and disgusted with Viktor, but as hard as I try, I still want him here with me. Even while I’m internally screaming at him for being such a bastard, I long to feel his strong arms around me, telling me everything will be okay.
Plus, crazily enough, if I had taken the protection Viktor had offered me and allowed the guards to follow me last night, I probably wouldn’t be trapped in this cell right now. But I bypassed those security measures and took my safety into my own hands, and now look where I am.
I run my hands through my oily hair and wonder whether Theo is okay. Will Viktor have told him I was taken? I hope not. I don’t want Theo to worry.
Hopefully he is playing right now. Hopefully Viktor is telling him that I’ll be home soon.
It might be a lie, but Theo deserves to live in that lie for a little bit longer. He deserves to hear those words of comfort until Viktor is entirely certain they aren’t true.
I’m huddled against the back wall of the cell, my knees tucked to my chest, when the door suddenly bursts open.
I scream and jump to my feet. I didn’t even hear the key in the lock, so I’m taken off guard, but I come to my senses quickly.
Fedor is standing in the doorway, his green eyes vibrant and wild. My attention snags on the gun in his hand. He is pointing it at me, and I have no reason to believe he isn’t going to shoot me dead right now.
His head is tilted oddly to the side, and I realize he is on the phone. He grabs the phone wedged between his chin and shoulder and hits a button so the sound of a ringtone fills the room on speakerphone.
It rings over and over again. So long that I begin to wonder whether this is a new kind of torture I’m unfamiliar with. Given enough time, the sound would certainly drive anyone mad.
“Your fake husband must not have any real feelings for you, after all. He sure is taking a long time to answer,” Fedor sneers.
My heart lurches when I realize I might get to hear Viktor again. I’d still be trapped in this tiny cell with his crazy brother as my guard, but hearing his voice would strengthen my resolve to do everything in my power to get out of here.
Fedor opens his mouth to say something else, but before he can, the phone stops ringing. Then, someone answers.
Except, it isn’t Viktor.
“Hello?” The voice is female, and I recognize it, though it takes me a second to place. “Fedor, is that you?”
Fedor frowns and looks down at the phone, probably making sure he called the right number. “Who is this?”
“It’s Hannah.”
Fedor looks at me like maybe I’ll understand what is happening, but I’m just as lost as he is. Last time I saw Hannah, she was running down an alley for her life being pursued by some of Fedor’s men. How or why she would be answering Viktor’s phone is a mystery. One I hope does not involve anything bad happening to Viktor.
“Why are you answering my brother’s phone?”
“Because his hands are tied at the moment.” I can hear the smile in her voice. The victory. The pride. Whatever is going on, Hannah is thrilled.
“Do you mean that figuratively or …”
“Literally,” she says. “He is handcuffed to a chair in the motel bathroom.”
I rise up onto my knees as though I can look through the phone and see Viktor, understand what is going on. Fedor points the gun at me and shakes his head, a silent threat. “What do you mean? I thought you were as good as dead.”
“Your men couldn’t catch me,” she says. “I outran them, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to run forever. I had to find a way to prove my worth to you. So, I have.”
“By handcuffing my brother in a motel bathroom?” Fedor asks, dubious.
“Exactly.”
Fedor sucks on his teeth and then barks out an order. “Explain.”
“There is nothing Viktor wants more than to get Molly back, so I used his desperation against him,” she says. “I called him and told him I knew where she was and how he could get her back. Like a lovesick puppy, he fell for it. He met me at the hotel, and that was that.”
Fedor’s brow furrows. “How the fuck did you overpower Viktor?”
“You know how he is. He thinks he is stronger and smarter than everyone around him,” Hannah sneers. “His guard was down, and I drugged him. Hauling his beefy ass into the bathroom was a real bitch, but I got him in there, and he isn’t going anywhere.”
I squeeze my eyes closed, wishing I could stop listening to this. Wishing I could shut out Hannah’s words and make it not true.
Would Viktor really fall for a trap like that? Would Hannah really do that to him, even after I spared her life?
I should have let Fedor shoot her. After everything she did to me and the danger she put Theo in, I should have let him kill her. I should have let Fedor do it because now, I’ll have to kill her myself. This is unforgivable, and I’ll gladly put a bullet in her.
“I know you were going to kill me,” Hannah says, her voice going soft and seductive. “But that was only because you thought I wasn’t useful. Now, I’ve proven myself to you. I can help you. Plus, I’m just as guilty as you are now. I won’t go to the police. When you come pick up your brother, I’ll leave town and you’ll never see me again. All I want in return is my mom back.”
Her mom? I open my eyes and look up at Fedor. The gun is still trained on me, but he is staring straight ahead at the wall. I can almost see the gears in his head turning, trying to decide what to do about Hannah’s offer.