Konstantin was someone to those mysterious men who control my damn life. They told me to sleep with him and to get close. When that didn’t work and he offered me a job instead, they seemed to accept that. When I was, invited to Corfu they were pleased, but it makes no sense to me. Konstantin is out of the game now. He’s found love with Cassie, and she seems like a lovely girl. They’re in Corfu far away from the cut and thrust. What they are building there seems totally legitimate, and I don’t understand why the Order is still interested in him. Why not Vasily who seems to have taken on Konstantin’s mantle of underworld boss readily and successfully?
If they asked me to screw Vasily, at least I’d get some pleasure from all this subterfuge. He’s the hottest thing I’ve seen in years. Not pretty like Bohdan, and not as big as Konstantin, Vasily is packed with lean, strong muscle, covered in ink, and all hard edges and striking blue/green eyes. He’s a bad boy alright, down to his very marrow, and I love a bad boy. Don’t get me wrong, Konstantin is utterly terrifying, and bad, bad, bad, but he never did it for me. Sleeping with him would have been nothing more than a means to an end. Sleeping with Vasily would be mixing business and pleasure.
Trouble is, I’ve grown to quite like Konstantin, and so I hate spying on him. He’s seen my talent, and the minute he did, he didn’t want to sleep with me. He has morals. Yes, he’s a mob boss, or rather ex-mob boss, but the man definitely has morals. Yet, despite him walking away from it all, still the Order wants me to spy on him. Why?
I sigh and pick at my trousers. How did I get into this mess? I’m utterly terrified. I know there can’t be anything good to come of the way the Order reacted to my Corfu invite. I don’t want to have to harm Konstantin.
I think the reason I like Konstantin is because he saw my talent, which is my true calling, and loved my art. Recognized it and what it is trying to convey, which means he recognized me. My art is the only authentic thing about the Zoey I am now, other than my first name, and he liked it.
The few days I spent on Corfu were lovely, and I was treated more like a friend than a guest. I didn’t stay on the property Andrius owns, but I did spend an afternoon there around the pool. There were armed men, and I noted how many for the Order; of course, I counted Konstantin and Andrius who are both weapons in and of themselves. Andrius in particular. That man puts the fear of God into me.
Andrius is cold, clinical, and he sees a lot.
So does Vasily, I think.
Konstantin, he’s more … bullish. He scares me less in some ways because if you crossed him, he’d go for you, but he’s too busy getting things done to analyze everything. Not Andrius. His ghostly eyes are always watching. He doesn’t miss a damn thing.
I don’t think Vasily misses much either. If I have sex with Vasily, it will make me even less secure in this crazy world I’ve found myself plunged into. Then again, it might help with my plan.
My plan is to betray the Order and tell Konstantin I’ve been spying on him, beg his forgiveness, and ask for his help. It’s a shitty plan, but I have no other choice. I don’t think the Order will ever let me go. They have said they will before and then always find something new for me to do.
As if to prove my point, my phone buzzes, and I glance down to see the text I’ve been dreading.
7pm The Royal Victoria. Room 245.
Damn.
That evening at 7pm I’m dressed for drinks, and sex, but approaching a hotel room where neither will happen. I rap on the door once, and it opens immediately. Hazel brown eyes regard me coolly. Number Two.
He’s my least favorite. The others, Number One and Number Three are sitting in chairs, sipping at glasses of water.
Number One points to the chair opposite his and pushes it out with his foot for me to sit in. I do as he indicates.
“How did Corfu go?” he asks.
I sigh and shrug. “It went well, but I didn’t get to spend much time on the property with them all.”
“What did you see when you did?” Number Two demands.
“It looks like what Konstantin said it was, which you already know, from my report. It’s a legitimate business, one they’re building with UK based Special Forces personnel. They are heavily armed and will be training men in ultra-close protection.”
“If you needed to get close to Konstantin, could you?”
I snort-laugh. “Erm, no. Close how? He’s in love with Cassie, so not in that way. And if you mean close to spy on, I doubt they’ll be inviting me up daily. It’s Andrius’ property, and he’s paranoid.”
“And Konstantin isn’t?” Number One asks.
“He is, but it’s as if he’s … he’s let his guard down a bit, I suppose. I think it’s being in love, being out in the sun. Being happy maybe for the first time, and that’s pure conjecture on my part.”
“Did you spend any other time with them?”
“We went to the beach.”
Number Two leans forward, a predator on alert. “Who went?”
“Myself, Cassie, Konstantin, an armed guard, and Konstantin’s friend, Maxim.”
“Did Maxim stay at the house?”
“No. He stayed in a villa in the same village as their house, with me. Two doors down there were a ton of armed men who work for Andrius, and then on Andrius’ actual property you have the armed guards they are using that day. Plus, Konstantin and Andrius are both armed. Bohdan too, when he’s there he’s armed, but he was leaving to go to Paris for a while. I think Andrius has other armed help. I’ve seen distinctly weapon-like bulges on the maids under their uniforms.”
“Christ, he is paranoid,” Number Two mumbles. “Armed fucking maids?”
“I’ve had an invite to go for a drink with Vasily,” I tell them. “Should I stand him up? I thought I’d say yes in case you wanted me to?”
They’ll know I went anyway. They monitor my phone, see where I am always. They probably spy on me too. Who knows what they do or how deep their tentacles are?
“Go, but he’s not really of interest now. That may change. So any information you can get on him will be good.”
“I don’t get why?” I blurt out. “He’s the one in charge now. Konstantin really does appear to have washed his hands of things.”
In the past, they’ve always had me spy and report on men of wealth and power who use that wealth and power for nefarious purposes. I got involved when I was recruited to this shadowy organization from the Army. When I realized they weren’t British Intelligence as I had been led to believe, I tried to leave, but they used the best and most effective blackmail one can against a mother. My child.
I sag in my chair, so sick of this.
“You promised me. You said if I wormed my way into Konstantin’s life, it would be the last job, and after that I would be free. That Esme would be free.”
Esme. I think of her. Named after her grandmother, who I lost when I was only young myself. Long brown hair and big brown eyes. She looks like her father. I lost him too. He got blown up in Iraq. I have no one. Nothing. Only my daughter.
These bastards know that, and they use it against me at every turn.
“You failed, though, didn’t you?” Number Two asks, all reasonable.