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Maybe he wasn’t the best father on the planet, but he was my father.
“Okay.” I head upstairs. “But you should know one thing. I’m keeping her, Roman.”
“Where can I get female clothes?” “In one of those things they call shops. You can find many inside the big buildings known as malls.”
“I thought Shevchenko said he doesn’t want to talk business with you anymore. Since you tried to chop off his hand and all.”
“When Sergei is provoked, people die, Angelina.
“No more killing off our buyers, Sergei. You hear me?” “I’ll try my best.” “He’ll try his best. Wonderful,” Roman mumbles into the phone and hangs up on me.
I will never forget the look in her eyes, like I was some kind of savior instead of a man whose main purpose was to end lives.
“Tell me, do all your hostages get the same treatment?” she asks a moment later. “Me carrying them around when they’re tired?” “Yup.” She nods. “You’re my first. I’m still going through a learning curve.”
“You’re weird.” “I’m not the one keeping a kitchen utensil in bed.”
“I would rather die than go back and marry the pig who killed my father.”
“Where have you been sleeping since I’ve arrived?” He stops midstep and looks at me. “In the other bedroom. Why?” “There’s no bed there. You’ve been sleeping on the floor this whole time?” “It’s a nice floor. I’ve slept in worse places.”
“You’re dealing with the result of what happens when you take a nonviolent child and forcibly turn him into a cold-blooded killer.”
“You looked amazing before we came here. What have you been doing in there for almost four hours? Watching Netflix?” She tilts her head to the side and pouts. “You have an interesting way of giving compliments.”
Angelina’s unblinking eyes, staring directly into mine, have me utterly hypnotized. There’s no fear in them. No reluctance.
“I’m fucked up, Angelina. Seriously fucked up.” “That’s okay. I like you just the way you are.”
“Well, I don’t plan on running, Sergei. In fact, I plan on coming even closer and holding you until you come back from wherever you go.”
“Did it ever occur to you that, maybe, if everyone stopped treating him like he’s a wild animal, he may get better?”
“Because, when you look at me, I remember I’m still alive.”
“Some of those books do set really high standards.” “You don’t say?” I grab her around her waist and roll us until I’m lying on top of her. “You should know one thing, baby. I’m an extremely competitive person.”
“Are you in love with your Russian?” “Yes,” I whisper and cover my mouth with my hand. It’s hard to speak about Sergei. “Give me his number, I’ll try calling him. He must come to get you out of here.”
“I think they threatened to kill you,” Felix says. I stare at the paused recording, my eyes glued to Angelina’s frightened face, and smile. “I’m going to slaughter them all.”
“What the fuck is that?” Felix mumbles behind me as I’m taking out the weapons. “Crossbow.” I open the box with bolts and start counting them. “It’s a new model Luca gave me last month to try out.” “You’re deranged.” He tsks. “Can’t you do anything the normal way? Why not dispatch them with a knife?” “Because there are usually at least three men at this checkpoint. And it’s not dark enough for sneaking up on that many targets.” “So, you picked a fucking crossbow? Who do you think you are—damn Van Helsing?”
“Your Russian is even more handsome all geared up,” Nana Guadalupe mumbles next to me.
“Sergei!” she calls again, jumps over a dead soldier, and leaps into my arms. “You came for me.” “Of course I came for you,” I say and kiss her like my life depends on it. “I will always come for you, baby.”
“I would miss you.” My body goes stone-still. “Why?” “Because I’m in love with you,” she whispers and kisses me again.
I look down into her eyes and crush her to me. “Marry me,” I blurt out. Angelina blinks, glances around us where at least twenty bodies are scattered, then stares back at me. “You really know how to pick the time and place, big guy.” “Will you marry me?” I think my heart stops beating while I watch her with eyes glued to her lips, waiting for her answer. “Of course I will.” She grins and kisses me.
“Will you shut up already?” I snap. “She may change her mind and run away if you keep babbling on about how deranged I am.”
