then.” He grabs my forearm, dragging me towards the door. Rather than fighting, I follow him outside, back to his car.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see a man moving near the bushes. Rogers pulls his hand back and we both turn to look at him. I put on a harmless smile, relieved to see that it’s the gardener, Andrew.
“Hi, Victoria,” he says, glancing at Rogers suspiciously. “Everything going alright today?”
My lip twitches, and I almost consider telling him that I need help. I’ve seen enough late-night specials on TV to know that the second you get in a car with a kidnapper, your chances of being killed go up substantially. The words are on the tip of my tongue, but the only thing holding me back is the knowledge that Nikolas is in the house and he’s in danger if I’m at home with him.
I swallow and say, “Of course,” forcing a smile. “My friend and I are going to go pick up some medication for Nikolas.”
“Oh, do you need me to watch him until you get back?”
I see Rogers’s ears perk up at the mention of Nikolas being home. Before he can question it, I quickly say, “No, no, he’s not home right now. He’s at a friend’s house for the afternoon.”
Andrew looks between the two of us, and I can only hope that he remembers Niko’s schedule as well as I do. Matvei would never let Nikolas leave the house unattended. Not with the vigilante running around.
Andrew presses his lips into a line. “Okay, well, be safe, okay?”
“Absolutely,” I reply, forcing another smile.
Rogers and Andrew nod at each other, then the man turns around and gets back to work on the bushes. Rogers grabs me once again, leading me to his car. As we pass by the guardhouse, I see two dead bodies slumped up against the window, blood smearing the glass. He killed them. Jesus, he actually killed them.
My heart is beating like crazy, and when I climb inside Rogers’s car, I feel myself start to hyperventilate.
Get it together, Vic. Keep it together.
I will myself to calm down and not lose my shit. I can do this. I just have to think of a way out of this situation. Rogers climbs in as well, and without putting on his seat belt, he starts up the car and pulls out of the driveway.
“You did well back there. It would have been messy if you’d forced me to kill that man.”
A cold chill runs through me, and seeking comfort, I put my hands on my knees, giving them a squeeze to try and calm myself. I turn to him, studying his intense profile. “Are you going to kill me?” I ask. There’s no use in beating around the bush. I need to know how serious this is.
Rogers glances at me and laughs humorlessly. “I’m not sure yet. I’ll decide when this all starts to unfold.”
Somehow, that doesn’t make me feel any better.
25
Matvei
I return from running errands at half past ten, placing my keys down on the table and peeking into the living room to find the source of all the silly sound effects I hear. Nikolas sits with his eyes glued to the television as some cartoon plays. Rather than disturb him, I head into the kitchen to talk to Victoria about not letting him watch so much pointless crap instead of educational shows.
Only, she’s not in the kitchen.
The place looks spotless, but she’s nowhere to be found. Curious, I head up to her room only to find that empty as well.
My nerves twitch to life, and I move through the house quicker than before, searching high and low for her.
Finally, I make it back down to the living room.
“Where is Victoria?” I ask Nikolas.
He turns around. “Huh?”
“Victoria. Where is she?”
He shrugs.
The fact that he doesn’t know either makes me panic even more. Did she really just leave him here by himself? After the incident with Nikolas trying to cook and accidentally burning himself, I would’ve assumed she’d never leave him unattended again.
Sure, I can see her running away in the middle of the night, but she wouldn’t just abandon him like this.
There was no sign of forced entry, so that rules out a possible intruder, right? Or maybe not.
There’s a nagging in the back of my head that says Victoria could very well be in danger. With the shootout with the Albanians and the vigilante running around, there seems to be a nonstop stream of