Page 48 of Volatile Waters

CHAPTER ELEVEN

False Security

Since I had not told Father about Marina being alive, it was challenging to explain that she had another son. “Yury, please explain how a dead woman keeps having children.”

“It was before she died.” Why did I not tell the truth? I can only say that it felt wrong to disrupt her life more than I had to.

“And the father?”

“A ghost so far.”

“Well, I want him dead.”

I chuckled, “Father, it is not wise to kill everyone who annoys you.”

“It will prove annoying me is not a wise move. Besides, this world could benefit from one less American.”

This was hard to argue, but… “So, kill the kid?”

After a moment, Father replied, “No.”

After his instructions, there I was, now standing outside Miss Whitney’s bedroom porch door. I was still bewitched to know exactly what I wanted from her. Watching her sleep, I kept thinking of how her body had moved with such passion. It was like a magical drug for my aching, crushed spirit. That enchantment had me craving more ease and peace for the never-ending chaos in my crooked world.

Suspecting what she could offer me, I became angry knowing there were no live security cameras to protect her. Earlier, Adrian had checked the system set in place and showed me all wires had been cut. Standing outside her home, I commented, “But she sets the alarm every night.”

Adrian had held up the cut wires. “Then it’s rigged to give her a false sense of safety.”

It was as if her father was paving the way, making it as easy as possible to kidnap her. Was he completely clueless to her value? Did he already have another PR story lined up to gain votes and public sympathy? It didn’t matter, because it wasn’t Whitney I was there for. It was the young man lying in bed with her. Reether, being Marina’s son, made him our property.

Father said Reether was to be trained and sold.

Approximately 3a.m., again, Kirill and Adrian were waiting on the ground for the signal that I had successfully drugged Whitney. I needed her unconscious while trying to lug out a subdued Reether Jones, who was much larger than his mother. I was doing the job myself because I wanted to be the one there if she were to wake up. I wanted to see those eyes, then decide how to react next. I wasn’t sure I could leave her behind, even though that is what Father had decided until I had her fake certificates in hand.

All was planned as well as could be, under the circumstances, except for one thing: fucking Crash. My stupid cousin thought it fun to taunt Crash by sending him the ‘selfie’ of himself behind a sleeping Reether. My hand was on the doorknob as he barreled into my side, sending us both over the railing, flipping in the air, plummeting one-story, and slamming to the ground. Kirill and Adrian started to rush forward but stopped when hearing Whitney’s porch door swing open. Kirill and Adrian pressed their backs to the Summers’ home, as Crash and I tried to stay quiet while suffering from the oxygen being knocked from our lungs.

Once the door shut, we both rolled over quietly, gasping for air. Kirill and Adrian dragged us to our feet then into the woods. Still breathless, Crash took a weak swing at me. “You fucking knew who she was!”

Kirill easily blocked the effort and said, “Knock it off, imbecile.”

Crash and I fell to our butts, resting until our lungs cooperated again.

He leaned against a tree. “Why didn’t you tell me so I could’ve watched over her this whole time?”

I coughed, “Because I do not need you interfering with my business.”

He swallowed, trying to breathe properly. “How the hell does she have anything to do with you?”

“Nothing. Her father has a document I need to be returned to me.”

He paled. “So, you want to use her as leverage or something?”

Or sell her body. “Something like that.”

“Yury.” Blue eyes bored into me. “She means something to me.”

Knowing that he was asking me to spare her for him, I teased, “Trying to make good with this promise?”

“Stop toying with me. Timothy was a hero of mine.”