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“If Oleg finds out what’s going on, if he so much as catches a whiff of it, you’re dead,” Vladimir says “Is that clear?”

Bes’s gaze drifts over Vladimir’s shoulder toward the pool “Crystal”

“Good,” Vladi much better

5

Kate

Opening my eyes, I blink in momentary confusion My emotionally drained mind wants to sink back into the relief of oblivious sleep, but soes me to wake up Slowly, I surface to full consciousness

I’ on a bed under a soft blanket It’s so dark I can’t see ht to know this isn’t Alex’s bed in New York City This isn’t the house I moved into with him Then the cobwebs lift, and I re in the back of my mind crystalizes into clarity as the memories flood back

I sit up and stretch out an arertips The bed curtains Scrunching the fabric in ht penetrates the inky darkness A nightstand lalow over the room Someone must’ve closed the bed curtains after I’d fallen into an exhausted sleep Lena,in the roo

Despite the coet up The time on my watch says it’s seven o’clock I napped for two hours My wrung-out body andshifts at the hospital for teeks straight Physically, I’ catch-up, and theI’m locked in didn’t help

Pricking up my ears, I listen for sounds The house is quiet Eerily so Rubbingrooan that I pull on over thin them My hair is disheveled, the waves untamed I smooth down my hair with my palms and don’t bother to find shoes I pad on my sock-clad feet to theand pull the drapes open a crack Whoever closed the bed curtains must’ve also closed these

The powerful spray lights don’t leave a single corner of the garden in the shadows As earlier, ates

Taking a ht, I consider my options Now that I’m calmer, I can think clearer

I’m locked in the house Tima and Lena won’t help me I don’t have access to a phone Whatever liberties I’m allowed from noill happen at the sole discretion of Alex, which means it’s in my best interest to appease hi that he’s broken my trust, that will be very hard forwhile Alex is out there risking his life? How aht happen to him while my hands are tied?