Satin Princess(78)

He takes a step forward and places his hand on mine over my stomach. “I will keep you both safe, do you hear me?”

I nod. “I hear you.”

“The more important question is, do you believe me?”

I really think about my answer, taking my time answering. Finally, I nod again. “I believe you.”

He presses a kiss to my forehead, and I feel a pleasant warmth flood through me. Anton has never been so shamelessly affectionate before. The doubt in my chest turns slightly towards hope.

Maybe he’ll really take care of everything.

Maybe I’ll be alright.

Maybe we all will.

My phone rings, startling me out of my reverie. I almost drop it trying to pick up the call. “Hello?”

Before I even get the word out, a fire truck roars down the street and stops in front of my building. I can barely hear over the fire truck’s siren.

“Jessa! Jessa?” Chris’s voice comes through. “What’s going on? I got an alert on my phone. There was an accident on your street?”

“In my building,” I say, raising my voice so he can hear me.

“Where are you now?”

“Right out front.”

The line cuts out abruptly. I’m not sure if he hung up on me or our connection dropped. But it’s not like I can explain things to him over the phone, what with people gathering on the street now. So I choose not to call back.

Anton wraps his arm around my shoulders. “Jessa, we should go.”

I shake my head. “I want to stay. They’ll have questions for me.”

He turns to face me, his eyes hard and serious. “They will. And your answers have to be confident and convincing.”

“What do you mean?”

“Don’t mention Marina. Feign ignorance. You don’t know what happened today.”

“But—”

“The police won’t be able to do anything,” he assures me. “Marina is outside their bounds, beyond their abilities. If they interfere, it will only complicate things.”

“How?”

He raises his eyebrows as though he’s shocked that I would even ask.

“Are you trying to protect her?” I ask, the idea hitting me all at once.

I don’t know why I decide to go there. It’s stupid, really, considering I know where he stands with Marina. At least I think I do.

“Protect her?” he growls in disgust. “You must be joking.”

“Why else wouldn’t you want the cops involved? They have resources.”

“All their resources won’t make a single bit of difference, Jessa. I have more. And even if I didn’t, it changes nothing.”

“How does it change nothing? You’d have help. You’d have the law on your side. You’d, well, you’d—”

A few of my neighbors have gathered around now, looking up at the building in various shades of shock and awe. Anton pulls me away from the crowd so no one will overhear us.

“What do you think the cops will do if they get involved?” he hisses. “I’m talking best case scenario.”

“Arrest her?”

“Okay, fine. Say they do. She can easily make bail. We’ve already established she’s got people on the inside who are loyal to her. Say some prosecutor is stupid enough to resist bribes and threats. There would be a court case. She’d drag it out. The whole process could take months, maybe years. Do you really want to go through all that trouble and risk letting her walk in the end?” He tilts his head to the side to study me. “If you trust me, then trust that I will take care of Marina. I’ll give her the end she deserves.”

I hesitate, unable to express what I’m feeling.

“What is it?” he presses. “Tell me.”

I bite down on my resolve. “I don’t want you incriminating yourself. Staining your hands for me.”

He sighs. “I’ve got news for you, Jessa: my hands are plenty stained already. If we’re doing this, if we’re going to make this work, you’ll have to wrap your head around the reality of this life. It’s brutal and violent.”

I take a deep breath and Anton steers me down the street, away from the building and the throng of spectators who are watching the firemen race into the building.

From what I can tell, all of my neighbors are accounted for. It seems no one was hurt.

We’re halfway to the car when I spot Chris. He takes one look and then sprints towards me. We embrace and he lifts me off the ground.

“Thank fuck,” he gasps. “I was so scared.”

Only when we break apart does he notice Anton standing there beside me. His expression falls visibly, but he does a good job of salvaging it.

“I’m okay,” I assure him. “We weren’t inside when it happened.”

“When what happened?”

I glance at Anton. His expression is aggressively neutral. There’s no sign there of whether I should spill details or not, but I’m tired of lying to Chris. “Marina.”

“Are you serious?” He shakes his head and then his eyes narrow. “The woman has to be stopped.”

“I’m working on it,” Anton says.

“Maybe you should try a little harder,” Chris snaps at him. “Because this isn’t the first attempt your wife has made on Jessa’s life.”