Velvet Devil: A Russian Mafia Romance (109)
“Then I will take it. I will take everything you’ve stolen from me.”
“For fuck’s sake, you are nothing but a spoiled little brat, whining about all the things you didn’t get. Come at me in any way you choose. But remember, you’re going to lose. And I will make it hurt.”
A pause. The audio feed crackles. Then:
“Have you fucked her?”
Cami doesn’t make a sound, but her eyes dart up to my face. Her spine is ramrod straight now and her fingers shiver.
I know her well enough now to read her like a book. She wants to hear all of it. But she’s terrified of what she’ll find out.
And once she learns… there is no going back.
The recording continues.
“Excuse me?”
“I asked if you fucked the whore.”
“What’s wrong, Maxim?” I taunt. “Did you fuck it all up? The plan was to make her fall for you. Did you go and make the mistake of falling for her?”
I know what’s coming next. I feel the slightest tug of uncertainty. Not because she doesn’t deserve to hear this—but because I don’t want her to be hurt any more than she needs to be.
I glance at her. Is this enough? But her eyes are steeled still.
Which means she’s left me with no choice.
“Fall for her?” Maxim sneers. “She was nothing but a mark. A way for me to hurt you.”
“And what purpose did it serve?” comes my voice from the audio device. “I have her now. So who’s hurting who?”
“I will get her back.”
“You just claimed she means nothing to you. Why fight for a woman you don’t give a fuck about?”
Maxim again: “The same reason you stole her from me: she’s a power play. The last move on the board before checkmate. And I plan to win.”
I stop the recording.
Camila just stares at the recording device as though it’s still playing. She doesn’t move for a full minute.
Finally, she takes a deep breath. Her eyes are dense with tears, but I know damn well she’ll die before she lets them fall in front of me.
“Did you enjoy that?” she asks, turning her gaze on me.
“No.”
She smiles, and there’s not an ounce of love in it. There’s anger and derisiveness and hatred. But no love. None. “Please,” she scoffs, “you kept that recording for a reason. You were waiting to throw it in my face at exactly the right moment.”
“I needed evidence.”
“Evidence of what?”
“His intentions.”
“How do you know for sure those are his intentions?” she asks. “You’re his enemy. You think he’s going to be honest with you about everything? You think he’s not exactly as full of shit as you are?”
“Are you really going to bat for him right now?”
“Rewind the tape.”
I raise my eyebrows. “You want to hear it again?”
“No, I mean rewind it back to the beginning. I want to hear the whole conversation.”
“Camila—”
“You took the time to record everything. I should hear everything.”
She’s determined. I can’t help but be impressed by that brilliantly controlled expression on her face. A part of me likes to think that I’ve had something to do with the slow burning confidence that’s slowly taking over her.
I rewind the tape back to the beginning. And of course, we stumble across the portion of the conversation I had hoped to avoid having her hear.
“How is she?” Maxim’s voice asks from the machine.
“Well-looked after.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
“Let’s just say that no woman likes being lied to.”
“Then why would she stay with you?”
“I never lied to her. Right from the beginning, she knew my real name. And if we’d had more time that night, she would have known what I did, too.”
“That right there is a fucking lie. You were involved with her long before that night. Why claim otherwise?”
“So you just walked about to a random woman, sight unseen, and decided to protect her with your life? I call bullshit. Why?”
“She was an itch I needed to scratch.”
This time, Camila is the one that leans forward and stops the recording. She falls back into her armchair like she’s been slapped.
“Who should I believe, Isaak?” she asks softly. “Both of you, or neither? Those are the only options, as far as I can see.”
“Camila—”
“Did you, by the way?” she interrupts. “Scratch your itch?”
It’s not in my nature to offer her an apology. All I can give her is an explanation. “I thought at the time that’s what you were.”
“So you fucked me in the bathroom of a restaurant to satisfy the ‘itch,’” she says. “You would have kicked me to the curb right afterward. Except that Maxim saw us together, misread the situation, and assumed I was important to you. And that’s the entire reason he tracked me down in the first place. From the very beginning, I’ve always been in the middle of the two of you. Before I even knew it.”