KILLING SARAI(73)

I’m totally understanding it all now.

“But why didn’t you tell me this before we went? I probably could’ve pulled off the acting better if I knew the guy was listening.”

“Well, technically I didn’t know if he was listening. And I didn’t tell you some things because I wanted to see how well you could improvise under pressure and having limited information about what’s going on.”

“That explains your conversation with Fredrik,” I say and his name on my tongue as Sarai opens up an entirely different topic. “If that’s even his real name.” I pause and say with warming cheeks, “He’s not really going to be at our hotel is he?”

Victor’s slow glance is laced with amusement.

“No, Sarai, he’s not going to be at the hotel waiting for us.”

Well, that’s a relief. Yet the thought of Victor….

“So who was he then? Obviously he knew more about what was going on than I did.”

We turn onto another brightly-lit street and pass through a yellow light just before it turns red.

“Yes, his name is Fredrik and yes, he’s really Swedish. He works for my Order, though not doing what I do. He simply aids us in times like these.”

“And the woman, Aria?”

“I’m sure she was just some random woman Fredrik picked up somewhere.” He flashes me a grin. “He’s good at that sort of thing.”

I blush and look away.

“Are you disappointed?” Victor asks.

I look back at him, flustered by his question. And that faint grin is still buried behind his eyes.

“Umm, no,” I say. “Why would you ask that?”

Victor looks back out at the road.

“What, you don’t find Fredrik attractive?”

I think he’s toying with me.

“Well, yeah, I’d be lying to you if I said he wasn’t attractive, but I’m not attracted to him if that’s what you’re thinking.”

I’m attracted to you, Victor, only you….

He smiles and doesn’t say anything more about it.

My face just gets hotter and hotter, and every time I see him smile or grin, because I’m completely not used to seeing that, it just makes me blush more and it feels like a hundred drunk butterflies are having an orgy in my stomach.

“So what’s our next move?” I ask.

“We enjoy the downtime until tomorrow night,” he says.

And that’s exactly what we do.

Victor takes me out to buy a new dress with that four thousand dollars he conned from the manager. We go back to our hotel long enough to change clothes. I gape at him when I see him fully dressed. He wears a slim-fitting gray V-neck cardigan over a long-sleeved white button-up shirt. Very casual, untucked from his dark blue jeans. A pair of black leather lace-up shoes adorn his feet. I’ve only ever seen him wear expensive suits and dress shoes, so it’s a bit of a shock to see him in anything else. Though he still manages to pull off sophistication and wealth, flawlessly.

I wear a silk sun dress and another pair of expensive flat sandals, glad to be out of those painful heels.

We do end up meeting up with Fredrik, after all, though it’s entirely innocent. The three of us go out to a cocktail party on the rooftop of another luxury hotel and although I have to stay in character as Izabel Seyfried the entire time, I get the feeling that Fredrik knows I’m not really the bitch I portray myself to be. I find him refreshing and the longer Victor and I are with him throughout the night, the more I enjoy his company.

It almost feels…normal, like I’ve found some small way to enjoy the things around me like everybody else and to fit in with society. In the back of my mind I know that it won’t last, but at least I’m experiencing it without having to constantly look over my shoulder.

We part ways with Fredrik just after midnight when Victor feels it’s best we get back to our hotel and get some rest. Tomorrow night is going to be very different from this night and it should have me worried. But I’m already playing the game. I’m in too deep, too involved with my alter ego who has had more fun in one night than Sarai has had in a lifetime. I’m anxious and excited for tomorrow to get here, not afraid and having doubts like I think Victor secretly wants me to be.

No, this underground world he’s opening me up to slowly isn’t having the effect on me he had planned.

It’s only making me want it more.





CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE





Victor





“Fredrik tells me you had a girl with you,” Niklas says on the phone. “Izabel, was it?”

“Yes,” I answer. “Obviously it was necessary.”

He knows. I’ve never been so divided before. Niklas or Sarai? I feel this dire need to be selective about anything I tell him from here on out. But I can’t lie to him about Izabel and Sarai being one in the same because there are too many ways for Niklas to find out the truth. He likely already has the proof he needs. If I lie to him he’ll know I don’t trust him with her and that could put Sarai in even more danger.

“I gave Sarai a choice of where she’d like to live and she chose California. That is the only reason I brought her along.”

I hear Niklas take a concentrated breath.