A/N: This is part 5 of 15 of the Quinceanera series, a birthday present to my unofficial beta, Iwait4theRain. ILYSFM!
In the dimly lit parking garage, all fell eerily silent. The only sound that could be heard was my frantic breathing. Coupled with my erratic heartbeat, it seemed to me that it was impossible that no one could hear my struggle. Tit-tat, tit-tat, tit-tat; as loud as a drum, the beat rang in my ears as I tried to ignore it and remain calm.
Suddenly, a rough sound appeared and crackled in the midst of the silence. It took a full minute for me to realize he was speaking in my "native" tongue: Russian.
"Do you have anything to say for yourself?" the man sneered. The cool metal of his handgun was mere inches away from my forehead.
I shifted a little on my knees and looked him straight in the eye, replying in equally as cold Russian, "I'm not going to beg for my life, if that's what you're implying. If you really wanted to kill me, why didn't you do so in my own apartment? Why not now? You would have done it already."
"You have been in many of these situations, then?" he asks. "You can predict what is going to happen every time something like this happens to you?"
In response to his questions? I'd been in enough of these situations for a lifetime, hell, enough for three lifetimes. God, it was times like these when I wished I still slept with my gun under my pillow; unfortunately, I didn't seem to possess any considerable advantages or assets at three o'clock in the morning.
"I've been in enough situations to know when someone's bluffing," I responded, trying not to give away the fact that my mind was racing at a million miles per hour.
He stepped forward, making his face visible. His beady eyes were gray, colorless. Emotionless. He leered at me, enough to make me shiver inwardly. "You have a mouth on you, Zadan. I like that."
Flattery will get you nowhere, I thought to myself. A slice of my temper finally cracked through my carefully maintained mental wall. "If you liked me, you'd let me up," I said, pissed as hell. "The game is over, Vladimir. Why are you here?"
"Stop asking such stupid questions, and maybe I'll give you an idea," he shouted, pointing the gun straight at my nose.
Now, I happened to like my nose. I happened to like it a lot; in fact, it was my favorite facial feature (though, in my opinion, there weren't many to choose from). How the hell was I supposed to have a working relationship with this man if he blew or tried to blow my face off?
Suddenly, he pulled at my waist and lifted me up against his sweaty body.
"Are you somehow attracted to the idea of holding women at gunpoint, or is that just me?" I said in a smart-ass tone.
"Renee Walker, you are an idiot!" I heard from my earpiece as it crackled to life. Damn it, Larry, shut the hell up, I thought.
"That is none of your business," Laitanan said, his voice reaching its breaking point. I almost sighed from relief that he hadn't heard the conversation an idiot had tried to start with me.
Coming back to the present, I snapped, "Yes, it is," looking up at his unapologetic, lust-filled expression. Obviously, he had no qualms when it came to his women.
I shuddered when I realized that I was probably one of "his" women now.
"Come," he said, pulling me along by the hips. "We are going to your apartment."
Oh, dear God. From what I'd gathered so far, this brute was going to make me "entertain" him in my own bed. Not that there was any use in complaining. This, in a twisted way, was really part of the job. And if there was one thing I was good at, it was doing my goddamn job.
When we reached my sparse apartment, instead of shoving me toward the bedroom, he gestured towards my closet. "Pack your things," he said. "We leave in half an hour."
"So you're in?" Larry said through the earwig, shocked.
"I'm in now?" I repeated, gaping slightly as I realized the implications of the fact that I'd made progress faster than I'd anticipated.
"You're in," he confirmed, nodding his head with a chuckle. "There will be no need to return to your apartment. You will be provided with better accommodations."
I simply nodded my head. There wasn't really anything I could say in opposition.
He smiled, and we shook hands firmly as he held on for slightly longer than necessary.
"Welcome to Red Square, Renee Zadan."
A/N: Come to the dark side and review - we have chocolate!