Moya Malyshka.
Time was running out.
Jade called Xavier late last night while I paced the living room, Andrei physically stopping me from throwing the furniture out the window. Jade and Xavier agreed to meet at noon.
MyJade agreed to meet her abuser. What kind of a man was I? If I just stood by and watched it all happen?Letit all happen.
So while Jade was on the phone with Xavier, I dialed another number I knew by heart.
The thoughts looped in my mind without pause all night and morning.
I checked the clock—9:15 a.m. Less than three hours left.
“Thanks for letting me make you coffee.” Jade climbed onto the bed, where she insisted I stay while she made me coffee. She held two cups in her hands, her smile radiant and relaxed.
But I was spiraling. I was afraid. Scared todeathI’d never see her again. “Also, thanks for making breakfast. Next time I’ll make you pancakes. You like all things sweet.” She sipped her coffee, still naked, still here.
Next time. Would there be a next time?
“Jade,” I shook my head, barely able to breathe. “Jade, let’s not do this.Please. There are a thousand different ways we can end this. If you don’t want me or Andrei involved, I’ll get someone else to do it. It’ll be clean and quiet. No one will know. We’ll get Olga back and youneverhave to see that fucker again.”
Jade observed me silently, so close to me on the bed.
“Alex? Sasha?” She chuckled, never having called me that before. “I know you can probablymake the problem disappear.” She used air quotes. “But…this is the perfect solution. I’ve thought about it.”
She took a big gulp of her coffee and settled in. “Xavier has given us an out. I come back home, reintegrate into work like nothing happened, and now I can truly help you. I have access to so many documents, files, information—I can tell youeverything.You can hire a team of lawyers. You can free yourself from this. It won’t be easy or fast, but—”
“Jade,” I breathed out, overwhelmed by the thought of her going back home. “This is too dangerous a plan—”
“And at the end, you can kill Xavier,” Jade interjected, so calm. “You can kill him however you want.” She nodded, speaking as if she’d truly thought about it.
I chuckled, admiring her dedication. “You want that? You changed your mind?”
“Mm-hmm. I’ll watch.”
No one deserves for their life to be taken.Her words rushed back to me, but the smile on her face told me she’d abandoned her old convictions.
“I’m not going to kill him quickly,” I assured her, thinking of how to do it. “I’m going to make it painful. And I’ll carve something on his chest. Whatever you want.” I slid my hand on her thigh, her pretty smile breaking my heart.
“I love it. I’ll think about what you can write.” Jade dropped her voice. “Can you fuck me too? Right in front of him? So he can cry before he dies?”
A little startled at her proposition, I leaned back, admiring the way the morning sun bathed her skin.
“That’s a great idea. And then you can pick how he dies.”
Jade nodded eagerly, sipping her coffee, but I could tell there was something on her mind. I waited until she swallowed her sip and then sighed, blurting out, “Alex, I have to tell you something. Before I leave.”
Jade took our cups and placed them on the nightstand behind her, and when she turned back to me, she was no longer smiling.
“Alex, I…I think,” she gulped, her gaze bouncing from her hands to the pillows, to me, “I m-mean I’m pretty sure…or, maybe that’s not…that’s a bad way—”
“What is it, baby? Anything. Tell m—”
“I love you.” The words echoed in my ears, and Jade stared right at me, not hiding it. “I’m in love with you. I want you to know. Before I leave.”
She knocked all the air out of me. My mind went blank and panic spread through me.
She loved me.