Chapter24
The good news was that I wasn't as bored today, thanks to the entire house being opened to me.
The bad news was that, thanks to Alek being MIA all day, there was a feeling of anxiousness that hung over me like a cloud.
An ominous presence was attached to me, but every time I tried to turn to see it, it would slink out of sight.
There was a massive library, but it was impossible to get into any of the books with this kind of anxiety hanging over my mind.
I messaged Alek to ask when he would be home, but he didn't respond.
That was just plain odd. Alek always responded. It was as though he was watching me at all times with an obsessive quality.
And now there was nothing. What on earth was bothering me so much? Why did I feel this pressing need for some type of reassurance?
Unable to just sit there doing nothing, I pushed up from the sofa in the library and started to walk around the house just to get some movement in, but that only frustrated me more when that looming shadow followed me everywhere. I ended up in what must've been Alek's downstairs office, where I could shut the door and at least have some space to myself.
The computer was password protected, so I was still cut off from using the laptop, but my phone had service.
What would I do? There was no one to contact besides Becks and Alek.
He'd cut me off from my jobs and school. I had a guard keeping me from leaving. And if I left, he would find me.
It was a moot point because I wanted to be here. I just wanted him with me and to tell me that everything was okay. If he worked some boring job, I might not be freaking out. But I knew he could be in danger right now, and he was ignoring my message.
I shook my head. Alek wasn't ignoring me. He was busy and probably unable to get to his phone. I was overreacting. This whole living together was new to me. I was so used to relying on myself and only myself. This would take some getting used to.
At the same time, he'd forced me into this, and he'd just have to deal with my crazy.
My phone buzzed in my hand, and I jumped. Finally, Alek was getting back to me! Except it wasn't Alek. It was an unknown number. I growled in disappointment, but I answered, still hoping it was him. "Hello?" I asked hesitantly.
"Hello," said the deep voice who I unfortunately recognized.
"How did you get this number?" I asked Alek's brother.
"The more important question you should be asking is how did I get into your apartment?"
A wave of nausea shot through me as I went on high alert. Borya had to be bluffing. He was trying to scare me. "You're lying," I said with more confidence than I felt.
"Don't believe me? Look through the cameras."
I glanced around the room, knowing there were no cameras around me. I tried to comprehend what he was saying. "What cameras?"
"I suppose dear brother wasn't smart enough to trust you either. When I picked up a few things from the house, I snooped on his computer. Imagine my surprise when I saw a whole bunch of videos of a certain barista's apartment."
That son of a bitch. He was trying to stir things up and get me upset. "This isn't going to work. You want me pissed off at Alek so I'll leave him, but I don't believe a word you're saying."
"You conniving bitch. You're a good actress. I understand why the Black Thorn hired you. And now that I'm in your apartment, I can see why you accepted."
If these brothers insulted my apartment one more time, I was going to start breaking things.
"Whatever. Lie all you want. I'm hanging up."
"My favorite video is the one where you have your romantic little phone call with him. You have that sweet virgin act down, don't you?"
Heat rushed to my face as I realized what he was talking about. "I..." There was video of me having phone sex with Alek? And he'd saved it?
If I hadn't felt nauseous already, I did now. My heart pounded in my chest as the repercussions of this started to fall into place. Alek had cameras in my apartment?
And Borya knew this, which meant he wasn't bluffing about seeing there being cameras.
Which meant I could look at those cameras.
"How can I look at the video feed?"
He gave me a seemingly random series of numbers and symbols. At one point, he and Alek had been close enough to share passwords.
Why the hell hadn't Alek changed it?
I entered the password into the laptop. The link to the video feed to my apartment was easy to find.
It was bookmarked right at the top of the browser.
There was no time to be disgusted. Because, sure as fuck, Borya was sitting in my living room with his big dirty feet up on my coffee table.
Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. What time was it? Almost two in the afternoon. Becks would be getting back from her daycare job any minute. I needed to get him out of the apartment before she got home.
"Fine. Whatever you want. Let's meet somewhere to talk about this. You name the time and place."
"How about... here and now?"
"Please, my roommate isn't involved in any of this. Just get out of there before you put her in danger."
Because I was looking at him through the camera, I could tell exactly how much he didn't care. "You're the one who brought all of your friends into this. What's the real reason you don't want me to see your roommate? Is your roommate your real boyfriend? Is he the reason you started working for Black Thorn?"
"Ugh!" It took everything to keep from throwing my phone against a wall. "I don't work for Black Thorn!" I managed to pull myself back a bit. There was no way I was going to be able to convince him of this over the phone, and I couldn't get him to leave.
"Alright. I'm going to come over there. But you need to call your brother. I didn't come onto him. He started stalking me. He started all of this. Not me. Not the Black Thorn. The only one of us who is involved with whoever they are is you. If I make it to my apartment and you murder me for some misplaced sense of brotherly protection, you will lose Alek forever. Think about that long and hard while you wait for me."
Then I hung up the phone and glanced around the office. The shadow couldn't see or hear me, which was a help, but I had no idea how I was going to get from here to my apartment without Alek or any of his guys stopping me.