With This Secret

“Noble,” he nodded mockingly. “Especially given he all but sold you to an insane criminal.”

“He is still my father. Trouble or not, I can’t have another, so I will have to make do.”

He watched me for a few more seconds before speaking again, “You will call Bogdan and you will ask him for a meeting location. He will already suspect by now that we are well aware of your movements since you wouldn’t have been able to leave Spain without us anyway, so he will be on high alert. He will arrange for some complicated pick-up, but we will have to work around that. Ready to call him now?”

I nodded as I pulled my new phone out of my pocket and dialed the number that Bogdan had called me with earlier. I didn’t know if I would make it out from Bogdan’s lair alive, but I prayed he wouldn’t harm me. He seemed to want me with a desperate obsession and I truly wondered what he saw in me, or why he would risk so much and sacrifice so many lives just to have me. Maybe it was some kind of pissing contest with Levan. I imagined he would not have been so desperate for me if Levan had not shown he wanted me too. Maybe it was truly a male thing as in the wild when two male lions fight ferociously over the female.

I listened to the ringing tone, loud on the speaker.

“Angel,” his voice boomed into the room. “I have been informed you are back from your trip. My regards to you, Maxim.”

I looked at Maxim, but he indicated with his hand that I should continue.

“Where are we meeting?” I asked through gritted teeth.

“Well,” he answered. “I hope for your sake and that of your father’s, that you will be coming alone. Otherwise, the crown prince will have two gravesites to visit when he comes out of prison. If he ever gets out!” His voice boomed with an insane laughter that hurt my ears. Just as suddenly, as his laughter began it ended and his voice cut to the business at hand, “I will text you the address. Be there at 9pm sharp and you will be picked up. If anyone follows you, your father is a dead man.” He ended the call.

My phone buzzed and I raised it to read what he had sent aloud, “49 East Mosholu Parkway. The Bronx.”

Maxim stretched out his hand.

I placed my phone on it.

“We have two and a half hours,” he said.

46

Bianca

The meeting point turned out to be an abandoned school in the Bronx. I could see this information didn’t sit well with Maxim.

“Isn’t that too easy for us?” I asked. “I mean, it’s quite an active neighborhood. There are homes and stores, and even a police station just a few minutes away.

“Yes, much too easy,” he murmured. “I think he might have something else planned, but we won’t know until we get there.”

“So we’re just going to head over there without a plan?” I asked.

“We aren’t, you are.”

I was suddenly afraid. It seemed as if Maxim didn’t have a plan at all. I suddenly realized that giving me to Bogdan was the perfect solution to all his problems. The kid gets found, Levan gets off more lightly, I get thrown out of the picture, especially if I get killed.

He stood.

I turned to look at the clock on the wall. It was about twenty minutes to 9.00 p.m. I swallowed painfully and rose to my feet too. Well, I didn’t need him to fight my battles. I would do it on my own. I was fighting for Levan now. And my father.

When he exited the room, I trudged along behind him.

Ten minutes later, I was alone in a taxi and headed towards the venue. We soon arrived in front of the gates.

I called Bogdan once again, for further instructions.

“The gate is unlocked,” he said. “Walk in … alone.”

“And then what?” I asked.

“And then you go up to the top floor. It doesn’t matter what room you enter.”

“And then what?” I asked.

“And then you wait!” he growled, and the phone disconnection beeped.

I fought with all my willpower not to look around me since it was quite possible I was being watched by Maxim’s men. I walked up to the cast iron gates and saw that the chain around them had been cut. I went through the gate, crossed the yard, and opened the wooden front door. It was thick and heavy, but unlocked. A musty smell came from inside and it seemed dim, but I could still see my way around.

I spotted the staircase by the side and went up it, carefully. As I went higher, it became darker, and I had to use the light on my phone to provide some illumination. I arrived at the top floor and looked around, clueless and extremely wary. Something was very, very wrong. My father wasn’t here. Yet, I got the feeling I was being watched. I looked at the ceilings for cameras and saw none.