Page 53 of Frozen Heart
“This is what happens,” Radimir told me, “when no one is in charge.”
And for the first time, I understood. He wasn’t claiming the Bratva were good. But they were better than the alternative, because the alternative was chaos.
“It isn’t just on the street,” he explained. And he told me about corruption in City Hall, fraud in the big construction companies and the police and judges who’d take bribes from anyone. “Someone has to guide things, to make sure the little people don’t get crushed.”
A freezing wind gusted down the street, whipping up snow and trash into a dirty blizzard. I shivered and Radimir opened his overcoat, pulled me against him and wrapped me up. I could feel his heartbeat against my back, smell the dark citrus scent of him. He whispered, his words hot in my ear. “You wanted to know why I kill. I kill to stay in charge, so that things don’t fall apart. I kill last of all, after deals and bribes and blackmail and favors have all failed. But Idokill. And I will keep killing, when I have to. To stop it all spinning out of control. To protect my family. And to protect you.”
I could feel something shifting inside me, a sort of rebalancing. It wasn’t that Radimir was better than I’d thought. It was that the world was much, much worse. I’d been shelteredfrom it, growing up as a civilian but now, seeing what Radimir did in context, I was starting to understand.
I looked up at him, torn. Understanding wasn’t the same as accepting. And even if I could accept it...then what? My stomach lurched. In less than a week, we’d be getting married. And even though I’d finally admitted to myself that I’d fallen for him...I still had no idea if he had real feelings for me.
36
BRONWYN
Four days later,it was my bachelorette party. Jen organized it like a military operation, with all of us in sparkly dresses of different colors and a long list of cool bars to go to. By midnight, we were in a neighborhood I’d never been to, climbing stone steps that led to a set of enormous wooden doors. I was glad I’d brought my crutches because it was turning out to be a long night. I still didn’t like them but since that talk with Radimir, I was a little less self-conscious about them.
As we approached, doormen pushed open the wooden doors and?—
Wow.The place was one huge room with a beautiful, vaulted wooden roof that reflected the thumping dance music back down until it seemed to be coming from everywhere at once. The bar was a long slab of glass, lit up from within so it glowed with an ethereal light, and in front of it was a sea of Chicago’s young and beautiful: chisel-jawed guys in suits and women who must be models in shining, colorful outfits: suddenly, the cyan, sparkly dress Jen had persuaded me into made sense. The whole place was misted with smoke and lit up cobalt blue by lasers. I looked down at the floor: huge slabs of stone, worn smooth bytime. That’s when I realized the place used to be a church: there were marks where they’d ripped the pews out.
Something scratched at the back of my brain, a ghost of a memory, but I’d had at least two Porn Star Martinis too many to figure it out.
“Isn’t this placegreat?”asked Jen, grinning. And it was, classy and cool without being intimidating.
There were big, round tables made of burnished copper and as soon as we sat down at one, a waiter came over and took our drinks order.
Jen and I looked at each other and our eyes locked. It still felt like our friendship was cracked...but she’d put the tension aside for tonight to give me a great time and I loved her for that. She grabbed my hand, interlacing her fingers with mine, and the diamond on my engagement ring flashed blue and silver in the laser light. “I still can’t believe it,” she said slowly. “He must be quite a guy, for you to fall this fast.”
I swallowed. “Yeah,” I managed. “He really is.” The last time we’d had this conversation, in the Italian restaurant, I’d had to lie about how I felt about Radimir. Now I wasn’t lying...and in some ways that scared me even more because I had no idea if he loved me back.
The waiter returned.That was fast!But his tray was empty. “Ladies,” he announced, “my boss has told me to upgrade you to our VIP area. If you’ll follow me?”
We all gaped at each other and then fell into line behind him. I was last and as I got my crutches under my arms and set off; I saw a guy watching us from the podium where a preacher once stood. He was in his late twenties, lean, with his hair shaved down to stubble, and he was wearing a sleek, white suit.He must be the boss who upgraded us.I gave him a nod of thanks, still not understandingwhy.
The waiter showed us to a flight of wooden stairs at the back of the room and down a dark hallway to the organ loft. The organ was still there, a huge thing with silver pipes that stretched up to the ceiling. The rest of the space was filled with black velvet couches and armchairs, and thick glass had been installed so that we could look down onto the main room, but the sound was damped down enough that we could talk. There were even velvet drapes that could be pulled if you wanted privacy. Another waiter arrived with our drinks.
“See,thisis how we should roll,” said Jen, falling into one of the couches.
“Do they think we’re someone else?” asked Luna, sounding worried.
“It’s fine,” said Sadie. “If someone asks you for an autograph, just smile and do a squiggle.”
The door opened and the guy in the white suit strutted in. “Ladies! Having a good time?” He spoke with some accent I’d never heard before, metered and precise, with a hard edge. That memory scratched again, but I still couldn’t recall it.
“Yes!” Jen told him. “Thank you!”
Two more men filed in behind the boss. Their suits were black, and they had the heavy build of bouncers, but there weren’t the guys we’d seen on the door.
The boss gave us a big, mocking grin as he looked around at the four of us. “We didn’t know we were being visited by someone so important…”
Alarm bells began to ring in my head.
He looked right at me. “...Miss Hanford. Or, soon,Mrs. Aristov.”
Too late, the memory clicked into my brain, sharp and clear.The Armenians. They bought a fancy bar as a base. A place called Worship.
Worship.A bar made out of a deconsecrated church. Jen had unknowingly brought us into the home of one of Radimir’s enemies.