High Stakes Page 8

  “And it wasn’t a monster to you any longer?” Tanner asked gently.

  She shook her head. “I didn’t know what it was, but I knew I couldn’t kill it. Maybe it was the way I was brought up. Maybe I thought that out of all this misery there should be something that wasn’t completely ugly, that if I protected it, perhaps I’d feel…cleaner. There was no way I was going to keep it. I’d just have the baby and then find someone to take it and give it a home. Providing I could even convince Anton to let me do it. I knew I’d have trouble getting him to let the baby live. I’d have to fight him until I gave birth and could get rid of it.”

  “But you did it?”

  “I fought him in the only way I knew would work. The only thing he’d ever wanted from me. I went back to what I’d learned in Istanbul. It was much harder without the drugs, but I kept telling myself once I was rid of the baby, I’d find a way to leave him. All I had to do was hold on.” Her lips curved ruefully.

  “But then one night the child was born. It was a girl, and somehow, I had never thought of it being a girl. Anton stormed out of the house and I delivered her myself. She was crying and I thought I might have done something wrong. I stared down at her and she stopped crying and gazed up at me with those huge eyes. She looked like me; there was nothing of Anton in her. I know babies aren’t supposed to smile, but I swear she was smiling at me and I didn’t feel alone any longer. There was something special about Lara even then, and I knew there had to have been a reason she’d been given to me to care for. It was literally love at first sight. Very bad. I hadn’t wanted to love her, because I knew what that would mean for me. I’d have to struggle just to keep her alive and protect her until I found a way to take her away.”

  She added curtly, “And I did it. But then when she could barely toddle, she discovered the old piano that had belonged to the previous owners of the house. She started to play it, and it was…magical. First, the melodies of the lullabies and songs I’d sung to her since she’d been born. Then she started making up melodies of her own. I couldn’t get her away from the piano.” She took another sip of her tea. “And I knew that it was going to be much longer than I thought before I could run and hide both of us away in some dark cave somewhere. How could I hide all that beauty and genius in a cave until Anton got tired of looking for me? He considered me property; that might never happen.” Her lips twisted bitterly.

  “So I changed plans and thought I’d delay for a few years longer until I could find a way to break free. But that turned out to be a disaster. Volkov appeared on the scene.” She pushed her cup away from her. “I’m not going to tell you about that particular mistake. That’s another episode in the story, and it belongs to Lara. You’ve heard enough about me to judge whether you can manipulate me.” She lifted her chin challengingly. “What do you think, Tanner?”

  “I think you’re a remarkable woman,” he said quietly. “And I’d like to hire you to work for me if you could see your way clear after we get Lara settled.”

  She looked at him in surprise. “Doing what?”

  “Management. I have several enterprises that need a deft hand.”

  “And you think that my sexual training in that crib in Istanbul would be a dynamite qualification?” she asked sarcastically. “I don’t have any other job experience. Just what kind of enterprises do you run, Tanner?”

  “I don’t deal in sex trafficking.” His lips were tight. “Never, Maria. I detest the idea of preying on helplessness. Life is rough enough without stacking the decks against someone. I enjoy a battle, but that takes the kick out of it for me. But I have quite a few flourishing businesses in several cities around the world and an office on Wall Street where you might find a good fit.” He smiled. “I can see you as a wheeler-dealer. You’re decisive, and you’d do anything necessary to get your own way. But you won’t need me once you get on your feet. You’ll be able to hold your own. You know that.”

  “Yes, I do.” Her eyes narrowed. “Are you bribing me?”

  “No, you can’t be bribed. But I’m giving you an opportunity to consider once I get you away from Volkov and your dear husband. Kaskov seems to think that he’s going to be able to find you both a safe haven somewhere. But why not New York? It would only take a few adjustments. I’m good at adjustments.”

  “You’re very confident.” Maria shook her head. “I can’t remember when I was that sure of anything. And I never allowed myself to think of a life after Volkov and Anton. I could only take one day at a time.”

  “Then it’s time you started.”

  “Anton’s family has contacts all over the world. Volkov snaps his fingers and Anton produces. Why do you think you can keep us safe?”

  “I’m exceptionally good. Ask Kaskov.”

  “I don’t want to get near Kaskov. That’s a recipe for disaster.” She was looking at him searchingly. “But he’s clever and he does trust you. I’m on the edge of trusting you, too.” She was silent a moment. “I might have trouble convincing Lara. She wants to take care of everything herself, and the first thing she’d do is find a hideout for me and then leave me.”

  “I got that impression. But she doesn’t trust me. That’s why I’m going to have to work through you.” He paused. “And I don’t want to use force.”

  “No, you don’t,” she said dryly. “Neither of us would tolerate it. So you’ll have to find a way to get around that, because you might be worth trusting.” She shrugged. “At any rate, I can’t let her take off without me.”

  He nodded. “I can see that.”

  Maria was gazing at him. “I believe you can,” she murmured. “Tell me how.”

  “You’re afraid that when she leaves you, she’ll go back and try to kill Volkov. Not your husband. She told me that you both had learned to survive him. She thinks that Volkov is the main threat—the one who has to be eliminated to keep both of you safe.”

  She nodded. “Amazingly perceptive. I can’t let her do it. He’s surrounded by his men all the time. She could be killed herself or might be arrested for murder. Her music is everything to her, and I won’t let it be destroyed to protect me.”

  “Then if I promise you that won’t happen, will you let me do my job?”

  She was silent. Then she nodded. “I’ll let her know that I won’t get in your way, but you’ll have to deal with persuading her yourself. It would only make Lara more stubborn if she felt you’d pressured me.” She added with sudden harshness, “And I won’t forgive you if you break that promise. I’ll find a way to punish you.”

  “I know you will. That’s why it won’t happen,” he said. “Among other reasons.”

  “What other reasons?”

  “I usually try to perform my work without emotion, because coolness is more efficient and productive when everyone around me is ready to explode. But I’m having difficulty this time.” He smiled. “I find myself experiencing barbaric impulses where Volkov is concerned. They’ve been growing since that night in the forest when I saw how alone your daughter seemed against those jackals. Not that she didn’t acquit herself extraordinarily well. Still, I can’t seem to shake them off, so I may have to act on them.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “I’ve no idea, but I’m sure it will come to me.” He reached for his phone. “Suppose you go tell Lara that she should get out of the shower before she drowns. I’ll call Mallory and let him know we’re ready for that dinner.”

  “Not just yet.” She didn’t move. “You’ve gotten what you wanted from me, but you haven’t reciprocated. All I’ve actually found out about you is that you have no use for whoremongers and you hate cheats.” She smiled crookedly. “And you probably only let me know that because you knew that it would influence me to give you what you wanted. I want more.”

  “I’ve given you more than that. I’ve been honest with you. I’ve been very open for me. That’s not my usual custom.” He tilted his head. “Think about it. What have you learned about me?”

  She
frowned. “You see too much. Lara said that about you, and I believe she’s right. I think you may be the most intuitive person I’ve ever run across. Everything I said today, you were weighing and evaluating and answering before I even finished. You have a strong work ethic even if you don’t like what you have to do to exercise it. Kaskov doesn’t own you, but you respect his intelligence.” She thought for a moment. “And there’s something about Lara…” Her eyes suddenly narrowed. “Yes, there’s definitely something about Lara, but you didn’t even let me get close to it. I wonder if that should bother me.”

  “That’s up to you. You respect your own opinion.” He smiled. “But I’ll tell you a little more about my background if you’ll answer one more unpleasant question for me afterward. Deal?”

  She shrugged. “It couldn’t be more unpleasant than what I’ve already told you about myself.”

  “Don’t be too sure. It’s always the unexpected that trips us.” He took a sip of his tea. “I’ll start at the beginning as you did. I never knew my parents. They evidently didn’t like the idea of having a kid and left me behind in an apartment in Brooklyn when they were evicted. I was two then, and I spent the next few years in a series of foster homes until I lost the cute factor. Then I was tossed in an orphanage, which I much preferred because I could get my hands on books—for me the Holy Grail. It also gave me time to explore ways to trade what I had to offer to get what I wanted from the world.”

  “What you had to offer?”

  “I had a talent for numbers. I had to learn how to use it on the streets and then in the boardrooms in ways that wouldn’t get me beaten up or dead.” He smiled. “And I did. The rest is history. Satisfied? Even Mallory doesn’t know about the Brooklyn days.”

  She shook her head. “Too brief. But I guess you kept your promise. What’s your question?”

  He was silent a moment. “Maxim, the piano teacher: Did you know he was going to be killed that day? And if you did, why didn’t you try to stop it?”

  She stiffened in shock. “You knew about Maxim? How?”

  “We got the base story from Lara. The rest was just clearing away the lies and working out the truth. But I need the entire truth, Maria. It might be important.”

  “The hell it would. So that you could tell Lara? She doesn’t have to know, dammit. It would only hurt her.”

  “No, I won’t mention anything about Maxim to Lara. I just want to be prepared for an answer if she ever admits to herself that there was something wrong about the story she was told.”

  “She wouldn’t go to you. She’d come to me.”

  “Not if she thought it would hurt you.” He paused. “It might not be a problem, but it’s the only thing I think might get in my way.”

  “Heaven forbid that the job might not go as smoothly as you’d like,” she said bitterly.

  “I promise that she won’t be told unless I don’t have a choice,” he said. “But I won’t lie to her. It means too much to her. I have to know the truth.”

  “The truth?” She looked away from him. “I didn’t know it was going to happen. But everything was so bad that day that I was afraid, and I went to Anton and tried to get answers. It took me a little while, but he finally got impatient and told me to be quiet about it. He said by now Volkov would have already taken care of Maxim. I ran to the village, but it was too late. Volkov had already killed him and was disposing of the body. He saw me and he smiled. He told me not to be upset, that he’d see that Lara would have no use for a piano teacher from now on.” She looked back at Tanner and added bitterly, “Was I supposed to tell her that?”

  He shook his head. “Of course not. You did what you had to do.” He got to his feet. “Now I think I’d better go outside to make that call to Mallory. You might need a little time to curse me for an interfering son of a bitch. After that you’ll be back to your usual self and remember I made you a promise.” He moved toward the door.

  “I’m almost back to myself already,” she said. “Just a little shaky. You’re right, the unexpected kicked my butt.” She added fiercely, “But you’d better keep that promise.”

  “Absolutely.” He looked back over his shoulder and grinned. “I haven’t forgotten you threatened to punish me. I’m definitely taking it seriously.”

  * * *

  “You look much better. Not like you’ve been wrestling with monsters in the forest,” Maria said brusquely as she came into the bedroom where Lara was blow-drying her hair. “Which of course you have, but I’m trying to forget. Now, get dressed while I duck into the bathroom and freshen up. Tanner said that he was telling Mallory to serve dinner right away. I’m hungry, aren’t you?”

  “I don’t know. I guess I am. I haven’t been paying attention.” She brushed her hair out of her eyes. “You can’t just come in here and start talking about having dinner. What happened with Tanner?”

  “We had a talk. I told you I would. He’s…interesting.” She took the brush away from Lara and began to brush her hair. “I haven’t done this for a long time. You were too grown up. You didn’t want to bother me. Too damn grown up…You should never have had to grow up that soon.”

  “Life is life.” Lara smiled at her. “But we made it through the bad times. Now we’re going to have a chance to see what we can make of the good ones.” Then her smile faded as she saw Maria’s expression. It made her uneasy. Her entire demeanor since she had come in that door had been different from what Lara had expected. “Or are we? You’re being very peculiar. You’re almost in tears over my damn hair. Why?”

  Maria chuckled and brushed her lips over the top of Lara’s head. “I’ve always loved your ‘damn’ hair. It’s like silk. And maybe seeing you all tousled brought back memories of when you were a kid and I used to put it up in a ponytail.”

  “Or maybe your talk with Tanner had some sort of weird effect on you.” Her gaze was narrowed on Maria’s face. “What did you talk about?”

  “Not about your hair, I assure you.” She turned and was heading for the bathroom. “We hardly spoke of you at all. We were just trying to get to know each other and attempting to find common ground.”

  “And did you?”

  “No. We’re very different and anything common was defined with very broad strokes. That doesn’t mean that I didn’t find him fascinating and worth the time I was spending exploring.” She paused. “But I did learn one thing. You said he kept his promises. I think I’d agree with you in most cases.” She added wryly, “And he does like to be in control. You’ll have to be careful in the way you handle him.”

  “I will?” She was gazing at her in bewilderment. “What do you mean? I’ve told you what I want to do. Once we find a way of losing Tanner, he won’t matter to us.”

  “Except I haven’t made it clear enough to you that I have no intention of going along with your plan,” she said gently. “We’re going to stay together until we find some way to make that permanent. You’re not hiding me away; you’re not ever putting yourself into a position where you’ll have to face Volkov again. Do you understand?”

  “No,” she said sharply. “There’s only one way, Maria. Can’t you see that?”

  “No, I can’t.” She gave her daughter a cool glance. “Because I have no crystal ball that’s telling me we can’t have it all. So you’d better turn yours in for a newer model and figure out how I can have my way.”

  “Did Tanner have anything to do with this?” Lara asked through set teeth. “I’d bet he did. I told you he was persuasive.”

  “No, I told him that you were in charge, and you are. You’re the one whose life is on the line.” She smiled. “Except for this one small item that I won’t back down on.”

  “Maria…” She wanted to shake her. “You’re wrong.”

  “I’m right. I’ve never been more right.” She was suddenly smiling. “I’ll go along with anything you want to do. Pretend it’s that concerto you play when you want to get ready for a difficult Trial. Just concentrate and come up with somethi
ng that you can live with. Literally.” She opened the bathroom door. “Now get dressed. I’ll only be a few minutes.”

  Lara’s hands clenched as she saw the door close behind Maria. Damn. Damn. Damn. She knew that tone; she had no chance of budging her mother. Not unless she could persuade her that there was nothing else she could do to save them. And it might come to that, she thought in despair. This moment of hope could disappear in a heartbeat if she didn’t reach out and grab it before it slipped away. She hadn’t let Maria know how close Volkov had come during the last two Trials to taking her down. She’d been aware of an increase in his levels of recklessness and viciousness, but what would have been the use of worrying Maria? Still, this weird escape that Kaskov had brought about would have sent Volkov into a fury. He would never stop, and there was every chance he would try to hurt her by using Maria.