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  “Maya!” he snapped. “Pay attention.”

  I swallowed and nodded my head. “Shut the door, don’t look back, don’t ask questions, answer phone, answer your text. Got it?”

  His shoulders sagged a bit.

  “What if I don’t get your text?”

  “Now that…” He smirked. “… is a good question.”

  “I’m full of them, just let me ask.”

  “I’m sure you are.” His eyebrows drew up in amusement. “If I don’t text, you wait for me. If after two hours you receive nothing. You find the black box located underneath the receptionist desk and follow the instructions. It’s important that you do exactly what those instructions say.”

  “Or else?”

  “Not the right question.” A muscle flexed in his jaw as he looked away and clenched his fists. “Do you think you can handle all of this?”

  “No.”

  Nikolai tilted his head and took two steps toward me. Licking his full lips he leaned in and whispered so close to my mouth I could almost taste him. “Lie.”

  Afraid to breathe, I answered with a stiff nod and stepped back.

  “Now, answer the door.”

  “But there’s no—”

  A loud knock sounded somewhere in the building.

  “End of the hall, open the door, lead our patient in. Again, no questions.”

  With more confidence than I felt, since my legs were like rubber as I made my way out of the office, I slowly walked to the end of the hall and opened the door.

  I don’t know what I was expecting.

  The boogie monster?

  ET?

  A friggin’ zombie from Walking Dead?

  But a girl about my age stood on the other side of the door. She was wearing the shortest skirt I’d ever seen in my entire life. It was black and wrapped so tightly around her thighs it looked painted on. Her heels were tall and red, matching her bright red lipstick and bright red nails.

  Blond hair was piled high on her head.

  She assessed me just like I was assessing her.

  Her eyes narrowed.

  A man about six foot seven towered behind her. He had dark sunglasses on and was wearing all black just like me. The unmarked Lexus behind them was still running.

  “Um…” I found my voice. “Just this way.”

  “How long?” The man asked with a thick Russian accent.

  “I’m not sure, I’ll just have—”

  He held up his hand and sneered, then rubbed his bald head with that same hand. “Never mind.”

  I opened the door wider and let the girl through.

  She smelled like bubble gum. And she looked like a stripper, walked like a stripper, if I didn’t know any better I’d think Nikolai had some sort of… agreement with his patients or they weren’t patients at all. A sickening feeling started churning in my gut as I led her to the room and opened the door.

  “Hey, Doc.” She winked and sat on the table. “This can’t take long because I have like, a few clients I need to get to tonight, big money.”

  “Ah, big money?” Nikolai repeated then nodded to me.

  I shut the door and waited, my back leaning against the furthest wall just in case he did something that meant I needed to run away—as fast as possible.

  Not that there would be anywhere I could disappear to where he or my mafia boss father wouldn’t find me.

  Dead if I went.

  Tortured if I stayed?

  I shook the thought away and watched as he engaged the girl as if she was the cutest thing on the planet.

  He smiled, freaking smiled at her, flirted with her, and touched her. I wasn’t jealous, just… irritated, whatever, I was tired and still freaked out.

  “So, Natalia,” he purred. “How has business been going? Any complaints?”

  “I never get complaints.” She giggled behind her hand then leaned forward, her breasts practically toppling out of her low cut sparkly white shirt. “You should know that by now…”

  Gross.

  “Of course I do,” he said in a smooth as sin voice. “Open up for me just a bit.”

  She opened her mouth while he looked inside and frowned. “How long have the sores been back?”

  Sores?

  “A few days.” She shrugged. “But you know they always go away when you give me medicine.”

  “Like all good doctors.” He flashed another grin. “Alright… Maya.”

  My head jerked to attention. “Yes?”

  “Across the hall is the storage closet. Can you please get me a small vial of JR 88?”

  “Sure.” With a gulp, I quickly went across the hall to get the vial. The storage closet was more of a drug addict’s paradise. There were enough pills to get a person high for eons—on top of that he had vials of things I couldn’t even pronounce. I finally located the right one and hurried back into the room.

  Just in time to see Nikolai tuck the scalpel into the lapel of his jacket and pull out a needle.

  I handed over the vial and waited.

  With precision, he dipped the needle into the bottle then pulled a small amount, maybe the size of a pea, into the syringe. “Now, I know you hate needles.”

  “Ah but your poking always makes me feel better, doc.” She winked.

  And I again fought the urge to puke all over his perfect floors.

  “All the girls do.” He winked right back.

  Was I the only one not winking? Not flirting?

  He licked his lips, stabbing her arm with the needle and slowly injecting whatever the hell he’d told me to grab. He quickly pulled the needle out once the medicine was gone.

  She slumped back, her legs and mouth falling open as if she’d just lost the desire to rein it in. Her eyes rolled up and back, and with a snort or maybe a laugh ,she lay back.

  Nikolai placed the vial onto the table, pulled out an IV and inserted it into her wrist, taping it in place.

  I was still trying to figure out what he was doing when his head snapped up. “What are you still doing here?”

  “I—”

  “Leave.” He dismissed me with a wave of his hand.

  With one final look at the drugged girl, I put my hand on the door knob and twisted.

  He told me never to look back.

  But I was too curious not to make that attempt.

  And my curiosity was only made worse when I saw the reflection of the scalpel in his hand through the window of the door.

  “Maya.” His tone was gruff. “Do your job.”

  I didn’t look back but the music, the same violin music that had driven me insane, got louder, as if he needed the noise to block out whatever he was doing.

  Not my business, not my problem.

  I quickly made my way back into the receptionist area and sat down.

  The J screen saver was on the computer. I clicked it on.

  Internet!

  No way

  Almost too easy.

  “I wouldn’t,” a chipper female voice said. “Then again, I always liked to push his buttons too.”

  I glanced up from the screen and came face to face with the most gorgeous elderly lady I’d ever seen in my entire life.

  “Can I, uh, help you?”

  “No.” Her smile was warm. “But I think I can help you—you’re my new replacement.”

  “Oh.”

  “One of thirty he’s had over the last two years.” Her shoulders shook with amusement. “Man can’t keep a woman to save his life.” And then she burst out laughing as if it was the funniest thing in the world. “And you’d think with those looks, that brain, that body.” She fanned herself and peeked down the hall. “Still at it, huh?”

  “Um, first of the day. Who did you say you were?”

  “A friend.” She smiled and held out her hand. “You can call me Jaclyn, or just Jac for short.”

  “Jac.” I repeated shaking her soft hand. The woman had more diamonds decorating her fingers than what seemed possible. Each of them spa
rkled as if telling their own story of love and riches. “So, I’m the thirtieth intern huh?”

  “Is that what he told you?”

  “Not exactly.”

  “Intern.” She chuckled. “Has a nice ring to it. Has he texted you yet?”

  “No, but—”

  “He will, he always does. Only had to use the black box once.” She nodded, and her eyes fell. “But that was a long, long time ago.”

  “Um—”

  “Oh!” She clapped her hands together, making her entire outfit shake. Wait, was she wearing bells or something? I stood and looked over the counter. The woman couldn’t be any taller than five-foot-one. She had red cowboy boots with bells on the tassels and skinny jeans matched with a white sweater. What should have looked stupid looked classy and stylish, like she’d just walked out of Urban Outfitters. Huh. “Why don’t I show you the schedule?”

  “Alright, but Nikolai didn’t say—”

  “Nikolai?” Her lips pressed together. “That’s allowed then?”

  “What is?”

  “His first name.”

  “Apparently.”

  “You must be special.” She smiled brighter. “I’m the only one who calls him by that… then again I’m also the only one who’s ever seen the man behind the mask.”

  “So there’s two of them?” I joked.

  “Oh, yes.” She nodded seriously. “Never forget how important it is to separate the two. Here he’s a god.”

  “As opposed to?”

  “Anywhere else…” She placed her hand on mine and squeezed. “He’s just a man. Never forget that, sweetheart.”

  With that, she released my hand and waved at her eyes as if she was going to burst into tears at any moment.

  “Goodness, my emotions get me these days. Now, let’s look at that schedule, and I’ll try to sort out any questions you may have before that elusive text comes through.”

  “And then what?”

  “What dear?”

  “After the text?”

  “Oh, you bring in the next girl.”

  “Are they…” I swallowed. “Prostitutes?”

  “Labels really do nothing for me.” She shrugged again and pulled out a chair plopping right next to me. “If you’re really good, tomorrow morning I’ll bring you a latte, what’s your favorite?”

  “Anything with caffeine.”

  She paused, her eyes getting misty again. “I do hope you last, dear.”

  “And the others? They quit?”

  Her eyes fell to the keyboard as she pulled a hanky from her purse and blew her nose. “Now, the schedule…”

  Stay inside, Police Chief Lopez advises. He believes that the Pier killer is preying on women who are prone to leave work late or who work alone. Stay inside, until the security from your building is able to escort you out—only if you are working late.—The Seattle Tribune

  INCREDIBLE… HOW HABITUAL MY ACTIVITIES HAD become. I felt nothing. Even when the blood dripped down her arm, I could only glance at the red pigment and wonder what type it was.

  Would it be O Negative?

  AB positive?

  Would taking that blood bring me any closer to a cure? Or would darkness finally consume me—making it so that my habit, my life choices, ended up killing me like they killed so many that I studied?

  Her face was void of emotion.

  I imagined she had a few more weeks tops.

  And then she would be dead like the rest of them. I had known something was wrong with me long before medical school… long before working on the cadavers or losing my first patient in the OR.

  I wiped my hands on the towel and injected flumazenil back into her system. Natalia jerked awake.

  “All done?”

  “Yes.” I offered a smile. “The sores should disappear within a few hours, do try to be careful out there tonight.”

  “Always am.” Her lower lip trembled just enough for me to notice. “Hey um doc?”

  “Yes Natalia?”

  “How long?”

  “Well…” I leaned forward. “That’s entirely up to you. You’ve known that since you started coming to the clinic.”

  Her eyes wavered as she chewed on her lower lip. “I still haven’t decided yet, what I want to do.”

  “When the time comes, I’ll ask you again, only you can make that choice, Natalia.”

  With a quick nod, she hopped off the table and made her way to the door. “The new girl…” Her hand hovered above the door knob. “She’s pretty.”

  I sighed. “All the nurses I hire are pretty.”

  “Right, but she isn’t a nurse, she isn’t one of us.”

  I was quiet for a minute. Leave it to Natalia to figure out that Maya was different. She was beautiful like the rest, just more… pure and innocent in ways Natalia would never understand.

  “No.” I didn’t owe her any more of an answer or explanation.

  “I hope she stays that way.” Natalia’s voice was hardly a whisper. “I really do.”

  “Me too.” I hoped it more than I could possibly describe. It was why I put certain terms in my contract. Why she was off limits. Why I was off limits to her. I was trying to decide her life for her, form an ironclad path for her to walk through so she made it through alive.

  So she made it to her next birthday without becoming exactly what her father would want for her.

  Because regardless of Maya not remembering.

  She was still a liability, one he kept around for leverage on my behalf.

  “Have a good evening, Natalia.”

  She left.

  And the room instantly felt cold.

  I wondered how long I could keep it up—before the darkness of my reality consumed me. After all, I wasn’t really living for anything except trying to leave a better mark on the world. A legacy. That’s what I wanted.

  And after knowing what ran through my veins?

  It was about damn time someone in our family tried for something different.

  Blood had always stained our hands.

  I’d still die with it on mine—but hopefully it wouldn’t be in vain.

  An enemy will agree, but a friend will argue—Russian Proverb

  HE TEXTED EXACTLY NINETY MINUTES LATER; his instructions were clear.

  N: Bring in the next one, I’ll be finished in five.

  I felt my eyebrows furrow in confusion. What next one? Jac had been showing me how to do the scheduling for the past hour and a half, not that any of that made sense. There were names and contact numbers, but no last names, and no private information about their conditions.

  Just first names and numbers.

  Though some names had little red X’s next to them. Jac said that once the patient had three X’s that I was to delete them from the system. I asked if every patient eventually got three X’s and she changed the subject and started talking about Christmas decorations.

  “Told you he’d text.” Jac nodded. “Always does.”

  “So…” I showed her my phone. “…where do I get the next girl?”

  She paused, her lips pressing together in a smile. “Well aren’t you just adorable.”

  “Yeah,” I croaked. I’d never been called adorable in my life. Not by my parents who ignored me or the boyfriends who hated me—once my father got ahold of them.

  I’d been called sexy.

  Cute.

  Pretty—at least a handful of times.

  But never adorable. Adorable meant innocence, and I wasn’t innocent, I was tainted.

  “The girls will always be waiting outside the door.” She pointed down the hall. “When he texts you to bring in the next girl, you simply open the door, bring her down the hall and leave when he tells you.”

  “Okay.” I licked my dry lips and rose from my seat. “I guess I’ll be right back then.”

  “Remember,” Jac called after me, “don’t ask questions.”

  I wasn’t sure why it was so important for her to remind me of that one little rul
e, so I shrugged her off and sighed as I made my way down the hall.

  The next girl waiting had a pixie haircut and shoved a cigarette between her teeth before looking me up and down and smirking. “You’re new.”

  “Yup,” I breathed.

  “He screw you yet?” Her eyebrows shot up to her hairline.

  “I’m his employee.”

  “They all are.” She rolled her eyes, and shoved past me. “I know the way.”

  I followed behind her because what choice did I have? When she stopped at the room and peered in, her face softened.

  The door opened.

  Nikolai stepped out. “Anastasia.” He grinned. “How are you feeling?”

  “Better now¸” She said in a breathy sigh.

  I rolled my eyes.

  “Something bothering you?” Nikolai snapped.

  Crap. He saw me.

  “No.” I cleared my throat. “Just tired.”

  His eyes narrowed. “That will be all, Maya.”

  “Right.” I clenched my fists and walked past them, this time I didn’t look back, I didn’t want to know. Something was very wrong with what he was doing, I just didn’t know what. And it wasn’t like he had some great paper trail for me to follow on his stupid computer. All I had to go by were names, and a contact number.

  When I walked back into the main lobby Jac was putting her coat back on and checking her cell phone. “It will get better,” she said without looking up from her phone. “It always does.”

  “Right.” I grit my teeth, wondering if I should take the chance and tell her about the contract, ask her if the other girls had to sign them, or even just give a lame “Help” in her direction and see if she would take pity on me and rescue me from his evil clutches.

  “I promise.” Jac leaned over the counter, placing her manicured hands on the table. “It seems overwhelming for now, but this is such a great opportunity.”

  “Is it?” I parroted.

  “Of course!” Her eyes twinkled. “Just think of the job opportunities you’ll receive after you work with Nikolai for a few months.”

  “A year,” I corrected.

  She froze. “Pardon?”

  Had I said something wrong? I tucked a strand of escaped hair behind my ear and shrugged. “My contract says a year.”