Chase You To The Sun (13 page)

“You said she wouldn’t be harmed,” Lana spoke up in a strangled voice. “You promised her.”

A shadow crossed Bruce’s face. “She was killed by a renegade cell of my own armed forces on her way to the mines.”

“
Why
?”

“Because I was too naive to see that some of my Amalthean allies were blinded by the need to take revenge,” he replied, his tone so desolate that it took Lana’s breath away. Bruce probably didn’t mean for her to see he was capable of feeling pain and disappointment, but it was obvious from his words and his mournful, dark eyes. “They refused to see the bigger picture. All they wanted was to hurt your dad back.”

“Why did you want her to see the mines?” Lana whispered.

“I hoped she’d talk to her husband. Persuade him to do things differently. And instead of being a spokesperson for the people of Amalthea, she ended up being a martyr for the Russian Realm Elitists. Thanks to me.”

“Maybe I can talk to my dad,” she suggested timidly. “If you let me go, I’ll talk to him.”

His eyes flashed with anger as he looked at her. “No. The only way I’ll be able to make him listen is by blackmailing him. Besides, you don’t even believe me.”

Lana swallowed. “It’s so – I mean, I know my dad. He wouldn’t do such a thing. Exploit helpless people. He said it was more complicated than that.”

Bruce looked away, his jaw tense. “Yeah, well, I thought I knew
my
family, too. There are things about our society deeper and darker than you could ever imagine.”

“By our society, you mean the Elite?” she ventured.

“Well said,” he said, his voice taking on a sharp edge. “Because let’s face it – the commoners make up ninety percent of the population, but they hardly have a voice.”

She stared at him, trying to figure out what he was thinking. “You think that should change?”

“I don’t know.” Bruce absently rubbed his face. “I’m not saying every commoner is a kind soul and every Elitist should burn in hell. I’ve killed and maimed people on both sides to try and tip the balance. I’ve stolen far more money than I ever needed to help out innocent people, and I’ve used it to do things I’m not very proud of. But who needs pride? In the end, we all just want to survive.”

“I don’t want to survive if it means hurting others in the process,” Lana quietly declared.

Bruce’s intense gaze landed on her again. He was still standing over her, but the threat in his posture was gone. In fact, it felt like he just wanted to talk and get things off his chest. “Are you sure about that?” he said. “Because nobody knows how deep their waters run and how dark it gets below the surface until they have to make a choice.”

“I’d like to believe I’m a nice human being,” she said, sitting up straighter.

A slight smile lit up his face. “You’re better than most people I deal with.” He paused and sat down on the chair across from her. “You were trying to protect your friends when I took you prisoner,” he continued.

“Of course I did. What kind of person do you think I am?”

Bruce put his hand on her knee. “Actually, I think you’re brave.”

“You – you do?” Lana couldn’t believe her ears. Bruce had been so intimidating and contemptuous of her culture and her background when she first got here. By some miracle, she seemed to have impressed him. “Why?”

“Because you’re willing to find out the truth, or you wouldn’t be here.” His eyes swerved to her scarf, barely concealing the kiss mark in her neck. “And because you know what kind of man I am, and yet you gave yourself to me.”

“Well.” Lana shrugged, trying to force down the blood heating her cheeks. “Lots of girls give themselves to you, right? Does it make
them
all brave?”

He cocked an eyebrow. “What do you know about that?”

Her heart skipped a beat. “Chester said you, uhm, hang out with women ‘a lot’.” She air-quoted the old hacker’s words.

Bruce blinked in astonishment. “
Chester
talked to you about my sex life?”

Lana cringed, suddenly realizing she should have kept her mouth shut. “Yes,” she whispered.

“Spontaneously?”

“N-no,” she stuttered. “Look, I don’t know, okay? It just – came up.”

He eyed her skeptically. “It did, huh?”

There was no way out of this besides staring at the floor so hard it might crack and swallow her up, so that’s what she did.

“You asked him, didn’t you?” he said, his voice dropping.

“I guess,” she murmured evasively.

Lana heard him stifle a sigh. “He should have warned you about me.”

“He did.” When she looked up to meet his eyes, Lana caught Bruce studying her intently.

He shook his head, cracking a weary smile. “So you’re either very brave or very stupid.”

“Or sex-starved,” she suggested helpfully.

Bruce tried to bite back a laugh, but couldn’t help chuckling darkly. “A cute girl like you? Not very bloody likely.” He leaned forward and slid his hand up her thigh, making her shiver involuntarily. “Those girls Chester told you about don’t know who I am. If they did, they’d probably run screaming.”

“As should I,” Lana whispered uncomfortably.

“As should you.”

She swallowed when his hand softly brushed the warm spot between her legs, her heart speeding up as Bruce inched nearer and slipped his other hand around her neck. Her eyes fluttered closed when his lips landed on hers, her mouth moving with his as he kissed her languidly. Everything faded into the background as Bruce scooped her up in his arms and lifted her onto his lap, his mouth never breaking contact. Lana moaned helplessly when his large hands cupped her breasts, his thumbs flicking over her hardening nipples. The kiss deepened as she opened her mouth for him, granting him access despite his warnings, despite her own common sense, despite everything. Even though Bruce was still terrifying, he somehow seemed more human when he held her in his arms.

After a few more seconds, Bruce broke away from their kiss, slowly running his hand down her spine as he looked up at her. “You have to talk to your father for a few minutes,” he announced. “I promised him he could see you today.”

Svetlana bit her lip. “Please don’t hit me,” she begged, suddenly scared again. “I promise I’ll make him do what you want.”

Bruce stood up, his face grim as he put her back on the stool in front of the video screen. “I have to,” he said. “Unless you want to show him those bruises I left on your ass.”

Before Lana could move or back away, Bruce slapped her across the face. It knocked her head back, and she cried out as blood started to drip from her nose. Tears blurred her vision as she looked up at him pleadingly, holding her nose to staunch the bleeding.

“That will do,” he said, his voice impassive, though there was a slight tremor to it as well. He reached behind her to turn the monitor toward her before tuning in to the right channel. Lana was still blinking away tears when her father appeared on screen. Apparently, he’d been waiting for her to call.

“Oh my God, Sveta,” he yelled in alarm. “What has he done to you?”

“He hit me,” she sobbed, genuinely upset. “He said you weren’t sticking to your end of the deal.”

“I’m trying,” Mr. Ivanov said in despair. “I really am. Please, Mr. Randall, don’t hurt her anymore. I know you’re not afraid to use force. You’ve taken my wife from me – please don’t take my daughter as well.”

Lana wiped her wet cheeks, leaning closer to the screen. “He didn’t kill her,
papa
. It was an accident.”

“The hell it was,” her father shouted, his face red with agitation. “He lured her out so he could lead her straight into a trap.”

“Hypocrite,” Bruce hissed, lowering himself to glare at Mr. Ivanov. “Is that what you tell yourself so you can sleep at night?”

Her father paled somewhat. “I was out of line,” he hastily apologized. “Please don’t take it out on her. Give me a few more days.”

“If that’s what you need,” Bruce shrugged. “Just be aware that your beloved Sveta will have a few more days of this if you don’t hurry up.” He pointed at Lana, who was still pressing her hand to her nose.

“You have no heart,” Mr. Ivanov choked, his face drained.

Bruce exhaled. “I have no use for one,” he replied icily. “Always keep that in mind.”

He slammed his hand down on the keyboard connected to the computer system, ending the call before Lana could ask her father anything else. And then, he just stood there, simmering with anger, avoiding her gaze by staring at the black screen on his desk – a haunted man with no use for a heart or soul.

“Still think I’m decent?” he finally spoke up, turning around to face her.

Lana sniffed, wiping the blood from her hands with her shawl. The image of her mother’s upset face on Bruce’s computer wouldn’t leave her mind. As difficult as it was to admit to herself, she didn’t think her dad was telling the whole truth.

“I think you’re fucked up,” she softly replied. “And I want to watch that recording of my mom again.”

“No. We’re done here,” Bruce snapped, sitting down heavily in his desk chair. He narrowed his eyes at her. “It’s time for you to run screaming.”

For some reason, his remark filled her with a quiet sadness. “Fine. I’ll leave.” She shuffled toward the door, turning back one last time to face him. “Just don’t forget that you do have a heart.”

Before he could sneer at her or try to change her mind, Lana slipped out the door and into the hallway, the bloodied fabric of her shawl crumpled into her fist. She’d have to get through the rest of the day without a scarf to conceal how much he’d marked her.

A
fter Lana had rinsed the blood from her face in the bathroom, she decided to run herself a bath and soak in some hot water. Since the mansion had two bathrooms on the second floor, she argued nobody would mind if she locked herself in and spent some time alone. As she slipped into the hot water, her mind was trying to make sense of everything she’d discovered in the past few days.

Her dad was hiding something.

Her mom’s death had not been random.

Bruce was dangerous and violent, but he was a better man than many people thought – including himself.

And she had to get out of here before she’d lose herself in him.

A quiet knock on the door interrupted her mental whirlwind. “Who’s there?” she called out.

“It’s Chester. Are you all right in there?”

“Yeah.” She bit her lip. “Did you come to check up on me?”

The man outside waited a few beats before replying: “Bruce told me what happened.”

“You mean him hitting me in the face?”

“And everything that came before it.”

Lana closed her eyes, wishing she could disappear. Strangely enough, she didn’t want to disappoint Chester, as though he’d been
her
teacher, too.

“I’ll go tell him you’re okay,” Chester continued. She listened to his footsteps trudging back down the hall and let out a sigh. Did that mean Bruce had sent his old friend up here?

With an irritated huff, she plunged down, the hot water stinging her sore nose as it closed over her head. The longer Lana held her breath, the more she felt that this was what she’d been doing in this house from the very beginning – in fact, this is what she’d been doing for years. Holding her breath. All those years after her mother’s death in which she’d hidden herself behind a false identity and a façade of ice. In college, boys had called her ‘ice princess’ because she kept aloof most of the time. Sergei had also accused her of pushing him away. Looking back, Lana knew he’d been too different from her – always so preoccupied with wealth and appearance – but still. She hadn’t let anybody in, save her father and Tori, her oldest friend. And she couldn’t take it anymore. She had to breathe out, come what may.

When Lana finally made her way downstairs, the entire group of pirates was assembled in the living room, hunched over a pile of maps and schematics on the dinner table. When she approached them, their conversation stopped short.

“I’ll be outside,” she said with a blush, hyper-aware of all the eyes on her as she kept her gaze fixed on the floor. “In the woods. If that’s all right.”

“Go ahead,” Bruce said in his dark, rough voice. “Chester, why don’t you go with her?”

“I think
you
should go with her,” Chester replied.

Lana’s head shot up, her gaze volleying between Bruce and Chester. Was the old hacker telling Bruce off?

“Why?” Bruce said calmly.

Chester smiled. “I’ve got hay fever. Being under trees gives me a rash.”

“Hey, that’s funny,” Shou piped up. “Stress gives Lana a rash...” His voice trailed off as he caught sight of the enormous hickey in her neck. “Oh,” he added gingerly, his eyes widening.

“Fine,” Bruce grumbled. “I’ll go.” He got up and tilted his head to the kitchen. “Since we’re going there, you might as well take a basket so we can pick some oranges.”

“Sure,” Lana muttered, inwardly cursing Chester for sending Bruce with her so soon after what happened this morning. Who cared if the ex-teacher was covered in hives within minutes? “But I don’t mind going alone – I don’t want to inconvenience you.”

Bruce’s eyes narrowed slightly. “Grab a basket,” he repeated. “I’m waiting.” He sounded as if she had inconvenienced him quite enough by merely existing. It wasn’t fair – if he felt guilty about hitting her, he shouldn’t have done it. How was this her fault?

In a huff, she strutted off to find a container in one of the cupboards. When she emerged from the kitchen again, Chester and the Japanese brothers were discussing one of the stellar maps on the table. John shot her a spiteful look aimed at the purple mark in her neck before he looked down again, leaving her to approach Bruce standing by the patio doors. “All set,” Lana declared, holding up the basket.

“After you,” Bruce mumbled, gesturing outside.

Lana brushed past him, her gaze cast downward. She set course for the patch of trees near the fence, squinting her eyes at a bank of dark clouds near the horizon. Her heart leapt in her chest at the thought of rain – real, natural rain. They didn’t have anything like it in Novi Moscow. Sure, it rained sometimes, but the showers always came at scheduled times, and the water always contained certain nutrients for the soil that made it smell slightly off-putting. Maybe, if she stalled long enough, she’d get a chance to be outside and feel it on her skin.