“Give me your sperm,” she gasped when she was almost there.
At her words, he increased the pace and took them both over the edge. She smiled as he clung to her, sweaty and spent. He was a real tough guy, but now in her arms he was soft and satisfied, and she liked it.
*****
The next day, Igor took them both to see some of the London sights. When they were just past Buckingham Palace on the way to the Houses of Parliament, Igor's phone rang.
Cassy didn't understand what he was saying in Russian, but she knew he was talking to his brother.
“Shit. Fucking asshole Albanians,” he said as he flung the car round and drove back the way they had come.
“What's the matter?” Cassy asked.
“That fucker Hyka. He knows who set Michael free. Dima has fled to the Rockies. We've got a cabin there. Shit. I fucking knew it. I'm gonna have to kill the little shit.”
“Igor, please be careful with your language in front of Michael.” She looked at him and saw that he looked like a different person. The previous evening when they'd had sex he was handsome, caring, and a fantastic lover. Now he looked distant and, though she was afraid to admit it, murderous.
“I'm going back to the States,” he said. “You stay here. It's too dangerous for you to go home. Stay here with Michael. I'll ask a couple of my friends to make sure you have all you need.”
“But what if you don't come back?” Cassy asked.
“That won't happen.”
When Igor was gone, Cassy sat up late into the night and thought about her situation.
She'd repaid her debt to Igor. She liked him—he was different—but he was involved in things that frightened her. She decided she would return to the US as soon as she could get a flight.
*****
“Where the hell were you?” Judy asked.
“In London. A few really strange things happened. We had to go away for a few days.”
“What's going on, Cassy? First Michael is kidnapped, then he's freed without paying any ransom, and then you disappear off the face of the earth. It's all a bit weird.”
“It is weird, I agree, but I can't tell you what happened. Let's just say I've had a guardian angel.”
“What are you going to do now?” Judy asked as she handed Cassy a mug of tea.
“Run my business. Eventually find a nice man and have a family. Just normal things.”
“Great, Dad's here,” Judy said. “I've been asking him to come round and fix the yard fence for weeks.”
“Cassy, just the person,” he said when he arrived in the kitchen. “You know how you were asking me about some Russian guy?”
Cassy's heart rate rose. “Yes.”
“He's in intensive care at St Margaret's. Apparently some mafia squabble.”
Cassy didn’t expect her reaction. She began to shake and felt the blood drain from her face. “Is it bad?” she asked anxiously.
“Very bad. They don't know whether he will live or not.”
“Cassy, are you okay? You look terrible?” Judy asked.
“I'm okay. What happened?” Cassy asked.
“He was found in a garbage container. He was lucky. The guy was about to tip it into his truck. I don't know any more than that.”
“Judy, can you do me an enormous favor? Can you look after Michael for a few hours?”
“Sure. No problem,” she said.
“Stay here with Judy,” Michael repeated after Cassy had told him to.
*****
Igor was wired up to so many machines that Cassy could hardly get close to him. She looked around for a nurse or a doctor. A large man in a blue uniform arrived with a packet of rubber gloves.
“Can you tell me how he is?” Cassy asked.
“Are you family?”
“Yes,” she lied.
“He's in an induced coma. His brain is swollen. The next twenty-four hours will be critical to his survival.”
“Survival?”
“Yes. He's fighting for his life.”
Cassy held on to the chair the nurse brought for her to stop herself from fainting. Why she suddenly cared so much about what happened to him, she didn't know. Okay, they'd had sex, but that wasn't enough to make her feel the way she did. He'd rescued Michael, and she'd given him sex in return. That was it. What more was there to say? Only her body was telling her something completely different. She wanted to lie next to him, cuddle him, and tell him he would be fine.
He was a mess. Both his eyes were swollen, his upper lip was swollen, and it appeared as if his nose was broken. Only God knew what was wrong with him inside, she thought. If he could rescue Michael, the least she could do was sit with him until he gave some reaction.
Cassy called Judy and asked her to look after Michael overnight. Then she sat in the chair next to Igor’s bed and closed her eyes. She catnapped through the night, and when it began to get light outside, she went to freshen up.
When she came back, a man was standing next to Igor's bed. “Who are you?” she asked.
“Dima, his brother.”
When she looked closer, she could see a resemblance.
“Are you Cassy?”