I was pissed that Mikey had been exposed to this shit, and I blamed Marco for it.
“What did they want?”
I threw my hands up in the air. It didn’t seem to matter what I said. Marco was only here to get information about what happened. “They wanted to know if I knew Adrian and you.”
“And?” He was pretending to be nonchalant, but I could see the tension in his jaw and shoulders.
“I told them that I knew Adrian from the club, and implied that you fucked me in the alleyway, which was why you were there.” I was too tired to think too much about what I was saying or analyze Marco’s behavior.
“That’s good,” he muttered. “It’ll help make things easier.”
I stood up straighter. “Make what easier?”
Marco shifted his weight from foot to foot. It was the first time that I had ever seen him look nervous, and I didn’t like it. Watching him get antsy made my stomach twist in knots so hard that I worried that the little bit of soup that I ate was going to come up.
“We need to talk.”
I inhaled sharply at his words. “Isn’t that what we are doing?” I asked.
His dark eyes bore into me, and I felt my own limbs starting to get shaky. “This is only going to get worse. They haven’t found Adrian yet, but if they do…” The way Marco trailed off made my chest tightened.
“If they do, they’ll think you had something to do with it because of the security camera?” I finished the sentence for him. I had thought that he was exaggerating the night before, but after one run-in with the Russians I knew that he hadn’t been telling tall tales.
“The Russians aren’t the only people looking for you,” he said. “The cops want to talk to you. I’ve got a man on the inside who is helping to keep them at bay for now.”
I inhaled sharply. I didn’t want the cops here. If they came, that was going to be something else to explain to my family.
“I told you that I wouldn’t talk, and I haven’t. I don’t know what else you want from me.”
Marco said nothing. He looked me up and down, and if I had known him better, I would have been able to figure out what he was thinking. As it were, it seemed that he was grappling with something, and I wasn’t sure what.
After what felt like an eternity, he reached into the pocket of his coat and pulled out a small, black box.
“What the fuck is that?” I asked before I could stop myself.
“It’s the only way that you are going to be able to get out of any of this alive.” Marco popped the top of the box open. Laying against the shiny velvet was the largest diamond that I had ever seen. It was an oval cut solitaire that had to be at least three carats in size.
Despite the ring's beauty, I felt completely flummoxed by the sight of it. “You cannot be serious?” I shook my head as the ring caught the light. I felt as though I were in an alternate universe where things were topsy-turvey.
“I’m more than serious,” he said. “This is the best way for us to solve all of these problem. You’d have my protection and—”
“And I wouldn’t be able to testify against you.”
Marco nodded. My eyes couldn’t stray from the ring, which felt like a bomb that could go off at any moment.
“Come one,” Marco said. He pressed the ring forward. “Marry me.”