Russian Killer's Baby Read Online Free PDF Page A

the decision was utterly out of my hands.”
    She planted her feet, ready to make a bid for the bathroom and safety. “Out of your hands? You’re here to kill me! My life is very much in your hands.”
    With those words she sprinted for the bathroom. It was only ten feet or so. Feliks was standing on the opposite side of the apartment. She grabbed the door and slammed it shut just as soon as she made it inside. She heard him just a few steps behind her, cursing in Russian.
    “You cannot hide in there forever. I never took you for a coward.”
    “I’m not.” His accusation annoyed her. “And I defy anyone who says I am. I’m a survivor.”
    “Yes?” He sounded almost amused. What kind of man would play with her like this? It was sick. “And what tools for your survival are in your bathroom?”
    Her gaze darted around the tiny, closet-like space before settling on the pregnancy test. She snatched up the box and checked the key. Then she picked up the stick.
    Pregnant.
    Something that had been such a scary possibility only a half hour ago was now twice as frightening and yet oddly welcome. She took a deep breath and brandished the pee stick in front of her. Holding the stick in one hand and the directions in the other, she unlocked her bathroom door.
    “You want a tool?” Annika asked. “I have one. And it isn’t a weapon.”
    “Is that right?”
    She nudged the door open with her toe and stepped out. Gingerly holding the test in front of her like a shield, she gestured for him to take the directions. “I missed my cycle.”
    The smooth skin between his eyebrows furrowed. “What is this?”
    “Just read them.”
    His eyes grew wide when he realized that it was a pregnancy test. Confusion lit his dark brown gaze. “What are you saying? You’re pregnant?”
    “Yes.”
    “Isn’t it a little soon to tell a thing like that?” He looked skeptical.
    “I wish. But I’m more than four weeks late, and I’ve been sick in the mornings and tired all the time. Those are a pretty specific list of symptoms. So I took the test.”
    He snatched the pee stick from her hand and held it up to the directions. “Two lines you’re pregnant, one you’re not.”
    “Two lines,” Annika muttered.
    He snorted, waving the stick at her. “This line is so faint it could hardly be called a line.”
    “It doesn’t matter how faint the line is, stupid. I’m pregnant.”
    “So you say .”
    “Do you really want to take a chance of murdering your own child when you kill me?”
    FELIKS FELT AS if he were falling down a well so deep he could see no way out. The murder of a woman was one thing. The fact that he’d spent half a night enjoying the soft, sensual nature of this particular woman only made his job harder. Now she was pregnant and the child was most likely his ?
    For the first time in more than a decade’s worth of successful hits, jobs, and syndicate business, he had no idea how to proceed. Then he realized Annika had said something rather significant. She had called her father an imbecile. If she and her father were practically estranged, how could Orlov be claiming that a hit against Annika would make the biggest impact on Vadir Polzin?
    “Are you and your father close?” he asked her.
    She shook her head, looking confused. “No. Why?”
    “You called him an imbecile.”
    “He is,” she snapped. “Look at him, running about getting on the wrong side of the syndicate and putting others at risk all so he can make a quick buck.”
    “Would you say that your father values you?”
    Her brow furrowed. He could see that she was frazzled, but she seemed to be holding together much better than he ever would have imagined. She was a strong woman.
    Finally she shook her head. “You have to understand my father. He probably values me as much as he values anything in his life. He loves me for what I can do for him. If I were to get bumped off, he would see it as an inconvenience.” She appeared to consider this. “So