‘Who’s down there?’ Ana asked as she stared across to Alex on the opposite sofa.
He didn’t even attempt to reply as he dove into his meal. She even hated the way he ate a damn fast food meal. Was there anything redeeming about this worm of a man?
Ana’s food remained untouched on the coffee table.
‘I heard talking down there,’ Ana said. ‘It sounded like a woman.’
A sly smile from Alex. ‘Maybe it is. You know Victor.’
Ana clenched her teeth. Alex was trying to rile her, like always. But, actually, would she really be that bothered if Victor was fucking some slut down there? It certainly wouldn’t be surprising given past form, and she was long past caring about being the one and only object of his affections.
Wasn’t she?
‘So?’ Ana said. ‘Who is it?’
Alex said nothing this time, just continued to bite and chew and slurp.
Earlier, when Ana had heard the buzzer downstairs, she’d almost immediately crept out into the hallway, and was halfway to the broom cupboard to begin spying when she’d realised Alex wasn’t staying around to entertain whoever it was, and was coming up the stairs. She’d had to quickly dart back into the upstairs office and pretend she was napping.
Alex, the dumb idiot, had no clue.
But Ana was intrigued. If it was someone important down there, business-wise, then why wasn’t Alex there too? And if it was someone important, or even some woman Victor was ‘entertaining’, then why had he only showed them into the shitty admin office downstairs, rather than to party central or whatever this shit space was?
‘You’re not eating your food,’ Alex said.
‘Wow, you’re so smart.’
‘You don’t want it? I’ll have it.’ He grabbed the paper bag from the table and made a big deal of taking a handful of her fries and stuffing them into his mouth. Ana was hungry, but she wouldn’t give him the pleasure of showing him she cared.
‘You really need to get laid,’ she said.
‘Is that an offer?’
‘Alex, the only way you could ever get someone like me is—’
‘If you weren’t Victor’s I’d fuck you anytime I wanted. And there’s nothing you could do about it.’
Her insides curdled at the thought, though the natural venom with which he spoke only made Ana all the more angry.
‘Spoken like an expert, Alex,’ she said. ‘The only way you get a woman is through raping her.’
Alex slammed his food down onto the table and was on his feet in a flash. He took an angry step towards Ana. She was smiling, egging him on, even if she did cower back on the sofa as he towered over her.
‘Well, go on then,’ Ana said, purring. ‘You know you want to.’
‘One day. You just wait.’
‘One day what?’
Ana and Alex both whipped their heads to the door. To Victor. He looked pissed off. How much had he heard?
Would he even care much if he’d heard everything? Ana genuinely had no clue whose side Victor would take.
‘Alex was just telling me how he’d like to—’
‘Teach that bitch detective a lesson.’
Ana glared at Alex, but he wasn’t looking in her direction at all, his eyes fixed on his master like the good little dog he was.
Victor sniffed. ‘Is that right?’ he said to Alex. ‘You think that would get the police off my back?’
‘No. But it’s still something I’d like to do.’
‘Yeah, well, it’s good that I’m in charge then. Because that’s about the dumbest possible thing we could do now.’
Alex deflated. Ana wanted to beam a smile but she held it in. No point in drawing Victor’s attention to her glee.
So the visitor had been a policewoman? Ana pictured Detective Stephens, who’d interviewed her all of twenty-four hours ago. Why was she hanging around again?
‘Anyway, we need to go,’ Victor said to Alex.
‘I was just eating my—’
‘No time. Come on.’
‘Don’t worry,’ Ana said. ‘I might save you some.’
OK. So she couldn’t help herself. Alex glared at her but said nothing. Moments later he followed Victor out of the room and slammed the door shut behind him. Ana heard the lock clicking into place.
‘Bastards,’ she muttered under her breath.
She grabbed the now cold chicken burger from the bag, unwrapped it and took a bite, her belly grumbling in anticipation. She’d not eaten since breakfast. As she was chewing she moved across the room to her coat, which she’d folded away and placed neatly under the desk, out of sight. She waited a few seconds until she heard the bang downstairs as Victor and Alex left, on their unexplained quest.
When she was sure they were gone, she unfolded her coat and felt around the inside seam. She found the small fold with the three-inch tear and dug two fingers in to remove the phone. She held it in her hands for several seconds, just staring at the black screen.
It was only yesterday that she’d stolen the phone, though its presence seemed to have been a burden for an age. A burden? It was, but the shiny plastic device in her hand also offered some sort of solace.
The first chance she’d had yesterday, she’d turned the phone off, to save its battery. It had only had forty-four per cent then, and Ana had no charger for it, and no way to get one. When she and Victor had been stopped by the police yesterday she’d had the forethought to hide the phone under her car seat, and luckily the police hadn’t found it. She was sure Victor still had no clue she had it.
So here she was again. Alone. Staring at this thing, wondering what the hell she was doing.
The phone had a little over ten pounds worth of credit, although it was in Romanian leu. But who would Ana even call? Her family back home?
Detective Stephens?
She’d said she’d help Ana.
Ana switched the phone on. It took several seconds for the low-res screen to flicker to life.
Thirty-nine percent. Shit. No. She had to save this. She had to be sure of her plan before she used it even once.
A bang downstairs.
That was enough to make her mind up. Ana quickly turned the phone off and stuffed it away again.
Then, misery and helplessness taking hold, she shuffled back over to finish the soggy, cold food.