Irena looked drained and miserable when she unlocked Frank’s door the following morning. The air in the room was still stifling, but he was dressed and sitting in the chair by the boarded-up window when she entered. Watching as she placed the cup she was carrying on the bedside table, he said, casually, ‘Sleep well?’
Irena hesitated, and Frank saw wariness in her eyes when she glanced over at him and nodded. Guessing that she was wondering why he was being civil to her after their last bitter exchange, he gave a half smile, and said, ‘That’s good. And are you and Karel getting on OK?’
Frowning now, Irena said, ‘Why are you ask this?’
‘I thought I heard you crying last night,’ he said. ‘So I thought you might have fallen out?’
‘No.’ She shook her head. ‘We are happy.’
‘Sure about that?’ Frank raised an eyebrow and looked pointedly at her cheek. ‘Nasty bruise you’ve got there.’
‘I fall.’ She self-consciously covered the spot where Karel’s backhanded slap had landed a couple of days earlier. ‘Is nothing.’
Unable to keep up the pretence, Frank gave her a pitying look.
‘Oh, come on, Irena, that’s exactly what you said when I found you that night, battered to within an inch of your life. Only I’m assuming it was Nick’s handiwork that time, seeing as Karel was in prison at the time. Am I right?’
Irena turned to the door without answering, and Frank said, ‘I know you’ll probably tell me it was part of the plan’ – he made quotation marks in the air with his fingers – ‘but why did Karel let Nick do that to you if he cares about you as much as you claim he does?’
Again, Irena hesitated, and her expression had hardened when she looked back at him.
‘I know you are say these things to make trouble, but it will not work,’ she said. ‘Karel is good man, and he love me.’
‘No, he doesn’t,’ Frank argued. ‘Or he wouldn’t have gone in there while you were sleeping last night, and—’
He caught himself before the rest of the words came out and released a weary sigh. He had intended to tell her about Karel and the girl, but his instincts told him that would cause more trouble for him than for Karel. Irena was bound to tell the man what he’d said, and Frank had already witnessed his violent streak first hand, so it wasn’t worth it.
‘What were you going to say?’ Irena pressed, suspicion in her eyes.
‘Nothing,’ said Frank. ‘You were right: I was trying to stir things up. Forget it.’
Irena continued to stare at him for several moments. Then, quietly, she said, ‘I know you think I have cold heart, Frankie, but I honestly never meant for you to be hurt.’
Frank didn’t reply, but his eyes betrayed the emotion her words had stirred in him. Hearing her call him by that name brought back memories of the time they had spent together before this nightmare began. It might all have been a lie on her part, but he’d felt genuine affection for her, and, despite his determination not to, he still felt an urge to protect her.
Irena glanced at the clock on the bedside table, and said, ‘I need make breakfast. Drink tea while is still hot. I will bring food for you when I have finish.’
Reminded of something that had come into his mind during the long, hot, restless night, Frank said, ‘Subject of food, I don’t suppose you could nip over to Yvonne’s and see to the animals, could you? Only it’s been a few days now, and I’m worried they’ll starve if they don’t get something soon.’
‘I will try,’ she agreed.
‘One more thing . . .’ Frank said before she moved. ‘Is there any chance I can go to the bathroom to empty that?’ Embarrassed, he nodded toward the stinking vase of piss.
‘I will ask one of men to take you,’ she said, backing out onto the landing.
As she turned the key in the lock, raised voices drifted up from the hallway. Curious, Frank got up and went over to the door. He’d heard the girls being brought back earlier than usual last night, and a lot of shouting and door slamming had followed. Whatever had happened, it clearly hadn’t been resolved yet if the foul-mouthed insults he could hear Nick firing off right now were anything to go by. He didn’t recognize the other man’s voice, but he was disappointed that it wasn’t Karel, because if those two went head to head, the gang would implode and his ordeal would be over.
The voices faded away, and Frank, none the wiser, picked up the tea Irena had made for him and carried it to his chair.
Frankie . . .
Recalling the way she had spoken his name, Frank shook his head as he sank down on the seat. For a moment there, he had allowed himself to believe she might still have feelings for him. But who was he kidding? She loved Karel, and she would stay loyal to him to the bitter end – no matter how badly the bastard treated her.
Downstairs, Irena prepared breakfast as the men came in from the caravan and took seats at the table. Nick and Gaz were still bickering, but she was relieved they were no longer shouting, because there was always a risk it might turn physical when things got that heated – and a very real chance, when Nick was involved, that someone could end up getting stabbed or shot.
Like Frank, she, too, had sensed that something bad must have happened last night. But she couldn’t ask Karel about it, because he still wasn’t speaking to her. He blamed her for Frank’s attempted escape, despite the fact that his men had also been here and security was their job – a job they were extremely well paid for, while she received nothing for all the cooking, cleaning, and washing she did. Theirs was a male-dominated world, and the women they allowed into it were viewed as little more than maids and on-tap pussies. But Karel had told her she was different. He’d said he loved her, and that he wanted to marry her and have children with her.
If he cared about you, he wouldn’t have gone in there while you were sleeping last night . . .
She studied Karel’s face out of the corner of her eye as she plated the food. Frank’s bedroom sat between theirs and the one in which the girls were being held, so they were the only rooms he could have heard Karel going into. He’d insisted he had only said it to cause trouble, but instinct and past experience told Irena otherwise. Viktorya wasn’t the first girl to catch Karel’s eye, but Irena knew better than to confront him about it. If she forced his hand and he made the wrong choice, it could only end one way: Viktorya would take Irena’s place, and Karel would make Irena take hers. And she would rather die than go back to that life, so she would keep her mouth shut – and pray that Karel’s interest in Viktorya died as quickly as it had with the others.