Saving Katya (3 page)

“Yes, there is such a thing as bad publicity.” Serge retaliated in a stern voice, but quickly wilted under Alexei’s scrutinizing stare. “Publicity from a scorned lover is never good,” he said, making a bold claim amid his shrinking confidence.

“Scorned lover?” Alexei scoffed, dismissing Serge’s concerns. “I didn’t lie to her.” His defenses kicked in and his tone hardened. “I didn’t lead her on. I never promised her anything.”

“Except a good time. Right?”

Alexei frowned, pushing Serge’s observation aside. “Just take care of it.” He backed away from the railing and stepped toward the fairway before stopping to issue one last order over his shoulder. “I want every detail you can unearth on Kate Peterson. She won the gold in women’s figure skating eight years ago. She’s an American.”

CHAPTER 2

KATE’S VISION
had begun to clear by the time she and Debra reached the US Residence. She breathed a sigh of relief, thankful for one more chance to
see
. Someday—and probably sooner than she wanted to admit—her vision was going to fade for good. She hoped the doctors were right, and it didn’t happen while she was here in Squaw Valley.

The elevator doors opened to an empty compartment. Debra followed her inside, hit the number “four” button and then scrutinized Kate with a worry-ridden look. “Are you sure you’re okay?” Debra asked as they began their ascent upward.

“I’m fine.” Kate furnished her most intimidating glare to prove her point. “My vision’s back. All is good.”

The doors opened at the second floor and a middle-aged couple smiled politely before entering the elevator. Kate wrapped her hands around the railing behind her and leaned back, quieting. Debra followed suit, both knowing middle-aged people were members of the media, just like younger stereo-typical reporters.

All ‘is’ good
. If Kate told herself that enough times, she just might believe it. Until next time. What if
next time
was the last time?

That wasn’t a far-fetched notion. And it just might be her future unless she got lucky and somehow managed to land an endorsement that paid about a half-million bucks. Fast. That’s how much she needed to cover the costs of the experimental surgery that stood a fifty-fifty chance of saving her sight.

Since her insurance company, as they put it, wasn’t in the business of funding experimental surgeries, she couldn’t raise the money any other way. Not in the timeframe specified for the surgery to be effective—before she lost fifty percent of her peripheral vision. Roughly four to six months.

Debra nudged Kate out of her private thoughts and through the opened elevator doors into the fourth floor hallway.

Kate pushed aside the inevitable—losing her eyesight—in favor of present dilemmas. Right now she needed to avoid Debra’s barrage of questions. As a diversion, she fixed her gaze on the walls. The bright orange and dull browns of the hotel corridor never looked so good.

Debra hurried down the hallway, but Kate lingered behind. There was a reason the woman was in such a rush, she’d promised to keep quiet until they got back to the suite. Kate needed the extra time to figure out how to get Debra to keep her mouth shut.

The distance between Kate and the door to their suite diminished much too quickly, even at her slow pace. Debra shooed her inside and gave the interior a quick once-over. They both knew it was empty but still, Debra whispered, “Kat-ya, you got some explaining to do.”

Kate sulked and stalled, afraid of the repercussions that came with the truth getting out. She had to think of something to put off the inevitable. At least for a little while.

She stood frozen in the middle of the suite’s living room. “We have to get out of here.” Kate had to escape before Alexei turned up again. “We have to leave now.” Eyesight be damned.

Trying to save her sight wasn’t worth the risk. Alexei had already rejected
her
once. Damned if Kate would let that happen again.

Debra pulled her down to the couch without much effort. “Kate, sit down,” she said in her authoritative,
I’m-the-boss
tone. “Take a deep breath and relax.”

“Relax?” The only thing that could possibly calm Kate was if it all went away. She needed to awaken from the bad dream she was caught up in. Since that wasn’t likely to happen, she needed a new plan. “We need to call and tell them to come back right away. We’re going home.”

“We’re not going home.” Debra laughed, as if it was the most ridiculous thing she’d ever heard. “We’ve come too far. You’re too close.”

“I don’t care.” Kate shook her head. “The risk is too great.”

“Kate, you’re talking about your eyesight.”

“Don’t you think I know that?” Kate blew out an exasperated sigh. “Don’t you think I know this surgery is my last chance? If I don’t get the money to have this procedure done within a few weeks, I’ll be completely blind within a year.”

“Then why would you even consider going home now?”

“The surgery isn’t a guarantee. The odds of success are only fifty-fifty. I’m not going to set her up for a rejection on those odds.”

If Kate had to make a choice between the possibility of saving her sight and the welfare of her only child, she could deal with being blind. She’d learn. She crossed her arms over her chest, leaned back and stretched her legs, resting one ankle atop the other.

“Your daughter is why you have to do this.” Debra eyed her with one very annoying eyebrow shooting up. “If he’s her father then he should help.” She was fishing but Kate wasn’t biting. Yet.

“The best thing Alexei Petrova can do for me is go back where he came from.”

“Spoken like a true hardhead.” Debra turned her head away momentarily. But soon enough she had Kate back in her sights. “Why don’t you want help from the one person who truly owes you?”

She rolled her eyes toward Debra. “Believe me, any debt that Alexei owes is better left uncollected.”

Debra turned to her with a determined glare. “It’s true. He’s her father, isn’t he?” Her inquiry, more of a statement than a question, did little to shake Kate’s collected reserve.

Stoic-faced, Kate held Debra’s stare, keeping quiet.

“Well, come on…out with it.” Debra raked her blonde hair behind her ear.

“What exactly do you want to know?” Kate asked, avoiding her peering gaze.

“Well, for starters, how did Alexei Petrova come to be your daughter’s father?”

“Do I really have to explain that to you?”

“I’m serious, Kate. Why isn’t he helping you take care of her?” Debra shook her head and exhibited her trademark serpent’s stare. “How did he go on to become a multi-gazillionaire while you fell by the wayside, struggling to take care of
his
child?”

“Calm down.” Kate cleared her throat, trying to force out the anxiety building inside. It remained. “It wasn’t like that.” No matter the facts, she didn’t like anyone criticizing Alexei. “We were kids. Just seventeen. When his coaches found out about us, they pulled him off the Olympic Tour and took him back to Russia before I realized I was pregnant.”

“You never told him?”

“I wrote him several letters,” Kate said. “The last two or three came back marked
return to sender
.” The notion that he’d do that still pierced her heart. She’d believed their love affair had meant more.

“You don’t know that he was the one who sent them back,” Debra said, as if she knew the thoughts running through Kate’s mind.

“That gets harder to believe after nearly eight years.”

Debra paused, propping her face in her hand and tapping a red-tipped finger against her cheek. “I don’t think he knows.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“I just keep thinking about the look on his face when I walked up.” She paused, draping her arm along the back of the couch. “He looked like a lovesick puppy.”

“Everybody looks like a lovesick puppy to you.”

A jiggling at the door yanked at Kate’s awareness.

Katya
?

“We have to stay. If you disappear now, it’ll look suspicious,” Debra said just above a whisper. “He wants to see you and talk to you. He’s made that clear. And he’s got enough money to track you down if you vanish.”

“Mommy...” Kate’s seven-year-old daughter rushed toward her. “The skating rink is so much fun.” Amusement floated off the child’s voice and delight brightened her eyes.

“Sweetie, I’m so glad you had fun,” Kate said, clasping the child’s hands in hers. She smiled at Angeline, another waitress from the diner who’d come along to help out with Katya. But Kate’s smile hid the truth. Angeline was just one more person destined to find out about Kate and Alexei’s history.

Looks like my past is finally catching up with me
. Many people, including Debra and others in Prufrock, had asked about Katya’s father, more than once. Kate’s answer had always been elusive and simple—her daughter’s father, whom Kate had named as Keith Carlson, was no longer in the picture.

“Do you want to go back to the outdoor rink?” Kate wished she had the power to hide the child’s golden hair and azure eyes. It wouldn’t take a genius to figure out that both had come from Alexei.

“With you? Tomorrow?”

Kate wrestled with the temptation to appease Katya, for the moment, with empty promises. The thought of disappointing her daughter pulled Kate into a one shouldered shrug. “Not tomorrow, sweetie.” The discontent fading Katya’s smile tugged at Kate’s heartstrings. “After the Opening Ceremonies.” She tried to soothe Katya’s despair with a smile and a nod. “We’ll go then, okay? I promise.”

“Pinky swear?” Katya asked, holding up a crooked little finger.

Kate hooked her finger around Katya’s. “Pinky swear.”

“No forgetting.” Katya shook her forefinger at Kate.

“No forgetting.” Kate’s nod lingered long after her voice trailed off. Sometimes, she thought Katya was too mature for her own good. Then again, maybe that’d help if things got out of hand with Alexei.

Katya clapped and giggled with animation.

“Good. Then it’s settled.” Kate squeezed Katya’s hands. “You and I have a date on the ice.”

“Are we going to get to see the skaters compete, too?” Katya batted her baby blues.

Kate fell into the trap headfirst and willingly. “Yes, we are.” She laced her fingers with Katya’s and led her to a nearby couch. “Debra and I got the tickets while we were out.”

Katya jumped up and down and squealed her approval.

“Now...” Kate turned her in the direction of an inner door inside the suite. “Get your bath started. I’ll be in to help you with your hair in a minute.”

“I’ll help her set the water’s temperature,” Angeline said, following close behind Katya.

As soon as Angeline and Katya were out of sight, Debra leaned toward Kate. “Don’t even think about canceling tonight,” she said just above her breath.

“Staying here is not a good idea.” Kate’s fear hardened her tone.

“Leaving is worse.” Debra’s voice was too calm to suit Kate.

Debra glanced at the closed door inside the suite and turned back to Kate. “I don’t know how he’s going to react to Katya. If he already knows or what,” she said softly. “What I do know is...he owes you and he should help you be the best mother you can be to
his
child. And that includes helping you keep your sight.”

Yeah, okay. Debra had a point. Kate didn’t have to like it, but she did acknowledge it. When she made the choice to come to the Olympics in search of an endorsement deal, deep down inside she knew the possibility that she’d run into Alexei was real. She’d just thought Alexei would ignore her and that would be that—so long as she didn’t draw too much attention to herself. Too much attention and Katya might get thrown into the spotlight. Nothing good could come from that—especially if Alexei was going to reject her.

Kate had always assumed that Alexei had received her letters and chose to discard them. Fleeting thoughts that he’d never gotten them sometimes lingered in the back of her mind, but her logical sense wouldn’t let her entertain the notion with much clout.

Now that she’d heard someone else say it, fear consumed her. What if he didn’t know? How was she supposed to tell him he had a seven-year-old daughter?

The idea saddled Kate with a whole new set of problems. Initially, she hadn’t wanted the press to find out too much about Katya because she didn’t want her daughter to experience the hurt that came with being rejected by your father. But now, now she had another concern...what if Alexei did want Katya?

He was bound to be royally pissed off that Kate had kept her from him. Pissed off people—especially ones with money—were capable of serious revenge.

A
lexei stood facing the window, arms folded across his chest. The Olympic Village below was quietly succumbing to the guise of nightfall. Streetlamps glistened against the near-empty outdoor rink, and his thoughts wandered to the little girl he’d seen skating earlier. Drawn to her for some inexplicable reason, he chuckled, wondering if he’d been bitten by the “daddy bug”. Until today, that was the farthest thing from his mind.

His thoughts wandered to Kate.
That’s rich
. He subdued the urge to laugh, stomping it out before it had a chance to gain momentum. Kate Peterson the mother of his future child? Last week, she’d been nothing more than a distant memory.

Warning signals rang on the edge of his mind the moment Serge walked in with silent footsteps. Alexei reveled in his ability to sense the quiet presence of others, even though it drove Serge nuts.

Chuckling softly, Alexei checked his watch. Good. He still had a few minutes.

Serge cleared his throat.