Chapter 24 - Katerina
My heart is pounding so heavily in my chest that it feels as though my ribs might snap from the force of it.
Mikhail drives through the security gates of Yulian’s mansion, but there are no guards anywhere. The place looks abandoned.
This is bad. But maybe it’s not. Maybe I can make this work better.
If the guards were here, the pretense would have been up already. Mikhail would have escaped with me in custody.
Mikhail stares through the front window of his car, up at the mansion.
“No security?” he asks.
“No need, really. As I said, it’s still under construction.” I pull at the door handle, and Mikhail sneers as he watches me climb out of the car.
“No funny business, pretty little thing. My guards don’t play nice when people don’t obey me.”
I nod, then roll my eyes for dramatic effect. “You have some major trust issues, Mikhail. At what point do you accept that I came with you willingly?” I sass.
Mikhail looks taken aback for a moment, possibly even embarrassed to be called out by a girl.
He nods to his guards. “You two, stalk the perimeter. You follow me. Shoot anything that doesn’t agree with you.”
He follows me up to the front door, and I punch in my code to unlock it. “This door is made from wood that I had imported from Africa. Zebrawood.”
The door clicks and opens when I push against it. Mikhail shoves me out of the way to walk in first, his gun raised.
I huff loudly, pretending to be offended as I follow behind him. “You aren’t a man of high taste, then?” I ask, sounding overly posh.
“I like luxury, Katerina. But I also like to be alive. The first time I tried to take you it didn’t go so well. I want things to go smoothly this time,” he muses, his eyes darting everywhere.
The first time? Is he the one who was behind the kidnapping that Yulian saved me from?
“Why did you try to take me that first time?” I ask casually, tilting my head to the side in curiosity.
“I wanted you. I take what I want,” he shrugs.
“It didn’t work, so I tried to negotiate a marriage deal with your brother.
That didn’t work either. So here we are,” he gestured around the mansion.
“So, this is your place. You got a designer doing it all for you?” he asks, changing the subject as though we were talking about the weather, not him taking me against my will.
My heart thunders again, but I swallow hard, forcing myself to stay in control.
“No, mostly I’m designing it myself, and then I have a brilliant carpenter who is hand-carving special items for me.
This is the foyer. The right wing of the house is almost finished.
Just a few touches here and there. I want a floor-to-ceiling bookshelf over here,” I gesture towards the wall in front of us. “Do you read, Mikhail?” I ask.
“Perhaps,” he huffs, bitterly.
His eyes roam over the living room, and I gently take his arm.
“Come and look at the fireplace. I’ve just had this mantel put in.
It’s completely hand-carved. You’ll love the detail.
Everything in this place is made with explicit attention to detail.
I refuse to accept anything but perfection. I’m sure you’ll agree.”
He nods, letting me guide him into the living room, stopping to admire the carvings around the fireplace.
“Perfection is a non-negotiable,” he mutters, running his fingers over the beautiful work that Yulian has created.
I hate the fact that he’s touching things.
I hate the fact that he’s in our home. But I’m doing everything I can to stall him and drag this out to give Yulian time to figure out where I am. I don’t know what else to do.
My hope is that Ali found my phone pretty quickly after I was taken and saw the message I was typing. If she did, she would have phoned Yulian right away.
“Where are your things?” Mikhail snaps.
“Upstairs, come, I’ll give you a tour on the way,” I say, gesturing for him to follow me, which I know he was going to do anyway.
As we walk through the house, I stall at every chance I can get.
Stopping to talk about one of the artistic pieces Yulian has made, talking about them in the same way he talked about them to me—with passion, enthusiasm, and knowledge.
At least he told me enough about everything that I can sound like I know what I’m talking about now.
My heart won’t stop racing, though.
I’m starting to feel lightheaded as we get closer to the end of the tour. There isn’t much more I can do in the way of stalling, so I’m going to have to move on to phase two of my plan. An outright escape attempt.
Mikhail follows me into the bedroom, and I tug my closet open, pulling out an overnight bag and starting to unpack some of the evening dresses. I place them on the bed, chatting the entire time, making Mikhail think I’m at ease even though I’m so scared I want to puke.
“Oh, my perfume,” I blurt out, my eyes wide. “I’ll grab it quickly, then I think I’ve got everything I need.”
Mikhail folds his arms across his broad chest and glares at me. “Can we hurry this up? I’m losing patience.”
“If you’re already losing patience, how in the world are you going to handle having me as your wife? A lady needs time to get ready for things, you know,” I say in a sing-song voice as I walk towards the bathroom. To my relief, Mikhail doesn’t follow me. He hovers near the overnight bag.
As soon as I’m in the bathroom, I slam the door and lock it.
In a matter of seconds, his heavy fists are pounding at the door. Then his boot as he and the guard with him start trying to kick it down.
I don’t have time.
I don’t have even one second to doubt my plan.
I kick off my high heels and bolt barefoot to the window.
I shove it open and climb out onto the ledge.
My stomach lurches. I’m one story up. I can jump this, but from here it looks higher than I expected.
My survival instincts are at war, one side of my brain telling me I’ll die if I jump, another side telling me I’ll die of I don’t.
From inside, I hear shouting, angry yelling.
Leaping, I land on the grass beneath the window, roll once, then I’m on my feet and running like crazy.
I run and my lungs scream at me. They scream for air, I can’t seem to drag them because of the panic and fear surging through me.
The side gate comes into view across the garden, and I focus everything I have on it. I just need to get there.
But Mikhail’s guards are closing in.
They’re too close. And faster than me.
One of the men dives at me and grabs my arm, spinning me off balance and throwing me to the floor. I scream in agony as my shoulder strains, but even as the pain shoots through me, I’m back on my feet, scrambling out of his reach.
When the gunfire snaps loud and clear right behind me, my entire body goes rigid as I tumble to the grass, ducking with my hands over my head. I am going to die. This is it. Mikhail would rather kill me than let me escape.
I kneel, looking down at my body, expecting to see blood gushing from my stomach. I’ve heard that you can’t feel it when you get shot because your body goes into shock.
I brush my hands over my stomach, but there is no blood. There are no bullet holes.
Gasping with relief, I’m about to stand up again, but even more gunshots erupt. Three. Four. Seven. Eight. It’s deafening and terrifying.
Behind me, someone grabs me and pulls me to my feet. I hear screaming, and it takes me a moment before I realize it’s me. It’s my own voice.
A hand grabs at me and spins me around. “Kat, Kat, it’s me!” Yulian shouts, grabbing my face, forcing me to look at him.
I stare in absolute disbelief, then relief hits me like a tidal wave, and I leap into his arms.
“You came. I knew you’d come,” I sob as his arms wrap around me.
He sets me down. “We’re not safe yet. Artur is looking for Mikhail.”
“Artur?” I spit in shock. “He’s here?”
“He helped me,” Yulian says, almost bitterly.
From inside the house, we hear a shout, several gunshots, and a scream of pain.
“Stay here, Kat. Do not move!” Yulian demands before he bolts towards the danger.
Not a chance am I staying here. That’s my brother. And my husband.
I sprint after him, skidding into the living room to find Artur and Mikhail in a standoff.
“You fucking gave her to me!” Mikhail snarls. “Now you want to go back on that deal? I have every right to take her. She’s mine.”
“She’s my sister, you fucking savage, not a possession,” Artur growls.
“You’re useless to me, Krolik,” Mikhail mutters, appearing to move in slow motion as his finger presses against the trigger.
A bullet spins from the barrel of his gun. At the same time, next to me, Yulian lifts his gun and fires two shots.
I watch the bullet pierce Artur’s left shoulder and scream.
In the corner of my eye, Mikhail drops to the floor. I glance at him, his blood still sprayed out behind him like mist in the air.
Dropping to my knees at Artur’s side, I roll him over to see how low the bullet went. Was it in his heart?
“Ow, stop moving me like that, dumbass. I got shot, in case you didn’t see,” he groans.
I burst out laughing and pull him into a hug. “You’re okay, it’s just your shoulder. You’re okay,” I sob against his jacket.
“It still hurts, Kat!” he scolds me, trying to push me away, but he’s laughing now, too. My laugher is almost giddy. Shock, happiness, relief, but also way too much adrenaline pulsing through me.
Yulian stands behind me and places his hand on my shoulder.
“Let’s get him to a hospital. The bullet probably shattered the bone.”
“Oh, right. That would hurt quite a bit,” I stammer, gently letting Artur go.
Yulian leans over, and without a word, he helps my brother to his feet and lets him lean on him as he guides him out to the car.
I glance back at the scene in our living room. Blood. Horror. Death.
But not my death. Not anyone I love. Yulian found me in time. He kept me safe. Just like he promised.
I close my eyes for a moment, thanking the universe, trying to calm my shaken heart.
Artur sits in the front seat, next to Yulian, and from the back seat, I listen to them bickering all the way to the hospital. I’m trying desperately to hide my grin, but in the end, it doesn’t matter. Neither of them looks back at me; both are too busy lecturing each other.
“You should have stayed outside and waited for me before you chased Mikhail,” Yulian huffs.
“What, you think I haven’t done this type of thing before? I don’t need your help, Andreev.”
“Clearly you do. Because, for the record, I saved your life.”
“You? You didn’t save my life. I had it covered. You came in there and distracted me.”
“You got shot, asshole. You’re busy bleeding all over my car as we speak. You want to try and gaslight me into believing that didn’t happen? I saved your life, just accept it.”
“I got shot in the shoulder. It’s not exactly fatal. Stop gloating over the one good thing you’ve ever done in your entire life. This doesn’t fix your karma.”
Back and forth, back and forth, all the way to the hospital.
I shake my head and smile, because for some reason, this feels like a breakthrough. At least they’re talking. That’s a step forward.
We arrive at the private hospital, and Artur shoves the door open, hurting himself in the process.
Yulian scolds him and runs around the side of the car to help him.
“I don’t want your help, man. I want you to leave,” Artur snaps.
“Art, stop this,” I say, stepping to his side to hold him up.
“I don’t need your help either, Katerina. I’ll find my own way inside.” He turns his back on both of us and walks away.
I sigh heavily. Maybe it wasn’t progress. I had high hopes, but Artur is as moody as ever. And it was his almost-ally that did all of this, so it doesn’t even make sense for him to be angry with us.
“Come on, kitten, let’s go back to the mansion, grab what we need, and go stay in the penthouse. I’ll get a crew in to clean up the mess.” Yulian pulls me into his arms, turning me to face him. He places his hand beneath my chin and lifts my eyes to his. “Are you hurt at all? Did he…”
“No,” I shake my head adamantly. “He was a monster, and I hate to think what would have happened if you didn’t find me, but he didn’t have time to hurt me. Just to scare me,” I sigh.
“My love, I was terrified. I went crazy. I lost my mind when I realized you were taken. I beat the crap out of your brother in front of all of his guards in his office,” he scowls.
“Is that how you got this bruise?” I ask, gently touching his temple.
“He might have gotten one or two shots in,” Yulian smiles sadly. “Kat, honestly, I can’t lose you. I don’t know what I would have done. I’ve never been so afraid in my life.” His voice is strained with worry. It breaks my heart.
I thread my arms around his waist and hold him tighter. “You’ll never lose me. I belong to you. I’ll always belong to you,” I say, hugging him close to my body.
Yulian buries his face in my hair and takes a deep breath.
“I’m just so happy you’re okay. I love you, kitten. More than anything in any universe.”
I grin as I snuggle against him. “I love you, too. Now will you take me home so we can take a shower together? My body is hurting, and I need some of your love,” I giggle, pulling away so I can look up at him.
“You can have anything you want,” he smirks, leaning down to kiss me.