Chapter Ten
Anastasia was so glad to see Gustov. The moment she saw him, she threw her arms around him and hugged him, like she always did.
“It is so good to see you. It feels like it has been too long.”
She pulled away, but only long enough to hug him back, this time even tighter.
She knew Bogdan was busy, and he wanted her to stay inside the apartment at all times.
Gustov closed the door and it was strange how he nudged her into the apartment building. In fact, she was finding his behavior a little strange.
How did he know where to find me?
She smiled at him and he nodded his head. “I know, it’s why I came to see you. I thought it had been too long and I wanted to make sure you were okay.”
“I’m fine. I mean, it has been a lot to take in with being married and that letter, and you know, everything.”
“Your mother would have been very proud of you.”
She nodded her head. “Do you want a drink? Tea? Coffee?”
“Coffee, please, black.”
She brushed past him, and in the back of her mind, she couldn’t help but wonder why Bogdan’s men hadn’t alerted her to Gustov’s arrival.
Stepping into the kitchen, she turned the kettle on, and then pulled out her cell phone, trying to see if there was a text from her husband. There was not.
Maybe this was a surprise. Bogdan did like to give her surprises.
“What are you doing?”
Gustov asked.
She couldn’t help but jump, holding her cell phone in her hand. “Just seeing if Bogdan had called or texted.”
“Has he?”
“No, nothing.”
She pocketed her cell phone and reached for the cupboard above the sink.
She had that feeling in her gut. The same one Gustov had told her to never ignore, and it was swirling inside her. “Has the threat been eliminated?”
Anastasia asked.
“Huh?”
“You know, the reason you were on the run and couldn’t stay before. My father, remember?”
“Oh, yeah, right, your father is not aware of my current location.”
She watched him as he looked around the apartment. Gustov had never cared for material things, at least according to her mother, and her own memories, yet she saw him touching certain items. Vases she knew cost a lot of money. In fact, the few items he admired, including some of the artwork, were the most expensive in Bogdan’s apartment. Bogdan himself had told her he liked nice things.
“You know, I cannot remember how you and Mom met,”
Anastasia said. “I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately, and I know she adored you.”
“We met through a mutual friend.”
“Her family? My uncle, my aunt?”
“No, I can’t remember who it was.”
She glanced over to Gustov, and he’d gone out of sight of the kitchen, however, he didn’t know that the reflection of the microwave gave away his position, and she saw him loading up his gun. Her instincts were kicking in.
Since she and Bogdan had admitted their feelings to one another, he’d also made her aware of the weapons that covered each of his property. No room was left bare, and all she had to do was slide open the drawer, lift the latch, and there was a small handgun. Her hands shook as she reached for it. She checked to see if it was loaded, which it was, and the safety was off.
What the hell was happening?
The kettle whistled, and she nearly jerked back.
“You’re jumpy,”
Gustov said.
She spun around to find him in the entrance to the kitchen, but no gun in hand.
It was the strangest thing. All of her life, her mother had told her she could trust Gustov. He was the only man in their life who could be trusted, and yet as she looked at him, it was like all the missing pieces were falling into place.
She turned back to the kettle and poured the coffee. This time, her hand was steady. She didn’t know how it was possible, but she was able to gain some composure. She took a deep breath and expelled it.
“I’m not jumpy. I’m just not used to whistling kettles. It takes me by surprise.”
She let out a little laugh and wondered what she could do or say to get him moving.
With his coffee made, she handed him the mug. “Why don’t we take this out into the sitting room?”
she asked.
“That would be good.”
She watched him go and saw the bulge in the back of his pants.
“It was my father, wasn’t it?”
she said. They had already cleared the kitchen, and with one hand, she held her mug of coffee. With the other at the base of her back, she had her hand on the gun she found in the kitchen.
Gustov stopped and turned around to face her. He dropped the fa?ade for the first time in her life. Gone was the man with the smile on his lips and the laughter in his eyes. The man she thought could do no wrong and was more of a father to her than her own. The man she thought she could trust with her life, but all of that was a lie. This man was not to be trusted.
Staring into his eyes, she saw the real man for the first time. He was evil, cruel, and she knew he had been working with her father.
“It was going to be so easy. Your dad couldn’t stand Evelyn, but I didn’t mind her. She was pretty and kind, but he just wanted the money. We had no idea it was going to be so difficult for her to part with it. So, we came up with a plan. He’d take as much as he could while they were married, and I would attempt to get her to fall in love with me as her knight in shining armor who came to rescue her. Once the money was in my name, she was easy to dispose of.”
“She never gave you a penny,”
Anastasia said.
“No, Evelyn had been taught by her parents to never allow her heart to fool her. Even as they started to die, she had her suspicions.”
“But you were taking money before then.”
She recalled Bogdan telling her about the offshore accounts.
“Of course. Do you think I was going to trust your father? He was going to leave me out in the cold. He wanted me to do all the dirty work while he got all the money. Not happening.”
“So, which one of you was attempting to kill me?”
Anastasia asked.
“That would be me and your father. We have a competition going to see who the best man is. The one who kills you gets the prize.”
She threw her hot coffee at him and immediately took off.
“You fucking bitch,”
Gustov said.
Her heart was racing.
She couldn’t believe she and her mother could be so wrong about him, about all of them. Her father and Gustov had been working together this whole time, and she hadn’t even considered that. She felt so fucking betrayed and angry, and so many emotions flooded through her.
Her hands shook, and she quickly moved from her current hiding place, but it gave away her location, and Gustov was ready. He fired the gun, and she screamed. It didn’t hit her, and she heard him tut.
“I trained you, Anastasia. Do you really think you have what it takes to kill me?”
There was no way she was going to answer that. Right now, she wasn’t prepared for anything. Fear chased down her spine, and she felt sick to her stomach.
She had to stay focused. Gustov had told her that her life would hang in the balance, and one day it would either be life or death. She was not going to die today.
With the gun in her hand, she leaned around the corner, and from her years of training, she knew exactly where he was going to be, so she fired. She heard his grunt and knew she had gotten him.
Getting to her feet, she ran toward the bedroom, easing the door closed but not allowing it to click. There was no way to make her escape.
She pulled out her cell phone, and there was a message from Bogdan telling her to go to his men. It was too late.
There was no time for her to text back, to ask him what to do, as the bedroom door swung open, and there stood Gustov. She saw blood pooling at the side of his head. The shot she had fired hit his ear, taking it clean off.
She had taken a chance, but now he held the gun on her.
“I can make this hurt, or I can end you quickly.”
Holding up her gun, she looked straight down the barrel at him. “Do you really think I’m going to let you take me out so easily?”
she asked.
“You don’t have a choice. You’re going to die today, Anastasia, and you’re going to see your mommy.”
She hated him.
In that moment, she didn’t know who she hated more—Gustov for the lies he weaved around her mother, or her father for the life he could have given her but didn’t.
The cruelty of men.
“Fuck you,”
she said. She couldn’t recall ever cussing at him. As long as she had known Gustov, she had been respectful. Her mother had asked her to be. Now, as she looked at him, she saw he had taken her mother for a fool. All this time, Gustov and her father had been working together.
Well, despite everything Gustov knew, there were a few things he didn’t know.
Looking down the barrel of that gun, she thought about her mother, and she didn’t even hesitate. She aimed and fired.
Gustov did not know that she had practiced whenever he wasn’t around. A single head shot was easy for her, because that was what she had practiced. Admittedly, she’d practiced in the hope of finally getting rid of her father.
Gustov, with a bullet wound in his head, fell to the floor, dying instantly.
Just as he collapsed, she heard the sound of the apartment door opening, along with the voice of her husband.
“Bogdan!”
she screamed his name. She ran past Gustov’s body and met her husband as he came into the main corridor.
She didn’t even hesitate. As she threw herself into his arms, he grabbed hold of her.
“You’re alive,” he said.
“Gustov is not.”
She pulled back and held onto his face. “He was working with my father.”
“I know. I know.”
“You do?”
“He’s gone,”
Bogdan said. “I’ve taken care of it.”
She looked past Bogdan to see that Galkin had entered his apartment. “I killed Gustov,”
she said. “I shot him in the head.”
Bogdan cupped her face and smiled at her. “I’m so proud of you.”
“There are not going to be any consequences?”
she asked, suddenly realizing the full extent of her actions as she looked over at Galkin.
“Oh, there will be consequences,”
Galkin said. “But not the kind you think. I have a feeling Bogdan’s wife is going to be just as feared as the man himself.”
From the look in Bogdan’s eye, she knew those were the consequences she would be happy to pay.
“I love you,” she said.
“And I love you. Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For keeping yourself safe. I … couldn’t … I don’t want to live without you.”
She looked at him, and she knew this was the man for her, the love of her life.
And then, she kissed him.