Chapter 49
CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
AVELINA
In the days since we got the news, Sofia has taken Geliy’s death better than expected.
She said, “It’s like he’s on one of his work trips but for longer this time.
And while he’s gone, God will look after him in Heaven.
” I’ll need to keep an eye on her and be there for whenever she needs to talk about it.
I can’t help thinking about the day when I finally left Geliy. About when he revealed what he really thought about our relationship. My mind wanders back to that conversation…
“It’s for the best,” he tells me with a casual shrug, barely looking at me, like this is a conversation about what to have for dinner rather than our entire life splintering apart.
My stomach twists with unease. Although I’m the one ending it, there’s something in his tone, a sharp edge beneath the words, that makes my pulse start thudding too fast. “What do you mean?”
“It’s not as if this was a marriage based on love,” he snaps.
The words hit me like a blow to the chest. My breath stutters. And my whole world tilts on its side. “What?” I croak. Because even though our relationship is at an end now, I thought the start of it was at least based on love.
He doesn’t even hesitate with his reply.
“I mean, that’s not why I married you. Look at you.
” He waves a hand at my body. “You were never much of a catch to begin with, but since you’ve had the babies, you’ve let yourself go.
You’ve got fat.” He puts extra emphasis on that last word, and humiliation tints my cheeks red.
My lips part, but no sound comes out. My heart pounds so hard it’s all I can hear.
He presses on in an ice-cold voice. “My mother was right all along,” he continues. “She always was against the idea of me marrying you. I should have listened to her to begin with.”
My throat burns. His mother has always hated me and has made that crystal clear in a thousand ways, but this is a knife twisting deeper. “Your mother?”
“Yeah, she said that you were just looking for a meal ticket.”
It’s like he’s physically striking me. My skin prickles with shame and fury. My voice shakes, but I force the words out. “You know that’s not true. I married you because I loved you.”
He finally looks me in the eye. And what I see there makes my knees nearly buckle. “I only married you because I had to. Because you were pregnant,” he says, each word hard and brutal. “That’s all it came down to. That’s the only reason I let you shackle me and chain me down.”
And the truth shatters me. Because I thought our beautiful babies were born out of love.
His jaw tightens. “Tell me the truth. Did you get pregnant on purpose? Just to trap me?”
For a second, I can’t even comprehend what he’s asking. This is a stranger wearing the face of the man I once adored. “No!” I choke out. “Of course I didn’t. How…could you even think that of me?”
His expression doesn’t flicker. “Well, that’s what my mother thought. She even said it at the time. And I reckon she was right all along…”
I shake my head back into the present. It’s all in the past now. I don’t regret leaving Geliy. But I feel so sad for the children—Sofia is so young to have to deal with this.
My thoughts keep rattling through my brain. About Geliy’s death. And about Gennady…
I’m sitting in the back seat of one of Viktor’s SUVs, hands folded tight in my lap, knuckles pale against my jeans. The windows are dark and tinted so heavily I can’t see the world outside unless I press my forehead to the glass.
But I don’t do that.
Because inside the car feels safe.
Or it should.
Except my chest hasn’t unclenched since we left the Kremlin.
I’d rather driven myself, but that’s not an option with my car in the shop. Something about the alignment, or the tires, or all of it—I stopped listening. Maybe it was just the universe telling me not to leave the house. But I need to go and buy Sofia new clothes.
So, here I sit while Artyom, one of Viktor’s soldiers, drives me to the mall. Maybe the change of scene will help me.
But I know it won’t…
I’ve tried looking at the silver lining. I protected my family from Gennady. I did what needed to be done.
But I don’t think I’ve really felt settled since I killed Gennady.
The sound of the car striking him still echoes in my dreams sometimes. But it’s the silence afterward that haunts me. The weight of it. The way Gennady slumped, the life just seeping away little by little.
But I’d done it. Clean. Deliberate.
And I haven’t cried over it once.
That’s what lingers.
“Miss Avelina.” Artyom’s voice is clipped and cuts through the silence.
I blink, looking up from my hands. “Yes?”
His gaze meets mine in the rearview mirror, eyes narrowed. “Not to alarm you, but we’ve had the same black SUV two car lengths behind us since we joined the main road.”
Ice slides down my spine.
That’s a long way to have the same car following us—multiple blocks and exits later.
I shift forward in my seat, trying to glimpse in the mirror what he sees. And the way his hands tighten on the wheel tells me this isn’t paranoia. It’s instinct.
I lick my lips. “Do you recognize it?”
He shakes his head once. “No. There’s nothing to tell me who it might be. And it’s matching our speed and lane changes exactly.”
I swallow. Dread settles in my gut.
Artyom calls Viktor on the Bluetooth.
It rings once before Viktor picks up. “What’s wrong?” His deep rumble fills the SUV’s cabin, tense and alert.
“We’ve got a tail, boss,” Artyom says. “Unmarked black SUV. Been with us since we pulled out of the neighborhood.”
Viktor’s curse is loud and clear. “Do not lead them to a safe house. Just keep going like you planned. Understand?”
“Copy.”
The call ends abruptly.
Artyom checks the mirror again, then flicks the turn signal, changing lanes.
I peer over my shoulder, squinting through the back window.
The black SUV does the same lane change. It’s closer now. There’s just one car between us.
My pulse picks up. I curl my hands tighter in my lap to stop them from shaking. My heart pounds like it’s trying to kick through my ribs.
Is it the FSB? One of Gennady’s goons? Or is it another threat altogether—something to do with whatever Geliy was involved in?
I have no way to know
And that makes it worse.
A shaky breath leaves me. I’ve seen this play out before.
It feels like a lifetime ago—in another car, with Geliy beside me, my hand shaking just as hard.
Back then, it had been an enemy I never got the name of.
They’d rammed the car, then tried to pull me from it.
Geliy killed two of them right there in the dust and broken glass. He hadn’t even blinked.
Artyom makes a sharp right down an exit toward the Strip, jostling me.
The black SUV follows.
He curses in Russian under his breath. No more cars are between us as we take the off-ramp. “They’re closing in.”
“Can you lose them?”
His expression is grim as he accelerates.
Outside the window, the city blurs. Street signs, glitter, and glam rush past in smears of color. My stomach lurches with the motion. I brace myself, gripping the leather seat as we swerve down a side street.
The SUV behind us doesn’t flinch or falter.
It’s like they know where we’re going.
“Miss!” Artyom barks, “Brace yourself! They’re going to try something.”
The edge in his voice twists the knife in my gut. My hand tightens as my heart lodges in my throat.
Then it happens.
We’re slammed into.
I’m thrown forward in my seat.
The SUV rear-ends us. Hard and sudden. Metal-on-metal shrieking as the back of their car shoves us violently.
I cry out, thrown against the seatbelt. It burns into my collarbone and shoulder.
They’re not just following us.
They’re trying to ram us off the road!
“Hold on,” Artyom grits, yanking the wheel.
We swerve again. Tires scream against the asphalt. The world narrows into blurs of motion. I grip the seat with white knuckles, blood roaring in my ears.
I’m back there again—Geliy grabbing his gun, me screaming, the smell of gasoline and burnt rubber thick in the air.
“There’s protection under the seat!” Artyom yells.
“Protection?”
He locks eyes with me. “Just in case, Miss.”
“I can’t...” Guns terrify me, especially since Viktor was shot. “Just get us somewhere safe—please!”
He doesn’t question my reluctance and takes a hard left onto an access road behind a construction site, kicking up a cloud of dust and gravel. It’s deserted—nothing but fencing and the skeleton of a future shopping complex. Steel beams jut into the sky like ribs torn from a giant’s chest.
We’re boxed in on three sides.
One way in.
And only one way out.
Artyom hits the brakes, throws open the door, grabs his gun. He aims at the SUV barreling toward us. It brakes harshly, sliding into a skid and screeching to a stop ten feet away.
The doors fly open.
Three men leap out. Big. Burly. Not amateurs. Not randoms.
I grip my leather seat, grabbing under it until I feel cold metal. It’s heavier than I remember.
Artyom crouches behind the door and aims. “Get down!” he roars at me.
I do as told. Let the gun fall to my feet as I duck.
Artyom’s first shots crack like thunder, echoing off a steel beam.
My mind drifts back to that car chase with Geliy. That danger. That all-consuming panic I felt then and am feeling again now.
What kind of world have I stepped into so willingly again?
What kind of world did I ignore because I thought I was safe?
And have I ever been truly safe with Viktor?
The sound of gunfire is rapid. It keeps coming. Artyom curses as he reloads.
I chance a look—one man is down.
But it’s not enough.
Terror claws at me. I squeeze my eyes shut.
Did I really think it ended with Gennady?
A bitter sound bubbles up my throat, but I swallow it down.
A squeal of tires tears through the air.
My head lifts just in time to see another SUV racing in behind the first.
More men sent to take us out.
And we’re sitting ducks now.