Chapter 33
EVA
Three weeks. Three weeks with a ring on my finger. Three weeks since Evgeny and I became a family, with babies on the way. Three weeks since he promised to care for me for as long as I would have him, to love me, to be my partner in life and love, words he keeps repeating.
As I look out one of the library windows at the stormy Pacific, one of the twins kicks.
It happens far more often now. Evgeny can’t feel them yet, but he’s gone to every doctor’s appointment with me.
He saw the ultrasound, heard the heartbeats, and I teared up at the look of wonder on his face.
I could’ve sworn I saw a glimmer in his eyes, but it had to be the screen’s reflection or the room’s dimness. Evgeny Kucherov does not cry.
Except maybe when he sees his children for the first time.
“Eva.”
Lost in my head, I don’t hear the library door open. When I look up, Vasya stands in the doorway, and I jolt.
“Vasya?”
I haven’t seen him in weeks, which is odd, but I don’t pretend to know what Evgeny has him doing. I know better than to ask.
As I start to stand, his gaze drops to my belly. He goes still for a moment, then hurries toward me, waving off my attempt to get up.
“Don’t you dare get up just for me.” He flashes me one of his grins as I settle back, and I can’t help but smile back.
“Hey, don’t get all mother hen on me, too. I’m not that big. I can still move just fine.” Mostly. “Evgeny is bad enough.”
Vasya’s smile slips for a moment into something that sends an alarm spiking up my spine. But the grin is back a second later in all its mischievous glory.
He sinks onto the arm of the chair catty-corner to mine. “You doing okay? I heard you were in a car accident.”
“I’m fine.” I wave my left arm. “This shoulder is almost fully healed, and the doctor said I could take off my sling last week, as long as I’m careful with it. And I just have this scar now.”
I brush back my hair with my left hand, showing him the thin silver line across my forehead, the edges still tinged purple and red.
He draws a breath to say something, then freezes, his gaze locked on my hand. I follow it and realize he’s looking at my wedding ring.
“Oh.” I flush and shrug, a small smile I can’t hold back. “Yeah. Didn’t Evgeny tell you?”
Vasya swallows and licks his lips. “No. He didn’t.”
His voice is flat, his eyes the same, and the hair on the back of my neck stands on end. I meet his gaze. “Where have you been?”
He shrugs, stiff, before he answers. “Oh, here and there. Always keeping busy. Ev sent me to get you, by the way.”
“Oh, yeah?”
His blue eyes find mine, and something off in them sends another shiver down my spine.
“Yeah, he wants me to bring you to him for lunch.”
Something is wrong. I don’t know how or why I know, but I do. My stomach flips, and my heart starts hammering. I know Evgeny didn’t send him, since he’s tied up in corporate meetings all day, and I’m under strict orders to rest.
“Okay, yeah. That’ll be nice.” I give Vasya a bright smile, hoping it looks real, or at least real enough, and push myself to my feet. “Let me get changed, and we can get going. I’ll be right back.”
I’m trying to remember where I put my phone, but I can’t. Pregnancy brain has fully settled in, and I lose it multiple times a day now.
I make my slow way out of the library, aware of Vasya’s attention following me, burning a hole in the back of my neck.
Or maybe I’m imagining all of it. Maybe there’s nothing wrong with Vasya, and Evgeny did send him for me.
I don’t have my phone, right? He could have tried to get ahold of me and… I just don’t know.
But I want to call him to make sure.
There’s always a Kucherov man with me, and with my new status I know he’ll help. Except there is no one waiting outside the library.
Another chill runs down my spine. Something isn’t right. The estate is always quiet, but I swear it’s too quiet.
Tiptoeing down the hallway, I search for someone, anyone, but it’s like a bad dream, the next guard isn’t at his usual post, either.
“My phone. Where’s my damn phone…” I mutter, trying to remain calm, but my heart rate is tripping over itself.
I turn the corner leading to the bedroom, and it’s all I can do to muffle my scream as I stumble back against the opposite wall.
The guard who was supposed to be outside the library is dead, a slash so deep and long across his neck that I can see inside. His eyes are open wide, staring sightlessly at the ceiling, blood pooling beneath him and across the floor.
Shock freezes me in the hallway. Bile crawls up my throat. I retch and force it back down.
“Nasty, isn’t it?”
Vasya stands at the corner of the hallway, hands casually in his pockets, staring down at the dead man. I know he’s seen death. I know he’s dealt death. But his expression tells me what I need to know. It’s impassive and cold, with a light in his eyes that sends prickles of ice over my skin.
I know I have to get away from him, but I can’t make myself move.
“I tried to save you from all of this, Eva.” He raises his eyes to me, and I don’t see any humanity in their blue depths, only a wild look that sends a bolt of fear through me.
“Well, first, I tried to get you to fall in love with me. But Ev took that, too. Like always. Staked his claim and warned me away from you.”
His grin has a feral edge, an expression that entirely lacks humor or warmth. It reminds me of a death’s-head grin, and I finally start edging away from him.
Vasya follows, nonchalant, hands still in his pockets.
“Then I tried to drive you away. I really did, so you wouldn’t have to be part of this.
But you’re so damn stubborn. You and I would have made a great team, you know that?
That fire of yours drives me wild.” His expression flickers to a leer.
His gaze falls on my rounded stomach, and he shakes his head.
“I really tried. But you’re so damn stubborn I had to kill your brother to finally get you to run. ”
My vision tunnels, and my ears buzz. Vasya’s words echo through my head until it’s all I can hear, see, and breathe.
I finally had to kill your brother.
Evgeny isn’t the monster. Vasya is.
Panic squeezes my lungs and stomach. I have to get away. I have to get away now.
“And then you go and get yourself pregnant.” Vasya shakes his head again, like this is all my fault. “And you go back to him. He always gets what he wants, you know. The bastard’s always been like that. Whatever he wants, women, money, power, it just comes to him.”
I’m still trying to back away from Vasya and the barely controlled rage in his voice and his eyes. But he keeps coming toward me like the inexorable consequence of everything I’ve done these past six months.
“Why, Eva? Why did you have to fall for him? And then marry him?” Vasya takes his hands out of his pockets, but only to hold them in fists so tight his knuckles turn white.
“I thought better of you, but you’re just another dumb bitch falling for his fucking charms. Just can’t see past all the money and the green eyes, can you? ”
“You’re like a brother to him,” I gasp. “He calls you his brother.”
Vasya rolls his eyes like I’m an imbecile, his jaw clenched so tightly veins stand out in his neck.
“We aren’t brothers. The only one Evgeny fucking cares about is himself, a point he’s made loud and clear.
Case in point, he didn’t tell you I was the one who killed your brother or hit your car.
I did make sure you wouldn’t be too hurt, you know.
That was all me. I was trying to scare you away, not kill you. And he’s known it for weeks.”
My stunned silence is all the answer the man needs.
“Yeah, I didn’t think so. See? Evgeny doesn’t give a shit about anyone but himself. And you fell for it.”
His words stop when his feet do, and Vasya glances up at the heavy curtains on either side of the tall window. The haze on the horizon has swallowed the view of the Pacific, and rain sheets down the glass panes.
As I watch, still creeping backward, Vasya takes his lighter from his pocket, flicks the wheel to light it, and holds it to the curtains.
It takes a moment, but the heavy brocade begins to smoke before sparks erupt into flames and race up the fabric.
Vasya does the same with the other panel, and soon both are on fire.
He stares, transfixed, as the flames grow and spread, crackling, hungry, racing up the curtains to the wood paneling on the ceiling. I know this is the moment, my only moment, and I turn and run.
I’m quickly out of breath, my gait awkward, but I reach our bedroom and almost manage to slam the door. Something stops it at the last second and slams it back into my nose. Pain explodes in my face, stunning me, and I stumble back as the door bursts wide open.
“Thought you could fucking get away from me, did you?” His grin manic and terrifying, Vasya grabs my wrist in a grip like iron as blood starts to trickle from my nose onto my upper lip.
I taste copper. “If you think I’m done with you, you have another thing coming, no, I’m going to use you to take everything from Evgeny, just like he took from me. ”
“Vasya, let go! Let go!” My screams go unanswered as I struggle. My free hand brushes one of the built-in shelves as I thrash to find something solid. There’s one of the brass candlesticks Evgeny keeps up there.
I pull backward, leaning with all my added weight. My fingers brush the candlestick once, twice, and I finally grab it the third time. Vasya has only a moment to react, his eyes wide when he realizes what I’m doing, before I bring the solid brass down on his head.
With a yell, he releases me, hands clutching the spot where his forehead splits open as he stumbles back. I catch myself on the wall and push off to run again.
My breath comes in hard gasps. Blood still spills out of my nose. My hands shake so badly I can barely control them, but I manage to unlock and yank open the door leading outside.
I hear crackling as heat from the fire behind me grows. The rain is coming down in heavy sheets and hits me instantly. I nearly trip over another dead guard, the downpour washing away the blood from the pavement around him. I dart for the yard and safety. If I can just get far enough!
Someone grabs the back of my shirt and yanks. A hand fists in my hair, pulling hard against my scalp, and I scream.
“Fucking bitch.” All semblance of nonchalance is gone from Vasya’s face as he wrenches my head back so I can see him. The look in his eyes is feral. Blood streams down one side of his face from the cut above his eye. “You’re just like him. I should have known.”
I scream. I scream until my voice is hoarse, but Vasya only laughs.
“Keep screaming, Eva. Nobody is coming to save you.”