Chapter 18
Chapter
Eighteen
SOFIYA
B oris leads us toward the elevator that will take us from the penthouse and to wherever he plans to hide us away.
I catch Mila’s eye. “The second we get outside,” I whisper, barely moving my lips, “run.”
Mila nods back imperceptibly.
“What are you saying?” Boris snaps, making us jump. He grabs Mila and drags her into the elevator with him. I follow behind.
“I was just telling my sister everything will be fine,” I lie.
“Everything will be fine. I’m not going to hurt her.” Boris sneers down at me. “What kind of man do you think I am?”
The kind who’s kidnapping us. But Boris is so delusional that he would never accept that narrative.
“I can’t wait to give you to Andrei,” Boris continues. “You need to be put in your place. All of you Morozova women need to be.”
“Not Mila. Mila has never hurt you.”
Boris gazes down at my sister while she fights not to flinch. “You’re right. Mila is good.” He runs his finger down her cheek. I fight the urge to vomit, and I know Mila is doing the same.
We reach the lobby of the apartment, and my eyes land on the security guard behind his desk. If anyone could help …
Taking a risk, I run over to him, screaming, “Help!”
The guard jerks up and narrows his eyes at me.
“Help!” I slam my hands against his desk. “We’re being kidnapped!”
He responds in Russian, shaking his head. He doesn’t understand me.
I point at Boris, hoping the guard will understand my nonverbal cues. He looks between Boris and me. Once again, Mila is frozen.
“You bitch,” Boris hisses, grabbing his gun again.
The security guard’s eyes widen, and he scrambles for the taser at his waist, but Boris pulls the trigger, killing him instantly.
I scream and jump back, but I’m not fast enough. Some of the guard’s blood splatters onto my face.
No one else is in the lobby, meaning there’s no one else to help.
Boris grabs my arm and hauls me away. “You shouldn’t have done that. You’re responsible for that man’s death. If you don’t want more people killed, then don’t run.”
I let Boris drag me outside, but the moment my feet touch the sidewalk, I run to Mila, grab her hand, and take off running.
“Damn it!” Boris hisses, chasing after us.
“Where are we going?” Mila asks, panting heavily.
“Just run!”
We make it to the end of the street, when a van pulls up beside us, blocking our way. I start to run around it, but the passenger door opens, and Andrei jumps out. He grabs me before I get the chance to make it far.
“Let me go!” I scream as he shoves me into the van.
“Sofiya!” Mila shouts, right as Boris reaches her and pushes her into the van beside me. Boris gets into the back with us, pointing his gun right at me.
My eyes land on Andrei, as he stands before the door, smiling down at me. “You’re mine now, Sofiya.” He slams the door shut, locking me inside.
Mila and I huddle together while Boris keeps an eye on us. Andrei sits in the front beside the driver—a man I don’t recognize. Every so often, Andrei glances at me. He’s wearing sunglasses, and I know Mikhail hurt his eyes, so I’m amazed he can even see me.
I just have to hope Mikhail will find and save us. The one good thing is that Vik is back home. She can call Mikhail. She can tell him what happened.
“Where are you taking us?” I ask.
“Shut up,” Boris growls.
“No,” Andrei says. “They have the right to know.” He looks back at me. It’s unsettling with his sunglasses on. I can’t see his eyes. I’m cut off from his expression to give me an indicator of how he’s feeling. “I’m taking you someplace Mikhail won’t ever find you. Boris will take Mila back to New York with him. And you …”
“What about me?”
“You’ll stay here, in Moscow, with me. I’ll finally get the chance to touch you. I’ll get to have what Mikhail has had many times before. I’ll fuck you so hard you’ll forget all about him.”
I clamp my legs closer together, only feeling coldness down below. Andrei never touched me before. He’s well past that now. Mikhail made a fool of him when he blinded him, and now, he’s going to hurt Mikhail by hurting me.
“Please, Boris,” Mila whispers, surprising me. He glances at her, his eyes softening. That’s a good thing. He doesn’t hate Mila like he hates Vik and me. Maybe we can use that to our advantage. “Please let me go.”
“Not until we’re back in New York, and you’re married to me.”
“But I don’t want to marry you.”
Boris’s eyes turn hard, and I know Mila made a mistake. “You don’t know what you want. You’re young. But I’ll teach you.”
She physically recoils into me.
I need to get her through this, or Boris will hurt her. She’s too innocent to know how to charm him. How to manipulate him.
But I had my innocence ripped away from me when Mikhail came into my life.
I may still have a lot to learn, but one thing I do understand better is men. Boris and Andrei need to believe we want to be with them. If we can trick them, then maybe we can get the upper hand.
I just need to find a quiet moment to tell Mila this.
“Thank you, Boris,” I blurt out before I lose my nerve. “For not killing Vik.”
He shifts around on his seat and shrugs, sniffing once. “Well, it was the least I could do.”
“We’re so grateful. Mila and me.”
“I’m glad to hear it.” His eyes turn softer again. Good. “You see, I never wanted to hurt either of you girls. It was always Viktoriya who had a mouth on her.”
“She’s a bitch,” Andrei agrees. “Turned me down without a second thought.”
“Don’t talk about our sister like th—” Mila starts to say, but I cut her off.
“I agree. Vik can be so hard to handle. She’s a lot. There have been times I’ve secretly called her a bitch behind her back.” Unfortunately, that’s true. Vik has gotten under my nerves so many times; I haven’t always thought of her in the most pleasant way. But she’s still my sister, and I love her, and I’ll be damned if these men talk about her like this.
I just have to play along long enough to get Mila through this.
Mila stares at me with her mouth gaping open. I stare back, hoping she understands what I’m trying to do.
Slowly, realization dawns in her eyes.
Andrei laughs at my words. “You know, Sofiya, you have more of a backbone than I thought. More sass. I like that. I like making a woman who isn’t naturally submissive submit to me. Is that what Mikhail has done to you?”
“My husband has … done horrible things to me.” It pains me to say this, but I have to. “I hate him for what he’s done.”
“Then, good thing I’m rescuing you.”
“Good thing,” I whisper.
“This is going to be fun,” Andrei says, turning back in his seat. At least I can breathe again without him looking at me through his dark sunglasses.
“I agree.” Boris touches Mila’s knee. I can see her trying to resist the urge to jerk away. Stay strong , I want to tell her. Stay strong .
The car soon stops in front of a plain, tan-colored house. It blends in with all the other houses on the street.
“Where are we?” I ask.
“At your new home,” Andrei tells me. “Where Mikhail will never find us, and we can be together.”
Boris opens the back door and jumps out, motioning at the two of us to follow with his gun. I nudge Mila forward, and with a whimper, she gets out. I want to run again, but Mila and I are outnumbered. Playing along and feeding into the men’s egos is our best bet. I just need to wait it out until Mikhail finds me.
The driver remains in the car and takes off, so we don’t even have a car as a means to escape.
Boris walks us inside the house with Andrei bringing up the rear. It’s plain inside—gray furnishings, gray walls. No personality anywhere. If this is to really be my forever, it’s a depressing one for sure.
“Now, sit down,” Boris instructs, pointing at the couch. “I need to make sure everything is in order for us to leave later tonight.”
“To go back to New York?” I ask.
“Just Mila and me. You’re staying here with Andrei.” He heads into the kitchen, leaving us alone with Andrei, who looks at me through his sunglasses. I want to rip them off his face and hurt him with them.
“What are we going to do?” Mila whispers to me.
“Shh.” Andrei is only a few feet from us. I know he can hear everything we say.
He stands before us, staring down, hands in his pockets. The way he’s standing so casually scares me more than if he were attacking me right now. It’s a stance of confidence. He doesn’t believe Mikhail will find us.
Which makes me wonder— will Mikhail be able to find us?
I can only hope the man I married will protect me again.
MIKHAIL
When I step through the front door, I know something is wrong. For one, the security guard in the lobby was dead. Two, Fedor isn’t standing guard in the hallway.
And three, I know in my gut when something is wrong. I experienced it when I lost Alexei and Natasha. I’m experiencing it again.
My eyes land on two dead bodies in the living room. My first thought is it’s Sofiya, but upon closer inspection, I see it’s Mary and Fedor.
A scream comes from the side of me, and the next thing I see, Viktoriya is coming toward me with a knife. She stops suddenly. “It’s you,” she breathes out.
“What’s going on?”
“Boris kidnapped Sofiya and Mila. I don’t know where he took them.”
“Why didn’t he take you, too?”
“He wanted to kill me, but Sofiya agreed to leave with him if it meant sparing my life.”
At this moment, I fucking hate Viktoriya. Maybe if Boris had just killed her, Sofiya would still be here.
Taking a deep breath in, I remind myself—no. This is not Viktoriya’s fault. Sofiya would do anything to protect her sisters. This is on Boris.
“How the hell did he even get in here?” I ask.
“He came during the party, and he didn’t leave. That’s what he told us.” She clutches my arm. It’s the first time Viktoriya has ever touched me. The desperation in her eyes is apparent, and it churns my stomach. “You have to save them. You have to get them back.”
“Do you have any idea where they went?”
“No. I looked out the window and saw the van they were put into. I watched it drive away. But that was it. Nothing else.”
“Did you see who was driving this van?”
“No.”
“Ok.” I run my hand down my face, thinking hard. “Ok. You stay here. I have work to do.”
“I want to help.”
“There’s nothing you can do, Viktoriya. I will save your sisters.”
“You promise?” There’s a hard edge in her voice.
I want to snap at her and say that, of course, I’ll save Sofiya and Mila. But she’s just as worried as I am.
So, all I say is, “I promise.”
Then I walk into my office and call my inside man at the police department to get video footage of the outside of my house. Within minutes, he sends me something.
And what I see makes my teeth grind together.
Andrei is in the front seat. He’s a part of this. I could have killed him twice now for trying to put his hands on Sofiya, but I didn’t. I only punished him instead. Clearly, he didn’t learn his lesson.
Now that I know Andrei is involved, I can find his other property holdings. Boris doesn’t have anything in Moscow to hide the women. It’s up to Andrei.
I’m coming for him, and I’m going to end this once and for all.
I am going to save my wife because she needs to know I’ll always do that. She can always depend on me. No more hiding who I am from her. No more hiding my past from her.
Sofiya will be back safely in my arms because that’s the kind of husband I am.
SOFIYA
“So, what will happen after Boris and Mila leave?” I ask Andrei.
“Do you want me to give you a sneak peek now?” He grabs my hand and kisses my fingertips. It’s so … strange that I almost want to laugh. “You will become mine in every way.”
I resist the urge to shudder. “How long have you wanted me?”
“Ever since Mikhail married you. I saw you in that wedding dress and knew you needed to be mine.”
“Why didn’t you make your move before Mikhail had me?”
“You know Mikhail.” He drops my hand and steps away. “Always loves being in control. He’s too powerful. At first, I thought he would share you. We’ve shared a lot of women before. So, when he said no to that idea, I was surprised. It only made me want you more. And now, I have you.”
Not yet , I want to say, but I hold it back.
“I have a secret to admit,” I whisper. He leans in close to me. “I’ve wanted you, too, but Mikhail prevented that from happening.”
Andrei’s smile is so self-assured it’s almost comical. Can he really be so obtuse? It’s working for me either way. “Once Boris and your sister leave, we’ll have all the time in the world to be together.” He stands back, leaning against the wall without a care in the world.
I glance behind me to the kitchen, where Boris is on the computer. Getting plane tickets for New York, presumably. Now’s the time to act.
I grab Mila’s hand and squeeze it. She looks at me curiously, and I subtly nod, hoping she’ll understand my silent cue.
Standing up, I approach Andrei. “We don’t have to wait for my sister and Boris to leave.” I trail my fingers down his chest, trying to fight back my nerves.
“I don’t want to wait either,” he admits before leaning down to kiss me.
Closing my eyes, I let him touch his lips to mine. Mila gasps behind us. The feeling of his lips is honestly gross. Cold and wet. But I need to do this.
Slowly, I place my hands on his shoulders, raising them higher and higher until I touch his face. Andrei kisses me deeper.
Without wasting another second, I rip his sunglasses off and dig my fingers into his eyes. He screams and tries to fight back, but I hold on tighter.
“Mila, help!” I shout. Mila runs over and kicks Andrei in the shins, making him stumble forward, allowing me to press my fingers deeper into his eyes.
The scream that escapes him is chilling.
Boris comes sprinting into the room. “What is going on?”
I let Andrei go, shoving him away. He bows forward, clasping his hands over his eyes. I run right for Boris and jump onto him before he can scramble for his gun. We fall to the floor.
Boris tries reaching for his gun at the same time I do. His fingers wrap around it, and he points it at me, but I grab the handle and turn the gun toward the ceiling. It goes off, raining plaster down on top of us. Boris tries bucking me off him, but I’m not letting go this time. I’m not going to be weak. I may be a woman, but I can fight.
Mila joins the fray and rips the gun from Boris’s hands. With trembling fingers, she points it at him.
“Shoot him,” I tell her.
“But I could hit you!”
“Just shoot him, Mila!” I dig my elbow into his stomach as Boris backhands me across the face.
I roll off him, and he gets on top of me, wrapping his fingers around my throat. “Mila,” I choke out.
But she just stands there, frozen in fear.
Then something shocking happens.
Andrei gets up and pushes Boris off me. “Don’t kill her,” he snarls. “She’s mine!”
I use the distraction to my advantage and jump up. Running over to Mila, I grab the gun from her and aim it at the two men.
They both stop short.
“Give me the gun, Sofiya,” Boris says. “You don’t want to kill us.”
“Don’t I?” I ask in a hysterical voice. “You’ve both tried to hurt me too many times. You’ve both hurt my sisters. You two are horrible, horrible people.”
“And you think Mikhail is any better?” Andrei asks. “He’s murdered people in cold blood without a second thought. I’ve seen him do it right before me.”
“I’ve seen him do it, too,” Boris adds. “He’s not a good man. You can come with us, Sofiya.”
“I’ve seen Mikhail kill people,” I say. Both of them look at me with surprise. “I know what my husband is capable of, and I still care for him. It doesn’t make sense, but it’s the truth. Neither of you are good men, but unlike Mikhail, you are both trying to hurt my sisters and me. I can’t have that. You need to die.”
“You really think you can pull that trigger?” Boris asks. “You don’t have the guts.”
Maybe he’s right. Taking someone’s life must change things. But I refuse to be a damsel in distress any longer.
“This is for trying to kill me.” I aim the gun at Boris’s shin and fire. He screams as the bullet rips right through his leg, and he drops to the ground. Andrei jerks back in shock. “And this is for trying to hurt Mila.” I raise the gun to Boris’ head and shoot again.
I land a shot through his head, killing him instantly.
Mila stares, mouth gaping open.
I can’t believe I just did that. I just killed Boris. Holy …
“Drop the gun,” Andrei says, drawing my attention back to him. I startle when I see he’s pulled his own gun out and has it aimed at Mila’s head. “If you don’t, I’ll kill your sister. I only want you, Sofiya.”
“Don’t,” I whisper.
“Then drop the gun.”
“It’s ok, Sofiya,” Mila says to me. “I know you tried your best to protect me.”
Her words eat at my heart. I can’t let Andrei win, but I can’t let Mila die.
I lower the gun.
“Good girl,” Andrei says. I flinch when I hear Mikhail’s name for me on his lips. It just doesn’t feel right. “Now, drop it.”
With a sigh, I drop the gun on the ground. Andrei grabs me and pulls me against his chest. His eyes are bleeding. I’m amazed he can even see at all. “You and me are getting out of here. Say goodbye to your sister.”
“Mila,” I gasp as Andrei shoves me toward the front door.
“Sofiya!” she cries.
“Where are you taking me?” I ask Andrei as we leave the house. “You can’t drive. You can barely see. What’s your plan?”
“My plan is that you’ll be mine.”
I hear something behind us as another loud bang goes off, and Andrei grunts and falls to his knees. Jerking back, I look behind me to see Mila in the doorway, the gun in her hands. She shot Andrei in the stomach.
Andrei still has strength left in him, and he swings around to point his gun at her.
“No!” I shout, reaching for the gun. I grab it as he pulls the trigger. I land on the ground and look over at Mila, hoping and praying she’s alive.
She is.
She’s standing in the doorframe, still holding onto Boris’s gun.
Andrei reaches over me to grab his gun from me, but I spin around on my back and fire—landing a shot straight to his throat. He gurgles as he falls back and lies on the ground, twitching as he slowly dies.
Once the light leaves his eyes, I allow myself to slump onto the ground, breathing heavily, knowing Mila and I just saved ourselves. I thought we would need Mikhail.
Turns out, we only needed each other.
Mila runs over to me and helps me stand back up. “What do we do? Where do we go?”
“We should head back to the penthouse. Mikhail will be looking for us.”
“But what about the dead bodies? What if someone saw us, and we get arrested?”
I place my hand on her arm, calming her down. “Mila, Mikhail will make sure we’re all right. We just need to get back to him now. But first, let’s take Andrei’s body inside. You’re right. We don’t want to draw more attention to us than we need to.”
Together, we drag Andrei inside the house and lay him beside Boris’s body. Seeing both men lying side by side, dead, when they were the most terrifying men around just moments ago is surreal. Mila and I did that.
I did that.
I killed both of these men.
I’ve become a lot more like my husband, partaking in the dark underworld of life. I have blood on my hands, just like him. It makes me understand him better—why he might have killed in the past. Sometimes, you have to do what you have to do to protect the ones you love.
Mila slips her hand in mine and holds on tight. We’ll be forever changed by this. My innocent sister might not be as innocent after this.
Footsteps outside make us both stand to attention.
The door opens, and someone steps inside. It’s the driver. His eyes widen when he sees Mila and me standing over the dead bodies of his employers. He scrambles for his gun …
… but a bullet rips through his head, sending him sprawling to the floor, face down. Mila gasps, whereas I don’t make a sound. I’ve seen so much death today that I think I’m in shock. It doesn’t faze me anymore.
Footsteps follow behind the dead driver, and another man enters the house.
A man I know very well.
Mikhail.
He takes in the scene of Mila and me holding each other for dear life with Boris and Andrei dead at our feet. Without a second glance at the man he just killed, he walks over to me.
What will he say? Will he punish me for murdering people? I wasn’t exactly a “good girl” today. I’m now drenched in the blood of the Bratva.
I knew the Bratva had a hold on me after my parents’ death. It’s just come to collect now.
Without a word, Mikhail opens his arms, inviting me into them.
I don’t waste another second before running right to him.