Chapter 19
Chapter
Nineteen
VIKTORIYA
G leb drags me out of the café, then shoves me into the backseat of a van. Sofiya and Mila are thrown in after me. Once we’re all in, Gleb hurries into the driver’s seat with Leo next to him.
I stare at Leo—thinking about how much he looks like his father. Akim still haunts my nightmares. I killed Leo’s father. No wonder he wants revenge.
“We have to do something,” Sofiya whispers.
I’m frozen.
“Vik!” she hisses.
I can only stare at Leo as Gleb drives away from the café. I’m back in that room with Akim, about to get raped. I have his father’s blood on my hands.
Sofiya taps my cheek. “Vik!”
I jerk back, snapping out of my daze. “What?”
“We have to do something.”
“There’s nothing you can do,” Gleb says. “I’m going to get what’s owed to me. Now, stay quiet, or you won’t like what I’ll do to you.”
Mila whimpers as she huddles into Sofiya. Of course, it’s Sofiya she turns to. It’s always Sofiya.
I lean against the wall and think about our predicament. Kidnapped again. Will we be sold again?
My hands are shaking. I’ve never been this unsteady in my entire life.
Will Aleksander find me? Will he even care that I’m gone?
Gleb eventually stops driving and pulls up to a small, dilapidated house. “Get them,” he says to Leo.
He gets out of the car and opens the back door, signaling for us to get out with his gun. Leo hasn’t said a word since helping Gleb kidnap us. I stare at him until he grabs my arm and hauls me from the car. He pushes me to the door.
Where’s the fight in me? I fought hard when Akim tried to hurt me. But now, I have nothing left inside me. I’m truly broken.
The inside of the house stinks. It’s old and musty.
“What is this place?” I ask as Gleb walks in behind me.
“A place I rented for the time being. We’re only staying here long enough until I get what’s owed to me.” He slowly smiles, and it sends shivers over my entire body. “Well, you’ll be staying here to entertain Leo. He’s not happy with you for killing his father.”
“Your father tried to rape me,” I snap at Leo, who only stares at me with a dark expression. There’s no remorse on his face. Only anger.
Sofiya and Mila huddle together while I stand in front of them.
“Call your husband,” Gleb says, handing me his phone. “Tell him to send the money owed to this address.” He gives me a slip of paper with an address written on it. “He better do it quickly, or Leo will start hurting you.”
I start to plug in Aleksander’s phone number when I stop. What am I doing? Where is the fight in me? I’ve always been a fighter. I can’t change that.
I lower the phone. “No.”
Gleb’s eye twitches. “What do you mean, ‘no’?”
“I don’t know Aleksander’s number. I never bothered to memorize it.” Not true. I know his number. I’m just not going to play by Gleb’s rules.
“Call him.”
“No.” I throw his phone to the ground, smashing it under my heel. Leo stalks forward and backhands me across the face. I stumble against the wall.
“Vik,” Mila shouts.
I stare at my sweet, innocent baby sister. This is the third time she’s been kidnapped, and yet she has managed to retain her innocence. I’m no longer innocent. I’ve been through too much.
Sofiya had to kill Boris when she and Mila were kidnapped last year by him. She knows what it’s like to fight. I can’t disappoint her by giving up now.
I need to fight back. I need to do this for my sisters. I need to do this for me.
What Gleb has done to me has haunted me for the past month. I’m tired of it. I’m over it. I fucking hate it.
I turn to Gleb, ignoring the stinging pain in my face. “You’re not getting any money from anyone.” With a snarl, I lunge for him. I manage to get a good swipe in at his face before Leo grabs me around the waist and throws me to the ground. My still-healing rib screams in pain.
“Vik,” Sofiya says, rushing toward me.
“You call your husband, then,” Gleb tells her. He grabs Leo’s phone out of his pocket and tosses Sofiya the phone. “Call Mikhail. Have him send me the money.”
“No,” I say right before Leo brings his foot down onto my stomach, knocking the wind out of me.
Sofiya doesn’t hesitate to grab the phone. “I’ll call Mikhail.”
“No!” I scream. “We can’t give Gleb what he wants. He doesn’t deserve it.” Leo kicks me in the side. The pain is barely anything anymore. All my focus is on my sisters. “Please, Sofiya. Don’t.”
“I have to. I can’t let him hurt you.”
Mila nods in encouragement. That’s the thing with my younger sisters. They’ll do anything they can to save each other, including me. I love them for it.
But I can’t let them get hurt because of me. I can’t let Sofiya call Mikhail and have him give Gleb money. I’d rather die than see Gleb get what he wants.
Sofiya dials Mikhail’s number. “I’m ok,” she says after he answers. “Gleb took us. He wants money. You need to give him the money at this address.” She rattles it off. “Ok. Please hurry.”
Gleb rips the phone from her hand and tosses it to Leo. “Good. Now, you girls will wait here with Leo while I go collect the money owed to me.”
I know that if Gleb leaves, I’ll never get the chance to hurt him. Maybe Mikhail or Aleksander will kill him. That would be justice.
But it wouldn’t bring me contentment. I need to be the one to do it. If I’m ever going to get over the pain Gleb caused me, I need to find my strength again.
Leo is distracted by putting his phone back in his pocket, and I use it to my advantage. I grab his ankle and tug. He stumbles back but doesn’t fall over. His eyes narrow as he rushes at me, but before I can defend myself, Sofiya throws herself on top of Leo. He struggles with her, giving me the chance to stand up.
I run for Leo and grab the gun that’s sticking out of his pants. I whirl around and point it at Gleb.
Except … he has Mila in his arms with his gun pointed at her head.
I hesitate.
“Drop the gun,” Gleb orders. “Or I’ll shoot sweet Mila’s fucking brains out.”
“I thought you liked her,” I say.
“I did. When she was useful to me. She no longer is.”
“If you want to shoot someone, then shoot me,” I say. “It’s me you hate. It’s me you can’t stand. So, just do it. Fucking shoot me.”
“What are you saying, Vik?” Sofiya asks. “Don’t ask him that.” By now, Leo has shrugged her off him. He stands behind me, looking confused, like he couldn’t believe a woman could overpower him. And one woman couldn’t. But there’s three of us. Sofiya, Mila, and me.
If we work together, we can get through this.
Without waiting, I whirl around and fire at Leo. The bullet lands in his stomach, making him drop to his back with a groan.
“What the fuck did I just say?” Gleb snarls.
That’s when I hear the next shot.
And feel the pain in my leg.
With a cry, I fall to the ground as blood seeps from my calf from a bullet hole.
“Vik,” Mila sobs.
If there was any chance I had a dancing again, Gleb just dashed it once more.
Which means I have nothing to lose.
“I just want my money,” he says. “And if you’re dead, I won’t get it. So, get up.”
“You fucking shot me,” I snarl. Leo lies behind me, his breathing ragged as he slowly bleeds out.
“That’s because you never learned, Viktoriya,” Gleb says. “You never learned to put aside your fucking attitude.”
“It’s because of my attitude I’ve been able to do a lot with my life.” I ignore the pain in my leg as I use the wall to push myself to stand. “You always underestimated me, Gleb.”
“I will shoot her,” he says, sticking his gun harder against Mila’s head. She winces and cries out.
“Vik,” Sofiya hisses. “Be careful.”
“I know what I’m doing,” I snap at her.
“Do you?” she snaps back.
That’s the thing with Sofiya and me. We will forever bicker because that’s just who we are.
But we will always love each other.
Help me, I mouth to her.
Her eyes widen as she looks from me to Mila. Subtly, she nods.
“Lower the gun!” Gleb shouts.
I turn back to him and raise the gun higher. “No. And stop telling me what to do.”
His eyes are trained on me, so he doesn’t even notice Sofiya slowly creeping closer to Mila.
“You need to learn to watch your attitude,” he snarls.
“And you need to learn to stop kidnapping me. It never ends well for you.”
Sofiya grabs Mila, and when Gleb turns to them, I use his distraction to my advantage. I fire. The bullet hits him straight in the leg, knocking him to the ground. With a cry, he tries to shoot me, but Mila runs forward and kicks the gun out of his hand before he gets the chance.
“You were supposed to be good girls,” he groans, holding onto his leg.
I walk up to him and point the gun at his head. “I was never a good girl.” Then I pull the trigger, and he flops onto his back.
Dead.
Letting out a sigh, I drop the gun.
“Oh my god, Vik,” Mila says in a low voice. “You killed him.”
“I had to.”
She throws her arms around me into a tight hug. “I know. I know.”
Sofiya watches the two of us for a moment before joining the hug. “We did it.”
“Yes, we did.” I stare at Gleb’s dead body, feeling fucking vindicated. I killed him. He thought he could come back into my life and take control.
Well, I showed him.
Then, the pain from the bullet hole in my leg jolts me right back. I cry out and bend over.
“We need to get you to the hospital,” Mila says.
“Call Alek,” I say. “I need him.” And I know at that moment just how much I mean those words. I need him more than anything. Even though I killed Gleb without him, I still need to know I’ll be ok, and the only person who has ever made me feel that way is Alek.
Sofiya grabs Leo’s phone and hands it to me. “Call him.”
And I do.
“Viktoriya?” Aleksander’s voice carries through the door before he enters. Mikhail is right behind him.
I’m seated on the dusty, moldy couch, pressing a rag to my wound. Sofiya and Mila remain seated beside me, almost like they’re offering me their protection.
The moment Aleksander locks eyes with me, I know I’ll be all right.
He rushes to my side. “What happened?”
“It’s obvious what happened,” Mikhail says, gazing down at the dead bodies of Leo and Gleb. “Who killed them?”
“Vik did,” Mila says softly.
Alek’s eyes widen. “Are you hurt?”
“Shot in the leg.” I nod down at my wound.
“Let’s get you home. I’ll call the doctor.” He stands up to call, but I grab his hand.
“Have Mikhail call. I just want you with me right now.”
His eyes soften as he sits back down. “Ok. I’ll stay.”
We both know he means more than just at this moment. What might have started as a challenge for both of us has blossomed into something more.
For the first time since meeting Alek, I know I love him.