Marina
Ilie in Stepan's arms, having been startled awake by something, though his house is quiet. The men left hours ago. I heard them lock up and their cars start and drive away, but even then I didn’t get up and leave.
I don't want to go home, even knowing what Stepan said.
If Maksim's dead, I know my father will be furious, and while he may not accuse me of having any part of it, he'll definitely take it out on me.
Besides, I know being pregnant with another man's baby will come up in conversation and he'll pry.
Eventually, he'll force me to abort, and then what?
I want to be with Stepan, and I don't know what that means for the family or my father's businesses, but shouldn't I have a say in how my life goes?
If Maksim is dead, the deal is dead, and I'm free.
I turn a little, pulling away from his body, and shove the pillow under my head harder, when I hear a noise, a crash near the front of the house. It's so loud, I sit up before my eyes are fully open, and immediately, the alarm starts screeching.
Stepan jerks awake, and for a split second he lies there touching his face. Then he jerks to his feet and off the bed like it's second nature.
"Get dressed," he says. "Right now."
I roll off the mattress and grab my clothes from the floor, but my fingers shake. I can't get the buttons right and I give up on half of them and pull my shoes on without tying them.
"What's going on!" I hiss, stumbling through the darkness as I hear Stepan going through drawers. I find my way to him, but he's focused on whatever he's searching for.
"Be quiet," he whispers harshly, pulling me toward the door.
He presses his back flat against the wall beside the frame and leans out for half a second to scan the hallway, then pulls back.
"Someone broke in..." I can barely make out the silhouette of his face, but I see the glint of moonlight off the barrel of a gun in his hand and know what he was looking for.
"How many?" I whisper.
"At least three." He sounds angry, or panicked, I can't tell which, but he reaches behind the dresser and pulls out a second handgun then holds it out to me. "You know how to use this?" he asks me, still talking quietly.
"Oh, my God," I whimper, hand shaking as I take it. Of course I know how to use a gun. My father is an arms dealer. He had me in the range shooting when I was ten years old. But I've never had to fire a gun at someone who was trying to harm me. "Stepan, I can't—"
"Stay behind me," Stepan snips. He didn't even wait for my response. "When I move, you move. You don't stop for anything."
I'm shaking as I follow him into the hallway.
I hear the sound of heavy footsteps around the front of the house and more things being broken.
I can't believe he's so calm with someone in his house.
And it's so dark I can't see where I'm going, so I keep one hand on his lower back to keep up with him.
"Oh, my God," I whimper again as we round the corner into the living room and stop.
"Shh," he hisses, "we have to get to my car.
" There's more light here, a faint glow streaming in from the window near the door that's been broken.
Light from his porch floods the entryway but I can see him reaching to his side table where his keys are.
"Can you get to the car if I take care of them?
" he asks, turning to face me. I hear the jingle of the keys but it's too late.
A boom echoes through the house and he pulls me to the ground hard. His body covers mine as I hear gunfire erupt around me. I wail and scream, but the sounds are swallowed by more loud explosions as Stepan returns fire.
"Who the hell are you? Get the fuck out of my house!" His grip on my arm is so tight it hurts, but I know he's protecting me.
"Give us the girl," someone snarls loudly, which only makes me more afraid. They're here for me, which means they're either my father’s men or Maksim's men. And if they’re Maksim's men, they know Stepan killed him.
"Fuck you!" he shouts, pulling me harder against his body.
I almost can't breathe as he lugs me in a crouching position toward the door.
But a man appears beside us, and Stepan fires, dropping him.
I watch him clutch at his chest for a second before reaching for the weapon he dropped and Stepan fires again, this time killing him.
Blood begins to pool under him and my eyes stay locked on his dying form as I'm dragged closer to the door.
But my breathing is rapid and I feel faint.
It's so loud now with shouting and gunshots, I don't think Stepan even hears the man coming up behind us, but I see him.
He stalks along the hallway, eyes locked with mine as I see who it is.
"Dimitri?" mumble, but his weapon rises and I know he's going to shoot Stepan. He holds a finger up to his lips, shushing me like he wants me to stay quiet, but I don't want to go with him.
These are my father's men, probably sent to bring me home, thinking Stepan has taken me or something.
My body reacts before my brain can kick into gear and with a trembling hand, I point the weapon at him. But when I pull the trigger, it doesn't fire.
"Oh, my God," I whimper loudly, and it comes at a moment of dead silence. "Stepan!"
He spins wildly, seeing the man and firing off two rounds before Dimitri can get his shot off, and then he drops me to the ground.
I fall, crawling toward the wall and losing the gun somewhere in the darkness, but I'm too scared to shoot, anyway.
I curl into a ball and press my palms against my ears, crying hysterically.
This can't be happening. They've come after Stepan, which means they either know the baby is his, or that he killed Maksim, or they've followed me here. Either way, it means I have to tell him I'm pregnant now before this gets any worse.
"Get up," he hisses, grabbing my elbow. I know he doesn't mean to be harsh, but he yanks me toward the door, stumbling every other step.
When we burst into the colder night air, I'm smacked by how wet everything is. Rain mists on my face, and my feet slosh in puddles as he urges me toward his car. It starts before we even get to it, and he tugs the door open and shoves me inside. But the shooting never stops.
Bullets pound the doors and trunk and the rear window smashes as more rounds hit it.
When he climbs in, I'm happy to see he's not injured, but the way he throws the car in gear and peels out throws me into the door.
I cling to the handle for dear life as his tires spit up gravel and mud, and the side of his car grinds along the brick pillar as we pass through the gate.
"What the hell!" he snarls, watching his rearview mirror. "Did you tell someone where you were going?"
I clamber for the seatbelt, snapping into place with one hand before clinging to the door again. "I swear, no. I didn't. I just got an Uber."
He's so angry, glaring at the mirrors as he speeds up the street. When I look over my shoulder, I see two sets of headlights. There were way more than three men. We just didn’t see them all. "Drive faster!" I urge, but he pounds the steering wheel.
"Fuck!" His eyes flick between the road ahead and the mirror to watch behind us, but I can tell his mind is in a million different places. "I didn’t get my phone. We have to ditch them, or we can't even get somewhere safe. I can't call for help."
This can't be happening. What if he gets in an accident and kills us both? What if he kills the baby?
"Stepan, please. You're scaring me." I've never seen him like this before. Normally, he's calm and put together, strong and confident. Not this.
"Wat do you want me to do, Marina? Should I stop and talk to them?" He's so angry, so terrifyingly furious.
"No, it's just... Please." I press a hand to my belly and feel it roiling. I don't think I'll throw up, but if he even gets in a fender bender, I could lose the baby. "Stepan..."
"What is going on? We left Orlov clean. There's no way he traced it to me, and even if they did, how would they get to my house!"
I'm shaking, glancing over my shoulder as he accelerates in excess of a hundred miles an hour, zipping down city streets to evade the men I know are part of my family. They could die. We could die. This is insane.
"Stepan!" I whimper again. "Please, you're scaring me."
"Who is it, Marina? Who's after us? You didn't shoot that man. Did you know him?" Now his gaze bounces from my face to the mirror too, and he's not even paying close attention to the street. We're gonna wreck so bad.
"I recognized him. It was Dimitri... He works for my father." I'm gasping for air, almost hyperventilating.
"Why would your father come after you?" Stepan takes a hard left, squealing the tires, and the back end of the car smashes into a city trash can on the street corner. "What did you tell him?"
I think I'm going to be sick.
Looking back one more time, I realize I have to tell him the truth. The only reason my father would send me after me is if they believe Stepan is the man I’m sleeping with. He'd see it as an insult at best, or open rebellion, maybe worse.
"I'm pregnant, okay? And he knows it. He knows I'm having a baby, and if he followed me to your house, he probably knows it's yours." The words come out in a rush, broken only by sobs as tears stream down my cheeks.
Stepan slams on the gas pedal and zips through another intersection, this time not speaking to me at all, and I hear a loud screech and boom.
Behind us, one of the cars has hit something and a fiery ball rises into the night sky.
It blocks the street for the other car chasing us, and when Stepan turns again, this time down an alley, the sight fades from view.