Chapter 22
TATIANA
It's warm and muggy as we step out of the casino doors and walk toward the man in a dark suit standing by a black sedan.
Rurik's car is parked at the curb and at least a dozen of Dimitri's guards are positioned around it like they're protecting the president.
The show of force should make me feel safer but instead it makes my stomach twist with anxiety.
Dimitri walks beside me with his hand on my lower back.
He hasn't let go since we left the penthouse, and I can feel how tense he is under his fake smile.
He doesn't want to send me away, but he's doing it anyway because he thinks it's the right call.
"Rurik," Dimitri says, nodding at the man I've never met. He's intimidating—biceps as big around as my thighs and a dark expression on his face.
"Yeah, Boss," he says, dipping his head at Dimitri in return as they both turn to me.
"This is Tatiana. Take good care of her." Dimitri's hand in the small of my back gives me a nudge as I look up at the imposing creature in front of me and shudder. He's scary and I don’t like this, but what can I do if I don't obey them?
"Put your bag in the trunk." Rurik opens it, and I lift my bag into the trunk as a feeling of dread swarms my belly.
Dimitri turns me to face him and cups my face with both hands.
"Two weeks, maybe three. Then I'm coming to get you.
" How can he sound so reassuring and certain when he has no idea how deep it goes?
Those police splattered the news story on every single news channel in the state and the men who did it know it's my fault.
"I don't want to go," I whimper into his embrace. "Please don't make me do this."
"I need you to do this." His thumbs brush across my cheekbones and he grips me harder. "I need to know you're safe while I handle things here." There's such a sincerity in his eyes, I have to believe he really means it.
"But what if something happens to you?" This entire time, I've been so worried about what would happen to me that I haven't stopped to think what might happen to him. I've been angry with him and frustrated with how he controls me. But now I know I care about him. "What if you can't come get me?"
"I will." He leans down and kisses me softly, his lips savoring mine in a true goodbye. "I promise I'll come for you because I care about you."
I hate everything about this, but I believe him. Dimitri really does care. I can tell it by everything he's doing.
"Okay." I wipe my eyes. "I'll go, but you'd better keep your promise."
"I will." He kisses me again and says, "Now get in the car before I change my mind."
I turn to Rurik who's standing beside the open passenger door. "Take care of her. If anything happens to her, I'll kill you myself."
"Understood." Rurik nods. "She'll be safe with me."
I climb into the front seat and Dimitri closes the door. Through the window, I watch him step back and say something to the guards. They all nod and start fanning out, dispersing to whatever job he just gave them. Then Rurik gets in the driver's seat and starts the engine.
We pull away from the curb, and I turn to look out the back window. Dimitri's still standing there watching us leave. He doesn't move until we turn the corner and he disappears from view.
"He cares about you very much." Rurik glances at me, and I feel a shudder of anxiety. "I've known Dimitri for fifteen years and I've never seen him like this over a woman."
"Like what?" I settle back in my seat.
"Desperate." Rurik turns onto the highway heading out of the city. "When he called begging me to take you, he said he'd owe me whatever I wanted if I kept you safe."
"He begged?" That doesn't sound like the Dimitri I know. I lift an eyebrow in skepticism and narrow my eyes at him. Men like Dimitri don't beg.
"On the phone, at least." Rurik smiles slightly. "In person, he's too proud. But yes, he begged. So I'll do my job and get you to Moscow in one piece."
I watch the city pass by outside the window and try not to think about what Dimitri's going to do to stop all this chaos.
That man would probably walk into a burning building to put a bullet into my enemy's head if he knew it meant I'd be safe, and all the while, the risk to his own life would be so great, he may never return.
An hour passes in silence because I'm so stuck in my head, I don't know what to say to someone I've never met before.
But it's peaceable silence, at least. Rurik seems content enough with it.
We're well outside St. Petersburg on a stretch of highway with nothing but trees on either side when my head starts pounding and I reach into my purse to look for pain medicine.
Rurik gets a funny look on his face as the car starts to make a funny noise, then judder a little.
"What's that?" I lean forward, listening and turning to him. He frowns at me and scowls.
"I don't know. The fuel's low, but we should be good." Rurik frowns again as he checks the dashboard. "The engine light just came on."
The car continues to shudder, but now it's losing speed too. Rurik guides it to the shoulder and we roll to a stop beside a small filling station that looks like it hasn't been used in a while. The building is abandoned with boarded windows and weeds growing through the cracked pavement.
"This doesn't feel right." I look around at the empty road. "Maybe we should call for help instead of stopping here."
"I need to check the engine," he says matter-of-factly, then he puts the car in park. "It might be something simple I can fix. Besides, we can't drive forty kilometers an hour all the way to Moscow."
He gets out and pops the hood, and I watch him through the windshield as he leans over the engine and starts poking around.
My migraine is getting worse and the bad feeling in my gut won't go away, and the tiny sliver of a view I get isn't showing me anything.
I won't just sit here feeling helpless. Besides, my pain meds are in the trunk in my bag, not my purse like I thought.
So I unbuckle my seatbelt and get out. "What's wrong with it?" I hug my arms over my belly and squint down at the engine. I know nothing about them, but I can't just sit still.
"Stay in the car," Rurik grumbles, but he doesn't look up. "I'm trying to figure it out."
"I just want to see." I walk closer.
"I said stay in the car," he snaps. "That isn't a request."
The tone makes me step back feeling thoroughly chastised, and I walk around to the trunk to get my bag. The pain medicine is in the front pocket and I need it before this headache gets worse.
I pop the trunk and reach for my duffel, but I notice the white powder dusting the gas tank cover. I lean closer and touch it with my finger before bringing it to my nose, only to inhale the sweet scent of sugar.
Someone put sugar in the fuel tank.
My body makes the full connection before my mind does as the distinct feeling of being watched settles over me. I stiffen and turn toward the front of the car as my feet grow heavy and my chest feels like it might explode.
"Rurik," I mutter, but he's so busy, he can't hear me. "Someone put sugar in—"
Movement near woods catches my eye and I freeze as three men emerge from the tree line on the other side of the road. They're dressed in dark clothes and carrying guns. One of them raises his weapon and points it at Rurik who's still bent over the engine.
"Get down!" I scream, but it's too late.
The gunshot is deafening.
Rurik jerks and stumbles backward clutching his shoulder. He reaches for his own weapon, but another shot rings out and he drops to the ground in a heap as I scream in terror.
I rush to his side to see blood pooling under him and a look of panic on his face. His forehead is covered in droplets of sweat and his eyes are wide in fear.
"Oh, my God." My hands hover over the wound, not knowing what to do. "Hold on. Just hold on."
"Run." He grabs my wrist with surprising strength. "Get out of here."
"I'm not leaving you." Tears blur my vision.
"You have to." He coughs, and blood sprays from his mouth. "They're coming for you."
Footsteps crunch on gravel behind me, and I turn to see the three men approaching. The one in front has his gun trained on me and the other two flank him on either side.
"Please." I hold up my hands in surrender and whimper, "Please don't kill him."
"Too late for that." The leader's voice is cold. He aims at Rurik and fires two more rounds
Rurik's body jerks and then goes still. His hand falls away from my wrist and his eyes stare at nothing, and a raw howl of grief and terror tears from my throat.
"Shut her up," the leader growls, and another one moves toward me with his gun raised. They're gonna kill me. This is it. I'm dead now.
"Dimitri will save me." The words tumble out in a rush. "He'll come for me and he'll kill all of you," I spit hostilely, and the man pauses and narrows his eyes.
The leader holds up his hand and the other man stops. "Dimitri Gravitch?"
"Yes…" I mumble, and I'm shaking so hard, I can barely speak. Using his name may be a mistake that draws him right into the middle of the chaos, but I know it's true. As soon as he finds out what they’ve done to Rurik, he'll come.
The three men exchange glances, then the leader lowers his gun slightly. "You know him?" He uses the tip of his gun to make my chin lift, and I grit my teeth. "Do you mean something to him?" He squints and almost smirks at me.
I don't know what to say. If I tell them we're together, they might kill me anyway. But if I say nothing, they'll definitely kill me. So I do the only thing I can think of.
I spit at the leader's feet and turn my face away from him.
"He won't ever let anything happen to me." I’m still terrified, but I let it turn to anger. "And when he finds out what you did, you'll be sorry. All of you."
The leader wipes the spit from his shoe onto Rurik's pants leg and looks at the other two men. He mutters something in a language I don't know and they have a bit of a back and forth, but I know what they’re thinking. Instead of killing me, I've become their new favorite toy.
They're going to use me to draw him out, and when he comes, they'll kill us both.
They grab my arms and haul me to my feet kicking and screaming, but they're incredibly strong and insistent.
They drag me toward a van parked in the trees that neither I nor Rurik noticed at all.
The back doors are already open and they throw me inside, and I bounce on the hard metal and feel it scrape my skin.
Before I know it, there's a bag over my head even as I'm still screaming, and something hits me hard in the back of the head and blackness consumes me.