Chapter Twenty-six #2
My stomach twisted, what donor? Was he the reason Rodion sold me? Rodion’s voice came sharp and firm. “Don’t make any calls. I’ll handle it.” The way he said it left no room for argument.
But Dorothy didn’t stop. “With everything going on, sir, you really need that kidney.” She hesitated, then pushed, “Your condition is worsening—”
He cut her off. “Alessia stays here until I find Renat.”
Before I could react, the door opened and I stumbled, caught off guard as I was leaning on it. Rodion stepped inside. Instinct pulled me back. His eyes met mine, and everything clicked into place. He didn’t sell me to Leonid in exchange for money but…kidney? No. No.
A breath caught in my throat as my legs moved on their own. “I … I’m sorry.” The words slipped out as I turned to the hallway and made for the front door, not sure where I was heading. By the time it sank in, I was already running.
Sweat clung to me. My feet ached from running through the dense undergrowth, but I pushed forward, my body acting on pure instinct. Every breath came sharp, rattling in my chest, and yet, despite all the distance I thought I had covered, I came to a staggering halt.
Rodion stood in front of me, like an immovable force. Smoke curled from the cigarette in his fingers. His gaze locked onto me as if he had been waiting all along.
A slow exhale left his lips, the smoke unfurling in the air between us. His voice cut through the quiet. “You’re running in circles.”
Rage twisted deep in my chest. My fists clenched at my sides, nails digging into my palms until they burned. I hated him with every breath in my body.
I swallowed. “I needed fresh air.” My voice was as steady as I could make it.
Rodion’s lips curled into a smirk, and he gestured to the vast emptiness around us. “Then have it.”
Something about his indifference made me want to scream.
I turned away instead, walking past him toward a fallen log.
My knees buckled as I lowered myself to the ground, drawing them up to my chest, wrapping my arms around them.
I only had one question, just one. I stared at the ground, my thoughts racing.
Would he hand me back to Leonid after he finds Renat?
He sold me, not for money or power, but for a kidney. My hands tightened around my legs. I hadn’t even noticed Rodion moving until he pushed a burning cigarette in front of me. My breath caught as I stared at it.
“I just have one question.” I forced the words out, holding myself together because if I didn’t, I would scream at him.
And I was tired of breaking. “When you find Renat, will you take me back to Leonid?” Saying it aloud made my chest tighten.
I looked up at him. “I heard it. You needed a kidney in exchange. So will you?”
Rodion leaned against a tree, his face turned away like he didn’t owe me a single answer.
“What do you want?” he simply asked.
He didn’t just say that. I stood, heat rising under my skin. “What do I want?” My voice cracked with breath. “I want to go home, to wake up from this nightmare and remember it as just a bad dream. I want to go back to my parents and pretend none of this ever happened.”
He finally looked at me. “Something else?”
“I…” I raised my hands, frustrated. “It doesn’t matter.”
“Nothing?”
Saying nothing, I turned my back on him. It was useless. He would do what he wanted, with or without my words. He always had. I flinched when I heard him close behind me, his breath brushing my ear.
“Okay. Go,” he sounded like a threat dressed as mercy. “You’ve got five seconds to disappear.”
Startled, I spun to face him. “I swear, I’ll go.”
“Three seconds.”
I walked backward, afraid to take off. My eyes stayed locked on him, waiting for him to pull out a gun. But he didn’t move. I was ready to vanish, but his hand gripped my waist.
“Too slow,” he said, and before I could breathe, he moved and pinned me against a tree.
Fury surged through me. “Let me go.” I twisted, but his hands held me like iron. “Please, let go of me.”
His hand slid under my chin, angling my face. “I’m tempted to grant you one wish, Little Gem, but you are not creative enough.”
“I want to go home,” I whispered to his face.
“One last chance,” he declared.
What was I thinking? That he would let me go because he saw I was innocent? He found out and still sent me to Leonid instead of setting me free.
Gathering what courage I had left, I said, “Don’t send me to Leonid.”
The words came like a prayer. Useless.
“Done.” He brushed his thumb across my lower lip, and I stared at him. Did he just agree? “And what do I get in return?”
He was too close, and I was painfully aware of his eyes examining me like he could see through everything.
“I have nothing to give.”
He gave a low laugh, eyes flicking to my lips, then back to mine. “You have a lot, Little Gem.”
“What do you want?” My attention shifted to the pressure of his knee parting my thighs.
“Now we are talking,” he said. His thumb teased the edge of my mouth, trying to push it inside. I clamped my lips shut. “You’ll find out soon enough.” He pressed his body into mine, locking me against the bark. “Now go back in the house and have that wound looked at.”
He pulled back without warning and walked off.
“Can I ask one more favor?” My voice followed him as he walked away.
“We are done here,” he declared without looking back.
“Can I make one call? Just one.” I hurried after him like a child chasing something that might vanish. “I just want to hear my mother’s voice. That’s all.”
He kept moving, cold as ever, but I didn’t back down. I had nothing left to lose, and this moment might not come again.
“One minute, I swear.” I pushed. “Rodion.”
The second his name left my mouth, he stopped. I halted to avoid colliding with his back. We stood there, the air around us tense with unspoken rules.
He slowly turned to me and stared at me like he was trying to decide if I was worth it. After a beat, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. He held it out and I grabbed it before he could change his mind. “Thank you, I’ll be quick, I pro—”
He walked off before I finished. The phone felt foreign in my hand, as if it weren’t just a device, but a test. I looked down at it, then at his fading silhouette.
Did he just leave me with his phone?
It didn’t even ask for a passcode. All I had to do was swipe. Why would he leave me with it? Was saying his name a trigger?
If that was his weakness, I would say it a thousand times. I remembered when he broke into Leonid’s place, how he stopped cold when I whispered his name, just as he did now.
My fingers trembled as I dialed my mother’s number. The ringing filled my ear, and when she answered, the world fell quiet.
“Mamma,” I whispered, and everything else vanished.