24. Kira
KIRA
I've been staring at the ceiling for over an hour, turning from one side to the other, kicking the sheets off and pulling them back on.
My neck aches every time I swallow, and my eyes are swollen from crying.
But every time I close them I see Timur's face, the way he looked at me like I was something he needed to cut out of himself—a diseased organ that no longer functions and is killing him.
I sit up and swing my legs off the bed, unable to lie still anymore.
I can't just lie here feeling sorry for myself knowing that he still believes killing my family is going to protect his.
My heart has to believe that maybe there's still a version of this where he listens to me about his friend and stops ordering the senseless killing of my entire family.
I promised Uncle Victor I would do my best, and I can't give up.
So I slip on a pair of shorts and a T-shirt, then don my robe and walk to the bedroom door. Timur was so angry when he stormed out, he didn't even lock it, so I step out of the room cautiously.
The hallway's empty and the house is mostly quiet, but I do hear voices coming from somewhere across the house.
I'm shocked Dryden isn't standing guard outside the door like normal, or one of the other men whose names I don't remember.
And I can't believe Tim was so upset, he's not even paying attention to me.
The study door is open a crack. A strip of light cuts across the hallway floor and the voices are clearer now.
I stop a few feet from the door and pause, closing my eyes briefly to let my hearing focus on what they're saying.
I recognize Dryden and Timur, and finally, Morin, that sick bastard.
He's a poison to anything about Timur that's actually good and the man can't even see it.
It makes me so angry. Why does he cling to that man so hard and refuse to see how evil he is? Why didn't he want to listen to me?
"The meeting happens the first Thursday of every month at the same warehouse, same time, with same people. Victor runs it personally and brings everyone. Everyone who leads is there, so if we hit it right, we take out the entire leadership in one move."
I don’t even know how Morin would even know all this shit about my family if he weren't really doing exactly what Victor says.
I told Timur, and he doesn't care. He hasn't even verified how Morin is getting his information.
He could be asking how Morin knows this, but he's too busy plotting to destroy my family.
I lean in on the wall to steady myself, but my heart is wrenching violently in my chest. I want to run in there and smack them all, make them stop what they’re doing. That is my father and uncle and brother they’re talking about killing, and I don't know how to stop them.
"How solid is this intel?" Timur asks. The urge to rush in there feels so overwhelming, I can barely stop myself. I grit my teeth but my chest feels ready to explode.
"Rock solid. I've had eyes on that warehouse for weeks. They don't deviate. Victor's a creature of habit and it's going to get him killed."
Liar... He's been in bed with my family for years, and he fucked up. He fucked up so badly, my uncle wants to kill him for what he's done and what he knows. Morin just wants to destroy all the evidence against him and any trace that he was double-crossing his own family.
"Dugan will be there?" Dryden sounds antsy, like he's wanting to get moving fast. I'm so glad that our family meeting isn't for another forty-eight hours. It means I still have time to warn them not to show up. That thought makes my heart stop pounding and start racing.
"Semyon, Victor, the brother..." Morin is scheming his evil, and he's going to pay for it. I'm going to make sure. "If we go in heavy, we end the entire Mirov threat against us, and then it's just cleanup after that.”
"Fine," Timur snarls, but he doesn't sound happy.
I can't see him from where I stand, but I know his tones the way I know his body.
I've sensed and felt him so deeply, it feels like his emotions are my own.
But he's angry at the wrong person. He shouldn’t be seething over Mirov threats.
He should be furious with a man who has blindsided him.
"What about the woman?" Dryden asks.
Morin answers before Timur can. "She's not a factor. By the time we hit that warehouse, there won't be a family for her to go back to... And if need be, I'll take care of that myself. "
Timur doesn't even protest or try to defend me. I know I lied about who I really am, but he's done far worse things. Killing innocent lives, like my cousins.
I push off the wall and move down the hallway toward the kitchen, moving as silently as I can, but I still hear their voices behind me.
I can't let their plan move forward, even if it means risking my life.
Timur isn't going to listen to me at all, and with Morin pushing him toward total annihilation of my family, someone has to do something.
My body drifts toward the front door where I pause.
If I do this, there's no going back. I won't be able to convince Timur that my feelings for him are real, and I won't be able to get his arms back to hold me or his hands to tenderly wipe the tears from my cheeks.
Opening this door means I'm severing any trust or bond we have permanently, but my heart knows it's never going to happen anyway.
I made a promise to my father and Victor that I would do this job, and I’ve failed to do it the way they hoped.
Which means I have to improvise, adapt, and overcome.
The hardest part about this is not knowing how Victor will respond, because if he decides to set a trap, it may not be Morin alone who gets hurt. Timur may be injured or killed too.
It makes me pause, but only for a second as one tear streaks down my cheek. "I'm sorry, Tim," I whisper as I reach for the knob and turning it, pull the door open.
The alarm screams a piercing electronic shriek that fills every room and scares me senseless for half a second before I push through and hit the ground running. My bare feet slap on the cold cement, then down the steps and onto wet, freezing grass. I pump my arms and run as hard as I can.
I don’t have to look back to know they're coming.
I hear shouting and the door slam so I run harder, heaving for breath and silently cursing myself for not staying in shape.
It's dark, and light rain slicks the ground and dampens my robe while my eyes search frantically for somewhere to hide or someone to help.
But it's dark and the lights in all the houses are off.
I'm starting to panic, turning a corner and pushing my legs harder than I've ever run in my life, when I feel the earth get slippery.
The path that winds through someone's yard toward their garage is muddy and slick.
My feet can't get traction without shoes on and I slip, my feet shooting out from under me.
I hit the ground hard on my back and the air bursts out of my lungs in a grunt. Before I can roll over or get up, Morin's on top of me. He grabs the front of my robe and hauls me to my feet and slams me back against the neighbor's fence so hard, the panels rattle.
"You stupid bitch," he snarls. His face is inches from mine and his breath reeks of alcohol. "Where do you think you're going?"
"Get off me." I push at his chest, tears instantly blurring my field of vision.
If Timur had found me, he wouldn't do this.
I know it. But who knows where he's at right now, searching for me in the darkness, and I'm left with the one man of the three I know will slit my throat without hesitation. He's already tried to strangle me.
"You think you can just run? What'd you think, you were gonna go warn your family?" He shakes me and my head cracks against the wood.
"Please," I whimper, but he keeps going.
"You're dead. You've been dead since the night I pulled you out of that building. The only reason you're still breathing is because Tim has a soft spot—"
"Let go of me, you piece of shit." I spit in his face, but his hand comes up to my throat.
This time, there's no hesitation as his fingers snake around my throat and start crushing my windpipe instantly. I grapple with his fingers, trying to pry them off, but he's too strong, bigger than me by at least a hundred pounds. None of my thrashing or clawing at his skin makes a difference.
"I shoulda killed you that first night," he snarls, though he's leaning close enough to whisper as the cold rain pelts my heated skin. "I shoulda put a bullet in your skull in that trunk and saved everyone the trouble."
My vision is going dark at the edges. The yard is shrinking around me, everything collapsing into a narrowing tunnel.
My hands are still on his wrist but my grip is weakening and my legs are starting to give out.
I feel my body sliding down the fence, my weight hanging from his hand on my throat, and the last thing I see clearly is his hollow, evil eyes boring into mine.
Then I hear Timur's voice.
"Let her go."
But Morin doesn't ease up, even when my eyes flutter back open, taking in the sight of his rage only increasing at Timur's command. I knew he would never let Morin kill me like this, but the fight has gone out of me. I'm so weak. I can't fight back at all now.
"I said let her go, Morin. Right now. Take your goddamn hand off her throat before I put you in the ground."
The pressure releases. Morin's fingers peel away from my neck slowly, like he's making a point about who's really in control, and my legs give out completely.
I drop to the grass on my knees and then onto my side, gasping, choking, pulling air into my lungs in ragged, heaving breaths that sound like I'm drowning.
My fingers dig into the mud as tears flood my cheeks and I curl into a ball.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Timur is screaming now. He's unhinged, his voice cracking, and through the ringing in my ears I can hear him laying into Morin. "She is not yours to touch. Do you understand me? I don't care who she is or what she's done—"
"She was running, Tim. She heard us planning and she was going to warn—"
"I don't care if she was running to Moscow. What is the hell wrong with you? What has gotten into you?" I look up to see Timur shoving Morin. The man stumbles a few steps then comes back at Timur with his chest puffed out.
"She's the fucking enemy, Tim, and someone has to protect you from yourself."
I cower as Morin shoves Timur back, but my chest hurts and my head is pounding. Something feels wrong. I don’t feel safe and I don't feel well.
"You're out of control and I let you go for too long because I owe you for saving my life, but this shit has to stop." Timur sounds enraged, but my vision is tunneling again, shock or hysteria. I feel like I'm going to black out.
"Tim," I whisper, but after having my throat crushed, no one can hear me. The rain starts to pick up as my head starts to spin, and I close my eyes. But I swear I hear Timur’s fist connect with Morin's flesh somewhere.
And then the world is black.