Chapter 24
LEAH
"Mom, I'm bored." Eliza is lying on the couch upside down, her head hanging from the seat and her feet, which I can just see, waving over the back.
"I'm almost done with dinner," I tell her, trying to resist the urge to give her my phone again. She's probably had more screen time since we got here than she has in her entire life. But I'm just trying to survive and figure out where to go next.
Suzie found this place, a house that belongs to a friend of a friend who's out of the country. It's a world away from Viktor's gilded Upper East Side mansion, but it's enough.
Even here, though, in a quiet, suburban New Jersey neighborhood, fear is a constant companion.
It hums beneath my skin, a low, persistent thrumming that won't go away.
I tense at every unfamiliar car going down the street, every shadow, every sound of footsteps behind me when I do something as simple as grocery shopping.
I can't even have things delivered because I can't use my card; I'm too afraid Viktor will use it to track me down.
It's late afternoon, the sun already dipping low, casting long shadows across the living room.
Suzie is on the phone, her voice low and serious, no doubt talking to someone at work.
Or maybe she's talking to a contact, trying to solidify our escape, so we can truly vanish.
And I'm cooking a stew, stirring the pot in a rhythmic motion that offers a small amount of comfort.
"Eliza," I call over my shoulder, "set the table, please, but leave the bowls over here."
My daughter groans, and so does the couch when she slides off as slowly as possible. Setting the table isn’t the relief from her boredom she’s looking for.
But she does as I ask, and the three of us sit down to dinner, a quiet affair because we don't have anything to talk about.
And what we do have to talk about, neither Suzie nor I want to discuss, especially in front of Eliza.
Benji is, of course, sitting by Eliza, because he knows she'll slip him whatever out of the stew she doesn't like.
I let her do it because I'm feeling guilty enough as it is, and right now, the Great Dane is her only friend.
"Okay," Suzie states, her spoon clanking on the sides of her bowl as she drops it to emphasize her point. "Enough of all these gloomy faces around the table. I want to laugh. Let's hear some funny stories."
I turn to Suzie, and she looks stricken at the gleam in my eye. “Like the time Auntie Suzie got stuck in the ceiling of the girls’ bathroom in high school? Is that what you want to talk about?”
Suzie groans, and I’m already laughing. Eliza’s eyes are wide and eager, and soon we’re all laughing through the stories that come, one after the other, detailing all the fun—and trouble—Suzie and I have had over the years.
Dark clouds have overcome the evening light, and rain splatters on the window. We're all brushing away the tears when a knock at the door makes us all jump. Benji lets out a deep woof. Suzie and I look at each other, exchanging a silent message.
Suzie stands up quickly. "Eliza, honey, come help me take the dishes to the kitchen.”
"Aww," Eliza complains, but she gathers her bowl and mine and follows my best friend to the kitchen. Benji paces by my side to the door. Whoever's on the other side knocks again. I look through the peephole, fighting a gasp so I don't alert Eliza or scare her.
It's Iliya, dark hair wet with rain, breath coming out as puffs of white. I don't know how he found us so easily and so quickly. Then I wonder if he and Suzie have been in contact. Is there any way this man wouldn't tell Viktor where we are? I see only Iliya and no one else.
So I unlock the door and open it reluctantly, not knowing what the hell is going to happen when I come face-to-face with Viktor's right-hand man.
"Hi, Iliya."
I say it loud enough so Suzie can hear me.
At least, I hope she can hear me over the sound of the water running for the dishes.
I don't have time to say any more before Benji shoves past me using his gigantic nose, and wriggles toward Iliya.
He fell in love with the guy from the moment he set eyes on him.
Much like his owner, I imagine. I don't know what it is about the glowering giant of a tattooed Russian mobster, but somehow, both of them are gaga over him.
As proven when I hear Suzie's gasp behind me and her excited, "Iliya?"
In my distraction, I hadn’t realized the sound of dishwashing had stopped, and both Suzie and Eliza run to him. But my best friend stops short as she realizes what his presence means for me and for our plan to disappear.
"Shit," she mutters.
Eliza doesn’t stop. My daughter runs at Iliya, arms open. He doesn't move as she collides with him so hard it would nearly knock me over. And surprisingly, he puts an arm around the girl, who has her arms wrapped around his leg.
His eyes, though, are locked on Suzie, until he forces himself to shift his gaze to me.
"Did Viktor send you to drag us back?" I ask, putting as much venom behind the question as I can to cover how scared I am. "Because I'm not going back. I can't stay in his world—it’s too dangerous.”
"The world is no longer safe for you, no matter where you go," Iliya replies. There is no anger to his words, no force, almost no intonation at all. The only thing I hear is straightforward candor. "The only place you’re safe right now is with Viktor. When this is all over, you can choose what you want to do, and I don’t think Viktor will stop you.
But now, to keep you safe, you must stay with him. He will protect you."
It takes me a long minute to run through all the options.
“Is anyone with you?” I ask, eyeing the hulking black SUV waiting at the curb.
“No. I came alone once I knew where to find you. Even Viktor doesn’t know I’m here.”
That surprises me, and my gaze snaps back to the dark eyes, because I understand how enormous this is. Iliya is, for better or worse, defying his boss, the man to whom he is endlessly loyal, just to give me the option to say no. To run again. To seek safety elsewhere without Viktor knowing.
“I—” I stumble, my mouth dry. Then I look at Suzie, who has put her life and career on hold for me, and Eliza, who deserves so much more.
“Okay.” I hang my head, then take a breath deep into my lungs, steadying myself.
“Okay, I’ll go with you. But I’m trusting you, Iliya.
I determine whether I stay or go when all this is over. ”
He nods, a solemn promise without words.
We gather the few things we have, and, along with Benji, we file out into the rain and cold. Iliya stands by the open door, solemn, though his eyes linger on Suzie for a heartbeat.
A sharp crack splits the air. The sound is deafening in the quiet neighborhood, and Eliza screams and clings to me. Iliya jerks, grunts, and puts a hand to his side.
"Iliya?"
I don't understand what's happening until I see the red creep through his closed fingers—blood. Lots of blood, dark and oozing.
"Iliya!" Suzie shrieks.
She runs before I can stop her, and time seems to slow as I see her closing the distance between them, Iliya reaching out to stop her, and Eliza doing her best to yell at Benji to stay.
Another sharp crack sends time spiraling back into normal mode. Eliza's scream fill my ears, and I grab her and pull her into me, curling around her to protect her and the baby. Suzie stops short, frozen between seeing to Iliya and fear for her own safety.
"Run," Iliya manages to gasp, his shirt around his wound already soaked with a dark stain. "Run!"
So we run, pounding down the sidewalk toward the woods at the end of the block.
"Mom! I can't run that fast!" Eliza cries.
"Take Benji." Suzie shoves his leash into my hands and picks up Eliza in one smooth motion. It helps that she's a runner and not currently pregnant.
People are coming out of their houses and onto their lawns, looking to see what's happening.
"Call 911!" I cry as we run past. "Please! Someone’s trying to kill us!"
More gunshots ring out behind us, neighbors scream, and we make it to the end of the street, plunging into the trees.
Winter-bare branches whip across my face, leaving the sting of a bleeding cut behind, and I cry out as Suzie slips on a moldering pile of leaves and snowdrift.
She catches herself on a tree branch, balancing as she clutches Eliza.
"I'm okay," she pants, and we keep going, bursting out onto another road slick with the freezing rain that’s quickly turning to snow. Benji is panting, pulling me so I have a hard time keeping my feet on the slippery surface.
"Leah! Suzie! Eliza!"
My head snaps up. It's Marius. He emerges from the trees, a dark, solid figure, his face grim. He's carrying a weapon, but it's not pointed at us. He looks... relieved? Concerned? It’s hard to tell in the fading light.
"Marius!" I cry out.
"Oh, thank God!" Suzie gasps, letting Eliza down.
My relief is immediate, overwhelming. He found us. He's here. He's going to save us. But a tiny seed of doubt, a cold, hard kernel of suspicion, begins to sprout in my mind. How did he find us so quickly? So perfectly? He’s supposed to be in New York. Iliya said he came alone.
He reaches us, his eyes scanning us quickly, assessing. "Are you hurt?" he asks, his voice rough with concern.
"No," I manage, my voice hoarse. "Someone shot Iliya at the house."
His jaw tightens. "I know. I heard. We need to go. Now. It's not safe here." He gestures towards a dark SUV, barely visible through the trees.
We follow him, exhausted, terrified, but clinging to the hope he represents.
He opens the back door for us. As I slide in, I glance at him.
His face is impassive, but there's a flicker in his eyes, something I can't quite place.
It's too quick, too fleeting, and too difficult to see in the shadowed streetlight.