Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
Eva
Yaro’s SUV
The engine cuts off. No more harsh words from Yaro in the front seat. No crunch of gravel beneath the tires. Just the sound of my own blood rushing through my ears and the click of the striker bolt as Yaro steps out of the vehicle and closes the door.
Within moments the door behind me swings open, and a blast of cold air hits the back of my neck. Yaro reaches in and grabs me roughly under the arms and I let him pull me out of the backseat and to the pavement before I strike, stomping the heel of my sneaker down on his foot as hard as I can.
He curses, staggering slightly, and I twist in his grip, jamming my elbow backward with all the force I can muster. Right into his crotch. He lets out a strangled sound, doubling over. And with that I’m free from his hold. I run.
The world blurs around me, the rusted side of the building, the broken fence around it. My lungs scream as I push myself forward, legs pumping, not daring to look back.
But I don’t get far. Rage-fueled footsteps thunder behind me too fast, too close. Then—a hand tangles in my hair. Yanks me back and my feet fly out from underneath me.
I scream as I hit the ground hard, shoulder first, pain bursting across my body. Instinct takes over and I curl into myself, hands pressed protectively to my stomach.
Yaro looms over me, chest heaving from exertion and pain. His laughter is high, wild and genuinely awful as he gloats.
“Well, well,” he sneers, dragging the back of his hand across his mouth. “That was quite the break for it. Where did you think you were going to go, huh?”
His eyes drop to where my hands are guarding my abdomen. And a bead of recognition stems across his gaze. His smirk deepens.
“Oh… fuck. You’re pregnant.” His face erupts in a malicious smile. “I can’t believe my fucking luck. Does Tolya know?”
I freeze.
Shit.
“No?” That murderous smile reaches his eyes as he looks down at me and I can nearly see hell in their depths. “This is rich. I’ll have to take this new information into consideration. It’s really too bad you aren’t further along though.”
I narrow my eyes as he speaks. Not comprehending his disappointment.
“If you were, I’d rip that baby from your womb and leave you both bleeding on the pavement for him to find.”
My eyes widen at the depravity of the scene he has just painted for me. Then he raises his foot. But not toward my stomach. Toward my face. I don’t even have time to scream. I see the boot coming a split second before it connects. Thick leather with a steel toe flies fast toward me.
I try to roll, but there’s no time. Pain explodes across my cheekbone—a white-hot flash that knocks me back into the dirt. I feel something tear inside my head. The impact rings through my skull like a bell.
Everything goes blurry and far away. The taste of iron in my mouth. Darkness presses in at the edges of my vision. The last thing I hear before the void takes me is his voice, low and pleased.
“Two for one. How perfect.”
The first thing that registers as I come back to consciousness, I don’t know how long later, is pain.
A dull, throbbing ache blooms at the base of my skull and spreads like fire behind my eyes. My mouth is dry, lips already chapping from lack of moisture. My head lolls forward as a trickle of something warm and sticky trails down my temple. Blood, I realize.
When I open my eyes, the world tilts on its axis and I have to close them again to stave off the dizziness. Swallowing hard, I open them again, more slowly this time.
Dim yellow light flickers overhead, casting shadows across cracked concrete and rusted beams. It smells stale like air that hasn’t moved in years.
It’s then that I realize I’m tied to a chair. Wrists pinned behind me, plastic biting deep into my skin. Ankles bound tight. My body protests every movement as I shift, trying to assess the damage. My back screams in agony. But I’m conscious. I’m alive.
For now.
Just then a shadow shifts in my periphery and Yaro steps into view. Idly humming something low under his breath.
“Thought I might’ve hit you too hard,” he muses. “It would've been a shame if you missed this part.”
I don’t speak. He circles me slowly, a predator surveying his kill.
“You know,” he says, “this was supposed to be symbolic. Two shots to the chest just like my father. But I get to erase not one mistake—” he pauses, crouching in front of me, fingers resting lightly on my knee “—but two. Don’t I?”
He taps his finger over my stomach. I flinch before I can stop myself.
He grins. “I was right.”
“Go to hell,” I croak.
He leans closer, breath hot and sour. “Already live there, sweetheart. I just make sure others get the grand tour on their way down.”
Then he straightens, walking a few paces away and spinning back around, his eyes gleaming with excitement. Now I know he’s genuinely mad, rejoicing in the thought of killing me and my unborn child.
“I am sorry it had to be you,” He stalks toward me again, crouching low until we’re nose to nose. “You are a pretty little thing. But this is about revenge, I didn’t choose you. I suppose in a way, fate did. ”
He’s breathing harder now. The fury consumed him from the inside out. “If you want to blame someone, blame Tolya. It was his fault my father died that night.”
I meet his eyes, forcing steel into my voice. “He was barely more than a child when it happened! How can you blame him! Your father was just doing his duty.”
“So was I!” he roars, taking two steps back and pacing like a caged beast. “But I didn’t have the luxury of forgetting like he did.
I’ve been biding my time. Building my place at his side, gaining his trust all these years.
Becoming indispensable. Waiting for the moment I could finally make him bleed. ”
He pauses, spinning back to face me. “Finally, that moment has come.”
I try to calm the pounding of my heart, but I can feel how wild it is. My fear is real. And if he sees it, he’ll use it against me.
He walks to where he has a table erected with various items on it and picks up a long, black-bladed knife, turning it over in his hands. There’s dried blood on the hilt.
“I was going to wait,” he says softly. “Let you two become more entangled. Let you make him grow soft. Maybe even wait until a child was born and pretend to be the doting uncle.” He chuckles darkly.
“Then, one day, make the child disappear. Set it up so that Tolya would find them here, two rounds in their chest just like my father.”
He looks at me again, eyes bright and manic.
“But now… after seeing the way he looks at you? The way he worships you like you’re his salvation?”
He runs the tip of the knife along the edge of the table, scraping a harsh line into the wood. The sound of it grinds in my ears.
“I realized I don’t need to wait. Killing you is enough. Taking you, here, now, when all of it is fresh. When he has just let his guard down. Well it’s perfect, it’s the wound that’ll never heal.”
He moves toward me, tilting the blade toward my face. “Does Tolya know you’re pregnant?”
I don’t answer. Just glare at him refusing to answer.
He grips my chin, squeezing hard. Glaring down at me. “Does. He. Know.”
My voice comes out low and tight. “No.”
His smile is vicious as he releases me, stepping back as he gloats. “Good. Then he won’t see it coming.”