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Wiping my eyes, I force the tears to stop. “It’s about Arsen.”
There’s a quick beat of dead air. “Wait, wait, first thing, are you safe?” she asks in a low tone, the speaker crackling. I can picture her pushing the phone tighter against her ear.
“Yeah.”
“Okay, just making sure,” she sighs in relief. “Go ahead.”
“I’m not even sure how to start. It’s a lot.”
“Just take your time. Did Arsen … do something to you?”
She can’t see me do it, but I shake my head vehemently. “No. Not exactly. It’s more about what he might do.”
“All right …” she trails off, leaving the word hanging in the air.
Sucking in a large breath, I ease it out through my pressed lips. Just tell her. It’s not like it’s a secret anymore. “Do you remember what I told you about Pyotr? How he was Yevgeniy’s son and Arsen had to kill him?”
“How could I forget?” she asks grimly.
“Well, Pyotr wasn’t Yevgeniy’s only son. He has another one, a ten-year-old named Ruslan.”
“Wait, this other kid is alive?”
“Yes, though at the rate things are going …” I stop myself before I head down a road that will start me crying again. “Audrey,” I say seriously, “Arsen says what he’s doing will save my mom and end the war, but part of his plan involves killing Ruslan.”
Her sharp inhalation hurts my ears. “Is he serious?”
“Yes,” I groan in agreement. Tucking my legs under myself on the bed, I hunch tighter around my phone. My eyes dart to the door, worried someone might walk in on me. “Ruslan doesn’t deserve any of this; he hasn’t done anything wrong.”
“But why does Arsen want him dead? Yevgeniy I can understand, but this?”
Picturing the group in the other room plotting away, I frown. “He said something about Ruslan being initiated into the Bratva. I don’t know how that works. But it’s clear what the implication will be. Once initiated, he’ll take over after Yevgeniy dies. I don’t understand the logic here, but I also don’t care to.” Bracing myself for my next reveal, I swallow the lump in my throat. “And one more thing … Ruslan is my little brother.”
“Galina!” Audrey cries out, loud enough that I cup my hand over the speaker nervously. “What the fuck!”
In a hushed tone, I say, “I have to save him no matter what, but I don’t have any idea how to do it.”
“Can you do anything from where you are?” she asks.
Remembering how I was rebuffed in the room by Kostya, then Mila, I grit my teeth. “No.”
“Then the first thing we have to do is find a way to get you out of there. Arsen is too dangerous.”
My neck twinges painfully. “This isn’t about Arsen.”
“Isn’t it?” she shouts. “He’s the one planning to kill a ten-year-old!”
“Like I said, it’s complicated!” I hiss under my breath.
Her sigh is long and exaggerated. It makes me blush to have her casually hint at how ridiculous I’m being by begging her for help while still defending Arsen. “It’s really not, but fine; let’s just focus on how to get you away from wherever you are.”
“I’m at a safe house. I don’t know the location.”
“Is there anyone you can talk to who does?”
Chewing the corner of my lip, I look at the ceiling. Finding no answers, I gaze around the room while racking my brain. I see the inside of the bathroom from where I am. There’s a cabinet with handles that reminds me of the one in my bathroom back at the mansion.
Wait. I perk up excitedly. “Not anyone that I can talk to, but you can.”
