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It isn’t enough to ease the rage inside of me. It won’t be enough until it’s Pavel’s skull I’m crushing. Until it’s his blood on my knuckles.
But it’s enough that I can focus on what needs to happen next.
I need to get Luna and our babies out of here
31
LUNA
“We’re leaving.”
The bedroom door flies open and Yakov has a duffel bag in his hands before I can even process what he said.
As soon as the door opened, Mariya shifted protectively in front of me. Even when she sees it’s Yakov, she stays planted in place.
“Now,” Yakov adds, shoving a wad of clothes into a duffel bag.
Mariya glances at me, looking as confused as I feel. I squeeze her hand and follow behind Yakov as he moves around the room, shoving everything in the bedroom into a bag.
“Yakov, what is going on?”
“I’m packing,” he bites out. “Obviously.”
“But where are we going?”
“Away.”
I blow out a sharp breath. “I need more than that. I need to understand what is going on and why you’re?—”
Suddenly, Yakov is a few inches in front of me, his hands like iron clamps on my shoulders. “I’m getting you somewhere safe, Luna. Pack what you want to take with you. Now.”
Between one blink and the next, he’s gone. But I can still see the distress in his eyes. It’s burned into my vision like I spent too long staring at the sun.
I’ve never seen Yakov look scared. And right now, he’s terrified. For me.
“Where would we go? I thought the mansion was safe. There are guards here. Security cameras. I thought?—”
“You thought wrong.” His knuckles are white around the straps of the duffel. He throws the back to the ground at his feet. “I was wrong. I can’t keep the two of you safe here anymore, solnyshka. Just trust me.”
“Of course I trust you, Yakov,” I breathe. “I trust you with my life, but I don’t understand why we need to do this.”
“We’re doing this because he’s paranoid,” Mariya spits. She glares at Yakov. “I’m not going to spend the next few months in some windowless bunker. I’ll fly back to Moscow right now before I let you lock me up again.”
I turn back to her, already shaking my head. I want Mariya on my side. Between the two of us, maybe we could convince Yakov to slow down, think this through, and let us stay here.
But this is not the way to get what we want. The more Mariya pushes, the more Yakov will dig in his heels. We will literally be locked up if she doesn’t stop.
Yakov doesn’t even look at her as he dumps my entire top drawer into the bag. “I’m not doing this with you, Mariya. There isn’t time. Go pack.”
She throws up her hands. “There’s never time to explain anything! We are supposed to blindly trust you and go wherever you lead. But I’m tired of it. I’m almost eighteen. You can’t force me to do anything I don’t want to do.”
I wince, bracing myself for Yakov to blow up at her. For the two of them to spiral off into some screaming match that will end with Yakov getting what he wants and Mariya being miserable about it for however long we are all in lockdown.
But Yakov doesn’t yell. He turns to Mariya, his dark brows pinched together, and exhales. “They were in the mansion, Mariya. In my room.”
Mariya blinks, clearly as stunned as I am at his tone. For once, she doesn’t have anything to say.
“Our enemies got into this house and were here with you while I was away.” He runs a hand through his hair. “I have to keep you both safe.”
