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“Not me. I can handle myself. If you’re going to fight, let me stay and help,” she says.
“You are helping me. I need you to be there for Luna.”
He needs her to be there for me?
“But you’ll be there for me,” I blurt.
Yakov looks at me, something I don’t understand flashing in his eyes. Then he looks back to Mariya. “I know you can hold your own. I saw you fighting with Akim’s men. You’ve been trained for this life. That is exactly why I need you to be with Luna. I want someone with her who I know will one hundred percent have her back. That is you.”
Mariya is looking down at the floor, her chin dimpled as she thinks.
“You’ll be there for me,” I repeat, stepping forward. “Yakov, you’ll be there… won’t you?”
If the mansion isn’t safe, Yakov can’t stay here. He won’t send me away while I’m pregnant. Not when he’s been so protective over me the last few months.
He’s coming with us. He has to.
I repeat the lie to myself over and over again. I’m too terrified of the alternative to even consider what it would look like to be separated from him.
Mariya isn’t suffering from the same delusion I am. She lifts her chin and nods once. “I’ll do it. I’ll take care of her.”
Yakov lays a heavy hand on her shoulder and squeezes. “Thank you.”
When she leaves, Yakov turns to me. “I’m not going to be able to change your mind, am I?” I ask softly before he can speak.
“Not when it comes to your safety,” he says. “Not about this.”
I blink back tears. “What about your safety?”
“You said you trusted me.”
“I do.” I swipe at my cheeks.
Yakov caresses his thumb slowly over my jawbone. “Then finish packing. We leave in fifteen minutes.”
32
LUNA
I try to stay awake on the drive.
It’s not like I’m great with directions under the best of circumstances and it’s so dark outside that it’s hard to see where we’re going anyway, but having the hood over my head while Akim’s men kidnapped me was disorienting. Tonight, I want to know where I am and how to get away if I need to.
But Yakov squeezes my hand over the center console as he drives. The heat is on in the car and the ride is so smooth that, before I know it, I’m opening my eyes as Yakov puts the car into park.
“Wake up. We’re here,” he says softly.
I’ve been awake for less than a second, but my heart is pounding. I sit up, looking wide-eyed through the windshield. “Where is ‘here’?”
“It’s a safehouse. No one but Nik and I know it even exists.”
“Thanks for letting me in on that secret,” Mariya mumbles sarcastically from the backseat. “I guess I can’t be trusted.”
“It’s Vera and Usev’s place,” Yakov tells her.
Mariya gasps. “I haven’t seen them since Dad’s funeral.”
“That’s on purpose. The less of a connection they have to our family, the safer their house is.”
