When Rico remains quiet, Vladimir asks, “Do we have an agreement, Rico? Your soul to set your kitten free?”
I squeeze Rico’s hand, begging him to deny Vladimir’s demands. My heart falls from my ribcage when the conceited grin on Vladimir’s face tells me he already knows Rico’s answer. He's going to accept his offer.
The thick stench of panic leeches from my pores when Rico does a single nod of his head as he mutters, “Yes. We have an agreement.”
Fear spreads through me like brittle ice, shredding my heart with tiny, invisible nicks. My bleeding heart suffers more damage when Vladimir smiles a grin no woman should ever have to witness. It's the smile nightmares were created from.
“Good. Start with her.” Vladimir jerks his head at Oskana. “If you handle thissituation, your kitten will be given full sanction. You have my word, no one will ever touch her.”
A chill runs down my spine when Vladimir turns his evil eyes to Oskana and sings the rhyme Nikolai sang in the plane two weeks ago. “Send the angel to the devil's bed, hold her, cherish her, then cut off her head. She danced with Satan, and now she's dead, all for lying in the devil's bed."
Fear paralyzes me when Oskana remains quiet, absorbing Vladimir’s cruel taunt without the smallest switch in her composure. My eyes glare at her, urging her to fight, begging for her shocked state to lift. No matter how much I stare at Oskana, she maintains a dignified approach, either accepting her fate with quiet poise or stuck in the trance of denial.
After clearing the room with a wave of his hand, Vladimir spins on his heels to face Nikolai. “Are you coming, Son?”
My astonishment grows when Nikolai dances his eyes between Vladimir and his mother before he stands from his chair and follows Vladimir out of the room. Oskana appears just as mortified as me.
My pupils widen to the size of dinner plates when Rico lifts his gun dangling at his side and points the barrel at Oskana. The veins in his neck are bulging, and his lips are set into a hard, determined line.
“Enrique, don’t, please,” I plead, my voice weak.
Rico glances over my shoulder for the quickest second, his eyes dark and bleak. “Erik, take Blaire back to Ravenshoe,” he demands, his voice as lifeless as his narrowed gaze.
“No!” I scream when Erik attempts to pull me away from Rico’s side. “This isn’t you, Enrique. Don’t do this.”
“Take her now!” Rico roars, the vein in his neck protruding.
When Erik wraps his arms around my torso, I kick and thrash against him. Fear scorches my veins, but I fight with all my might, not willing to give up. If Rico does this, I’ll never bring him back. He will merge too far into the blackness.
“This isn’t you, Enrique!” I scream at the top of my lungs as Erik drags me across the restaurant floor. “You’re not a monster. You were just raised by one!”
The refreshing wind from the air-conditioning does nothing to settle the sick fear creeping up my wind pipe when Erik swings open the restaurant doors and drags me outside.
“Don’t, Enrique! Don’t do this!” I yell with tears streaming down my cheeks.
“Don’t forget me, Kitten,” is the last thing I hear before the restaurant doors slam shut.
My heart shatters into a million pieces when a bullet being dislodged from a gun booms into my ears. There's no noise more devastating than the crippling sound of death.
Chapter 31
“Hey, you look nice,” Lacey greets me when I walk into the kitchen of our modest two-bedroom apartment.
“Thanks.”
Smiling, I run my hands down my floral knee-length skirt, clearing away the invisible wrinkles I believe are in the dead-straight material.
Lacey puts an extra dash of vodka into the dirty martini mixture she's mixing before pouring half of the contents into two salt-rimmed glasses.
“You’ve got this, Blaire.”
She hands a full-to-the-brim martini glass to me. I nod, even though my heart is screamingno she doesn’t.
“To getting my life back on track.” I clink my glass against Lacey’s.
She returns my gesture before running her hand down my arm in a comforting manner.
“Two weeks doesn’t equal a lifetime, Care Blaire,” she replies, reiterating what she has said to me numerous times the past month. “But even if it did, you’ve got this. Just remember what Dr. Avery taught you: one step at a time.”
