Page 131 of Queen’s Gambit

“Good luck,” she said and slipped out the door, relocking it again from the outside.

I’d learned to shoot at Wayward. Not that I’d been great at it, but it had been part of a survival course that Eddie and I had taken together. Unsurprisingly, he’d been a fantastic shot, and right about now, I really wished I had his skill. Grabbing the gun from under the dome, I checked the clip. It was fully loaded.

Thank you, Vlad.

Yulianna

It wasn’t that I didn’t trust Kira’s information. If Vlad trusted her then I did too. But here I was, standing in the shadows by the window, waiting for the guards to leave. Sure enough, right at eleven, they all piled into cars and left.

Our food had already been delivered, so it was safe—as it was ever going to be—to get my burner phone from the secret compartment in Lilya’s room. She was happily reading to herself as if yesterday with the men and guns had never happened. Lilya seemed more acclimated to this insane life than I’d ever been, and that knowledge twisted an unusual doubled-edged knife into my chest.

Opening her large walk-in closet, I kneeled down to pry up the loose floorboard that contained my go-bag. It took a minute, but I got it open and grabbed the burner. It felt like forever waiting for the small screen to power up. I quickly dialed my mother, and she answered on the first ring.

“Mom, it’s me.”

“Helena, it’s so nice to hear from you,” my mother answered.

I was about to correct her when I caught on that my father, or someone else she didn’t trust, was nearby.

“Is this a good time to talk?”

“Yes, this is a perfect time. Vadin and I are just waiting for our tea to be served.”

“I need to run Wednesday, tomorrow, not next week. I know it’s tight, but can you make that happen?”

I peeked out the closet door to make sure that Lilya was still reading.

“You’re coming for a visit. That’s excellent news. We’ll be sure to host dinner. Just let me know what works for you and the family. Oh…you’re coming on Wednesday? That soon? Hmm, how about Friday for dinner, then? That gives us a little more time to plan.”

Her coded message was getting confusing. I really hoped she meant that she could do Wednesday and the rest was for my father.

“I’ll be at the hangar for noon. Please let everyone, including Frida and Lev, know so they can meet me there.”

“That sounds great. I can’t wait to catch up, and I’m always happy to see the boys. They grow so fast. Yes, I’ll make sure to gather everyone,” Mom said, and softly chuckled like my aunt was sharing a joke. “I better go. Tea just arrived. See you soon.”

The phone clicked dead.

My next call was to Eddie. I closed my eyes and prayed for him to answer. If they hurt him….

It didn’t even get through the first ring.

“Hello,” he said, his worry obvious even over the phone.

“Eddie, it’s me,” I said, trying to hold back tears of relief.

“Oh, thank god, Ana, I’m so sorry. It was an ambush. They tied and gagged us before forcing us to watch your whole confrontation with Christov from the hangar next door. I didn’t leave you. I swear I didn’t.”

“Even if you had, I would understand. I’m just happy they didn’t hurt you. I thought for sure they’d done something terrible. I was awake all night worrying but didn’t dare to call you too soon.”

“If it had been up to Christov, we’d be dead. Your father is smarter than that. This was a warning and a flex of his power. Vadin’s pissed at me for damaging his businesses but not stupid enough to kill me. He doesn’t want to face the consequences of taking me out.”

“Wait…my father was there?”

“Yeah, he was. I’m sorry, Ana. He’d rather use you to hurt me than see you happy. I can’t ever imagine doing that to my child.”

I sighed and would’ve cried if I hadn’t already suspected his involvement. The look on my mother’s face before she got in the car was evidence enough.

Had I put everyone in danger?