AllFreeNovel
Share Us
NATASHA
“Tell me what you found.” My voice cracks, my fists clenched tight at my sides as I stare between Luka, Taras, and Nikolai once they come back into the kitchen. “Please, Luka. I have to know.”
Taras rolls his eyes. “Yeah, go ahead. Tell her about the shit show she’s starring in.”
“Fuck off, Taras.” Luka’s jaw twitches. His forehead creases when he finally looks at me. “When I went through my dad’s safe, I found a list.”
“What kind of a list?” Fear bubbles in my throat, and the words catch in the building knot of angst. “What’s on it?”
A generic list sounds innocent enough, but judging by the looks on the faces of Luka and his brothers, it may be way worse than I think.
Luka glowers at Taras before grabbing my arm and pulling me away from his brothers and Tori.
We walk into the massive living room, and he gently pushes my rigid body down to the couch. I press a hand to my heart, a sharp pain exploding down my left arm.
Jesus, am I seriously having a heart attack right now?
I suck in air, but my lungs feel like they’ve been squeezed too tight by thick chains to let in the oxygen. My breaths are short and sharp, pulse poking hard against my neck.
Luka sinks down to his knees and takes my hands in his. “Natasha, I don’t know what the list means. All I know is that there are a bunch of names on it, and yours is at the top.”
Blood rushes between my ears. “My name? At the top?”
Fuck.
It’s definitely way worse than I’d feared.
“I have a call in to a friend who can help me figure it all out.”
“Wh-what about Taras? Does he think this has something to do with the wedding attack? Does he think my father is using me to get close to you? Is that why I’m on the list? I’m some kind of patsy? Motherfucker.” Then my eyes widen. “Taras is going to kill me, isn’t he?”
“He isn’t going to lay a fucking finger on you,” Luka growls, leaning closer and grabbing me by the shoulders. “Nobody is.”
“But what if Taras is right? What if I'm part of the plan? The Trojan horse? Tori said it, too.”
I pull my hands out of Luka’s grip and rub my fingers against my throbbing temples. “What if your dad knew their plan and gave you the safe combination so you’d realize what was happening and snuff me out before they could grab control?”
I rise to my feet, my legs wobbly as Jell-O. Each stilted breath slices at my insides like the sharpest razor blade. I grip the arm of the couch to steady myself.
“Before a few weeks ago, I’d have never believed this could happen, that my father would sacrifice me like this as part of a revenge scheme to cripple a rival. This is a nightmare. I don’t want to die. I don’t want my family to die.” My nails dig into the plush fabric, and I take a deep, shuddering breath that does absolutely nothing to calm me.
“Nobody is killing anyone right now,” Luka says in a low voice. “But we need to figure out why your name is on that list.”
“The ‘why’ is irrelevant. Taras will kill me just as a precaution.” I barely know the guy, and I can already see the killer that lurks behind his cold, harsh eyes.
“Look, Taras wants what’s best for the family, but he’s not stupid enough to start a war without confirmation that that attack was launched by your father and Dmitri.”
“What about Val? What if they have her, and she’s the first step in launching their revenge plan against your family? And then I’m next?”
“There’s only one way to find out for sure.”
“What do you mean?
“Your father didn’t make any attempt to get you back from us after I took you that night.”
“But what about the day those guys broke into your house? The ones who attacked us? My father could have sent them.”
Luka averts his eyes and shakes his head. “He didn’t.”
