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It was as if I understood exactly what had happened with no one needing to tell me. I didn’t need to know who was on the phone, or what had been said, but at that moment, the ground beneath my feet shook and I struggled to keep upright. I flinched when Denis’ hand wrapped around my arm, yanking me into him. He whispered in my ear, just as he so loved to do. “Time's up.”
“What do you mean?” I asked. It was almost rhetorical.
“Looks like Daddy didn't deliver. You're no longer as useful as you thought you were.”
He chuckled, pulling me flush against his chest, and crushing my hands in between us.
“Yuri overestimated your father’s love.” Denis’ eyes sought out Matteo behind me. “Can I do the honors?” There was a glimmer in his gaze and in the reflection, I saw Matteo nod.
My bones froze. If he hadn't been holding me so tightly, I would have fallen.
The room erupted around us, the first shots sounding as the men defended their leaders. In a second, Denis lifted me off the ground and slammed me against the wall. I shuddered as a flash of pain flew down my spine.
“Please,” I cried out in between deep breaths. I blinked hard to try and ground myself but the sting in my back was too much. By the time I was able to push myself off the dirt-covered floor, Denis reared back and kicked me in the gut. The air rushed from me all at once and for a moment, everything went black.
“It’s no wonder he liked her,” he grunted, and I felt a clammy hand bat against my chest. He was rough and squeezed my breasts between his fingers, eliciting a pained groan from my lips. “Look how pretty she looks like this.”
The chaos of the room intensified, and the echoes of boots scrambling in each direction only added to the fear clawing through me. It had rooted so deep in me that I was drowning in it. No, Denis’ hand was wrapped around my throat.
I strained against his grip, the pressure on my windpipe too much. I gasped and gaped for air trying to rip his arm off me. My nails raked across the skin on his arms, but he didn't let up. His lips pulled back in a sickly sneer that sent chills down my failing body. An alarm rang in my mind, calling out to anyone who might hear it— save me, help me, I don’t want to die. I wanted to fight, and claw at him tooth and nail, but my body was failing quicker and quicker with each weakened throb in my veins.
With the first squeak of the police siren, the foot soldiers gathered their equipment and barred the doors before darting to Matteo and shouting. Everything began to fade as the crowd dissipated, seeking a quick exit out the back door. But Denis didn't flinch. Not a muscle in him jerked towards the exit. His body hovered over me immovable— inevitable.
The vision of him blurred, but his nasty smile was there even as my eyes closed in pain. His buttery teeth brandished like the monster in a horror movie, jumping out at me no matter which way I turned.
“Your own father left you to die, pretty girl.”
He was focused solely on me– like his only mission, above not being caught by the authorities, was to deliver me to the afterlife. Was this what my father wanted? He must have known that this would be my fate. My eyelids grew heavier, so heavy that they fell to a slit, only offering a sliver of light against the growing darkness.
But it wasn’t my father’s face that flashed into my mind as my legs fell limp and my fingers began to tremble. It was Yuri’s.
Where was he?
Why wasn’t he here?
Why didn’t he come for me?
My body tingled and stilled.
I was slumped against the hard ground when the first slam hit the barricaded door to my right. The hands above me suddenly disappeared and the crushing weight on my chest was gone. I didn’t dare move for fear that Denis thought I was dead, and when he realized I wasn’t, he would come and finish the job. It wasn’t difficult to stay still— I was delirious with pain and each breath was like swallowing a thousand needles. Dying seemed a hell of a lot less painful.
A shot rang out like the opening of floodgates and then the room lit up with bullets. Behind my eyelids, it looked like lightning bolts ripped from both sides, ricocheting against metal and splintering the rotted wood frame. The shots kept coming and coming only separated by a short lull filled with shouts and the rattle of weapons hitting the ground. My ears rang and each labored breath filled my lungs with thick smoke and sawdust.
I laid there in a heap of pain against the gravel. Past the blackness, I could faintly register the bright flashes that went along with the popping sounds of the gunshots. I wasn't sure what direction they were coming from, or where they were headed, just that someone was shooting.
Dust kicked up and slapped against my face when I felt flesh against mine. “I'm here,” he whispered.
I sucked in what felt like the first deep breath. I still couldn't move, even when his arm snaked around my waist and pulled me against him. I cried out at the pain in my back, but I registered the warmth of his body seeping through my chilled skin, bringing me back to life slowly. I leaned against him, his strong chest, and arms.
I knew he would come.
A deep growl originated from his chest and rattled through me before a soft breeze whipped across my cheek. Suddenly I was warm all over. Not just on my back where he was pressed against me. We must have been outside and then I was against leather seats. When I garnered enough energy to peel my eyes open and look at my surroundings, all I could see was him.Yuri.
Splatters of blood coated his forehead and the white shirt that he had rolled, showing the corded muscles in his forearms. Underneath the dim cabin lights, he had a wild look in his eye but when he turned and saw me gazing at him, it all melted away. His fingers ripped through my binds at my wrist and then he reached forward and cupped my cheeks in his hands.
“Are you okay?” He asked quickly.
It was all a blur of pain— physical and mental. I felt raw and disoriented. Instead of answering, I focused on the way his palms held me still, the way his eyes roamed over my face and body, silently taking inventory and checking for injuries. I didn’t need to open my mouth for him to know just how battered I was, he could see it in the brokenness of my gaze.
