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“How?” My dad was desperate, his pupils dilated as he begged for the safety of his sons.
Yuri’s mouth opened to answer when we both heard a noise from the kitchen.
“What was that?” My father asked.
Yuri whirled around; his gun trained in the direction of the noise. A hand with a gun in its grip came into view, pointing to the sky.
“It's me, boss.”
The blood drained from my face. Yuri’s hold on me tightened. Even scratchy and pained, I recognized that voice. Denis stepped forward looking like hell, but my attention was focused on the smirk plastered on his face. My eyes flicked between him, Yuri, and my father who had no idea what had just walked through his door.
My nose wrinkled as Denis came closer, the stench of cheap liquor and stale clothes filling the room. Yuri lowered his arm, and he pushed me behind his back, placing me between him and my father, nearly out of view of his cousin.
“I've got things handled in here. You can go now.”
My stomach flip-flopped and I swallowed down the dread thick in my throat.
“Why would I want to do that?” He used the gun to scratch at his temple like I’d seen him do before. “I think I’ll enjoy watching the show.”
I peeked around Yuri’s biceps and Denis's eyes flicked to mine.
“Because it is all a show, isn't it?” I sucked in a breath but Yuri kept his cool.
“Get out,” he ordered. Denis only laughed.
He turned to my father. “I think I remember you telling your little girl to be sweet and do whatever we told her, right? Do you remember that?”
My father's eyes darted to me and then he looked at the ground. He looked disgusted, whether it was at himself or at me, I couldn't tell.
“See, she wasn't very sweet to me,” Denis said stepping closer, “but she was very sweet to my boss. So sweet in fact, that I think she has him wrapped around her little finger.”
My heart sank in my chest.
“Denis!” Yuri snapped. “You really want to do this now?”
The muscle under his eye twitched. “Yeah.” He looked crazed.
“Darya, is that true?” My father asked. The three of us turned to him, surprised that he spoke up. Couldn't he feel the waves of tension thickening the room?
My mouth dropped open to answer, but I couldn't find the words.
“It’s true Mr. Clark. I wouldn't be shocked if she was pregnant with his bastard right now.” I sucked in a breath and winced at his words.
Yuri launched forward, but Denis raised the gun, pointing it directly at his forehead.
“One more move, and you're fucking dead.”
“If that's true…” my father’s words trailed off like he was putting it all together– seeing through our performance.
“Those pretty bruises,” Denis said, “those were from me. But they were child's play compared to what I'm about to do to her now.”
His eyes flicked back to Yuri and my fingers tightened in his shirt.
“Because I'd like to challenge for succession, and it’ll be a hell of a lot easier with you heartbroken after I kill your little toy.”
I jumped when Yuri surged forward. His arm swung around and knocked me back to the ground behind him. Denis’ gun went off, but it flew wide as Yuri gripped his forearm and launched him back against the wall. I kicked and crawled to get away from the chaos, eating up the distance between myself and my father, whose eyes were wide like saucers.
Yuri slammed Denis' hand against the coffee table, crashing his knuckles against the wood until Denis let go of the gun. It clattered to the ground, and I winced at the crunch of Yuri’s fist against Denis's jaw.
