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My chest tightens. “You want me to kill him.”
My uncle chuckles, smiling like we’re in the middle of a jovial conversation and not openly discussing a hit. “Nicolai is in hiding right now. Last I heard, he was holed up in some bunker in Belgorod.”
He whistles sharply at one of his guards, who promptly hands me a handgun. The cold metal bites into my palm.
“Bring me proof,” Konstantin says. “A video should do.”
Anger licks at the nape of my neck. This is crazy. My uncle is fucking insane.
I point the gun at his forehead, my fingers curling around the trigger.
His men freak out, shouting urgently as they raise their own weapons, training their sights on me. I could end this. Stop the madness. Konstantin stares me down with an air of boredom, reaching into his pocket for another cigarette. He lights up, the orange flicker of his lighter casting shadows on his face.
“And you say you’re not Bratva,” he says, amused. Konstantin’s eyes flick up to Aurora with a grin. I can’t help but follow his line of sight. My throat closes, but I don’t move a muscle. Her guards have guns to her head.
If I shoot Konstantin, they’ll kill her and then kill me. Nobody wins. He’s made sure of that.
Fuck.
I lower my gun, my lips pressed into a thin line. Aurora’s guards ease up, too. They won’t make a move as long as I don’t. I feel like I’m suffocating, every breath I take burning the insides of my lungs. I need to take a life to save a life, but by then, I’ll be in too deep. Konstantin has planned this from the start.
He knows as well as I do that if I kill a member of the Stokayevskis, they’ll be after me. No turning to the police. No running back to America. No choice but to stay with Konstantin and rely on his protection.That’show he plans on keeping me loyal to him—using my own fear and need for survival against me.
“Fine,” I grumble under my breath. “I’ll do it.”
Konstantin laughs joyfully. “I’m so glad to hear it.”
“But I want to see Aurora and my mother, first.”
“You can see them.Afterthe deed is done.”
I look up at Aurora, can practicallysenseher desperation. Right now, I want nothing more than to hold her. Kiss her. Tell her everything is going to be okay. I’ll do whatever I have to in order to get us out of this mess. But I can’t do any of that. Not with Konstantin and his men in the way.
All I can do is put a hand over my heart. She nods slowly, her bottom lip trembling as she, too, places a hand over her heart. It’s a silent promise, a quiet comfort.
“Give me the fucking keys,” I hiss, making my way to the front of the car, gun shoved into the back of my waistband.
Chapter 28
Aurora
It’s been four weeks and I haven’t heard anything. None of the house staff speaks any English, I assume by design. How better to isolate Charlotte and me than by leaving a massive language barrier in place? We can’t ask for help, we can’t get any information. Charlotte and I have been left in the dark, just the way Konstantin likes.
Catherina is… somewhere. Unlike us, she’s free to move about the mansion. She hasn’t visited us once since first arriving, but it’s not like I’d be happy to see her. I’m more likely to scratch her eyes out than endure a civil conversation with her. I’d much rather focus my attention on Charlotte…
And the baby growing inside me.
Charlotte and I are curled up together in bed for warmth. We’re not living in dire conditions. The house staff brings us three square meals a day, the heat works perfectly fine, and there’s plenty of reading material to browse through. We stick close anyways, unwilling to separate even for a moment. She’s my only friend in this forsaken place. I need to keep her safe, and I can tell she’s thinking the same thing.
She has a hand on my belly. “Do you think it’s a boy or a girl?”
I laugh softly. “I don’t know. Maybe a girl?”
“We should start drafting a list of names,” Charlotte suggests, our conversation light. “Something exotic, you know? So she stands out from the crowd.”
“I was thinking Sandra,” I admit.
“Like your mom?”
