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“He might like it,” Ilya piped up.
“Fuck you, you disgusting pervert,” I said.
My father stepped aside so Ilya could smack me, once across each cheek, all while grinning like a jack-o-lantern.
“Swearing is so unladylike,” my father said, pulling me out the front door of the house and onto the sidewalk. He pushed me into the backseat of a waiting car, leaning down to taunt me before he slammed the door. “If you thought you wanted revenge on me for marrying you off to Yuri, you’re really going to want it now.”
Ilya got in the driver’s seat, craning his neck to give me a filthy look. “It’s a good thing you’re too useless to get anything done right.”
I shook with fear and rage as we wound through the city streets, finally getting to the outskirts of town where my old childhood home was in a secluded area of a forest. The further we got from civilization the more my hopes dwindled. I tucked my chin into my chest and fought panic. Then the car lurched off the narrow road in a deafening screech of grinding metal and skidding tires. My head jerked up to see another car had slammed into us and was now careening alongside us despite it only being a two lane road. We bounced along the guardrail that kept us from flying into the ditch when the car hit us again. I peered out my father’s car’s window, but the big SUV continuing to try to force us off the road had darkly tinted windows, and I couldn’t see anything through them.
Oh God, what now? I gripped the seat in front of me as we got jerked to the side again, my father’s car actually lifting onto two wheels it tilted so far to the side. Once on the other side of the guard rail, the other car hit us again, keeping pace as it continuously rammed us. We bounced crazily as we left the paved road and crashed through the undergrowth, finally stopping with a jolt against a copse of trees. My father whipped around, stuffing down the airbag, as he reached for me to keep me from bolting.
I had my hand on the door handle when the driver’s side window exploded in a shower of glass shards and Ilya’s head slumped into the airbag, a red stain spreading on the white canvas.
“They’re shooting at us,” my father bellowed needlessly.
He jumped out, opening my door and dragging me down beside the car while another bullet rang over the hood.
“Stay down,” he told me, shoving me lower while he tried to figure out who was shooting at us. It might have been heartwarming if I didn’t know he was only protecting his investment.
I almost wondered if it would be better to get gunned down than live the rest of my life with a sadist and kept my eyes peeled between my father and whatever might come from the other side. Did I stand up and say goodbye to this world or continue hoping I could escape this monster’s clutches, and the new monster I was about to be married off to.
Then someone flew over the roof of the car and landed like a cat in front of my father. My breath caught, certain I had lapsed into a daydream. But no, it was really Yuri, pointing a gun at my father’s head.
My father wrenched me in front of him, ducking behind my back.
“Let her go and lie down on your belly, and you might survive,” Yuri shouted. The sweet sound of his voice let me know it was really him. He really came back for me. He never gave up on me after all.
Suddenly my father had his own gun pulled out of his waistband and trained against my temple, his arm wrapped around my neck as he dragged me backwards. Away from Yuri, away from my last chance. Yuri kept his gun hand raised and steady but a glimmer of fear flashed in his eyes. Damn it, that was my father’s life source. He noticed Yuri’s fear and yanked me to standing, continuing to back away.
“I bet you’re not faster than me,” he taunted. “Can you even shoot that thing or are you only good at filing taxes? You’re soft, Yuri. You’re not like your brothers. And I bet you won’t risk—”
Yuri steadied his hand and shot my father straight through the top of his head. He slumped backwards, his arm still wound around my throat so that he dragged me on top of him as he hit the ground. Yuri scrambled over and tossed his hand away from me, pulling me into an embrace. He shielded my face against his chest but I twisted to look down at my father’s body. His eyes were open, his burned face set in a shocked sneer, a neat and tidy hole in the middle of his forehead.
“Jesus Christ, I’m sorry,” Yuri said, holding me so tightly I found it hard to breathe. I didn’t care at all. In fact, there was nowhere I would have rather been and I stuck out my foot to kick my father. He didn’t move. He was truly dead this time. I felt nothing, not even relief.
A handsome young man popped his head out of the SUV that had come to a stop on the road after it ran us into the trees. “We better go,” he called. “Evelina has cleanup on the way.”
Still not loosening his grasp around my waist, Yuri helped me to the SUV. “That’s my cousin Leo,” he said. “Evelina’s brother. They’ve worked it so this gets pinned on a rival family, but we need to get out of here.”
That was fine with me. Leo drove us toward the city while Yuri sat with me in the back. All I could do was cling to him in stunned silence the whole way, still not entirely sure this wasn’t a dream. I didn’t even resist when he insisted on carrying me up to Evelina’s apartment when we made it back into town. Once inside, he settled me down on the couch and winced, rubbing his arm. It was only then I noticed his heavily bandaged shoulder and remembered he’d been shot. He did everything to save me from a serious injury and was just now acting like it caused him the merest inconvenience instead of the terrible pain he must have been in.
“Yuri, you’re hurt,” I said, reaching for the bandages.
He smiled at me and brushed off my concern. “We can deal with my shoulder later. I know you’re probably exhausted, but we need to head back home right now.”
Home. It sounded so good when he said it. I had so much I needed to say to him, but he refused to listen, telling me we’d discuss things later, on the plane. From the kitchen, Evelina piped up. “You promised me a trip to Miami.”
“I said we’d discuss it,” Yuri answered, looking as tired as I felt.
Leo sat down on the coffee table. “I’d say we earned a trip.”
“Fine,” Yuri said, giving in, which I think everyone in the room knew he would.
Both cousins jumped with excitement. “We’re going on a private jet,” Evelina squealed. Leo wanted us to wait for him while he ran to his own apartment to pack.
“Hold up,” Yuri said, looking and sounding like a staid old man compared to their boundless energy. “You two aren’t in any hurry. You’re going commercial if you’re going at all. I want peace on the jet.”
