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I place my hand on his back, rubbing slightly between his shoulder blades. He attempts to lift his head to speak, but he’s overcome by another ripple of intense sadness and despair. His body shakes as he releases years of pent-up emotions, all of them coming to a head on the worst day of his life.
And I’m the only person here for him.
The woman he kidnapped twice.
I can’t imagine how lonely that must feel.
“Listen, we can still take the car back to the gas station. I can figure everything out with Eric and his family, okay? I can’t promise anything, but I’ll do the best I can to keep them off your trail,” I say.
My stomach sinks at the thought of confronting Eric’s family, especially in defense of the person who stole his car and ran him over. I don’t even know if Eric is still alive. The sound of his body hitting the pavement was absolutely vile.
“You’re not going to go to the cops?” he asks quietly. “After everything I’ve put you through?”
I shake my head.
“No, I won’t. I can’t fault you for doing what you thought was right after such a horrible tragedy.”
He begins to sob again, and he continues to cry for ten minutes before he finds the strength to start the car.
I hold my breath as we pull away from the parking lot, scared to death that he’s going to continue down the highway into no man’s land.
Instead, he puts us back in the opposite direction toward Raleigh.
Without speaking too soon, I think I might have just saved both of our lives.
But I can’t make promises, and I have no idea what I’m about to walk into.
18
Ruslan
By some miracle, Vera was able to get through to me.
As I drive back to the gas station, my head swims from the intensity of my emotions.
I haven’t cried like that since I was a child. I didn’t even cry when my father died. I was only fourteen, but he’d taught me never to show a shred of weakness. I felt like I was devaluing his legacy if I cried.
Sobbing like that in front of Vera is a mistake I’ll never make again, but she was able to prevent a catastrophe by talking me down. I’ll never know how to thank her for it.
She doesn’t try to talk to me the whole way back. She’s probably said everything she can, and I wouldn’t blame her if she’s just trying to stay on my good side.
Even if she doesn’t talk, she keeps her hand firmly pressed to mine as I drive.
She hasn’t tried to move it once, and she hasn’t reacted to my touch in a negative way at any point. At the very least, I know that she wants to feel that contact between us.
If Vera and Yan are the only people I have to help me get through this, I’m going to be just fine.
But I still have to find Misha’s killer.
I’m far less convinced that Vera is involved, but I’m still going to make her prove it to me once I’m in the right headspace. She’s more than willing to show me evidence to clear her name.
As we pull into the city again, I feel my stomach churning at the thought of pulling up to the gas station. Even if that spoiled idiot Vera was with is gone, it’s the place where my brother died. I might have to avoid that side of town for a while after this is all said and done, but only if I’m not put into prison.
The trouble lies in the fact that I have no idea who could have done it otherwise. We all have petty adversaries, but Misha was particularly efficient at taking his out. He was feared as a marksman which made him an asset to have as my right-hand man.
I would still never believe someone if they told me it was a random attack or a robbery. It doesn’t suit Misha. As a well-respected man in the underground business world, he deserves more dignity than that.
When we approach the gas station, I see Vera’s boyfriend standing on the sidewalk as he shouts into his phone.
