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“Stand down.” Sasha grabs my dad and pushes him toward Yuri. Ilya steps back but keeps his eyes on me. “Natalya, what are you doing here?”
“Me? What are you doing here?” I sweep my hand out.
He ignores me and nods toward Yuri, who drags my dad toward the meat slicer, and then turns to me again. “I will ask one last time, what are you doing here after dark, little Natalya?”
I don’t like the way Sasha says my name or how my stomach flutters when he does. He cocks his head demanding an answer. His earring twinkles.
My throat dries up, and I swallow. “I’m here for the invoices to reconcile the accounts.”
He grunts and turns to my dad who’s trying to escape Yuri’s hold, but failing. “I didn’t realize this was a family affair, Boris. The Pakhan will be disappointed, but I’m sure he’ll have uses for your daughter. Go ahead, Yuri.”
Sasha crosses his arms over his chest. His muscles bulge beneath the inky black cable knit sweater.
“Stop, please!” I step toward him and he holds up a hand to his lackey, who pauses. How can he do this? Who would hurt another human–my father, of all people?
Maybe it’s not too late to call the police. Except my phone is still in my bag at the door.
Sasha rubs a hand over his well-trimmed beard. “What are you thinking, solnishko?”
“Why are you doing this?” My voice shakes. I take in his wide-legged stance as if he might reach for me if I were to run.
“Boris has taken a lot of money from the business. Money that isn’t his to take. It would have been easier if it had been from,”–he glances around–“one of the other businesses, but he chose this one. The one the Pakhan has a soft spot for. His grandmother’s deli.”
“Dad? Please tell me you didn’t.” I can’t stop shaking.
“Your mother’s treatments, and your college tuition,” he sputters. “I had to. I thought I could make the money back after a few guaranteed bets.”
He says this like it makes perfect sense. Because apparently stealing is logical if you do it from the bad guys. A category in which Sasha and his boss firmly land.
“How much?” It comes out shaky.
“Natalya,” he pleads.
“How much fucking money did you take?” I clench my fists.
“Three million.” He weeps and Yuri edges him closer to the meat slicer.
I can barely swallow the information down. I don’t have anything worth three million dollars or three lifetimes to earn that much back.
“Do it, Yuri. I don’t have all night.” Sasha turns, clearly dismissing me. “Ilya, text the cleaners.”
My eyes follow his line of sight. He’s so cold and calm about chopping someone up. Dad’s face is close to the machine and the whirring vibration ripples all the way across the room to tickle my entire body. Silver metal circles and flashes. Dad cries. I have to try and save him. Mom needs him. Luka and Lydia need him. I want to need him, but this feels like betrayal. He didn’t protect us. Which means I have to.
“Wait. Stop. Please,” I beg.
Sasha holds his hand up again and time freezes.
“Solnishko, what will you give me if I do?” He steps toward me, in my space, and reaches up to caress my cheek.
My eyes close and, for the first time, I let the tears fall. “I’ll give you whatever you want. Do whatever you want. Just please don’t hurt him.”
“You are asking the impossible.” His thumb rubs back and forth catching the tears and smearing them across my skin. He slides his hand to the back of my neck and tilts my head up. Our eyes meet, his dark as obsidian, and I fall down the rabbit hole willing him to do something.
“Please. I’ll do anything you want. Anything.” I sob.
Sasha studies me a moment longer. “Maybe there is something, solnishko.”
CHAPTER TWO
