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“You make me do this, Clar-bear.” His voice cracks with emotion. Tears actually form in the corners of his eyes. “Why do you make me do this? Why can’t you just do what I say?”
I say the only thing that comes to mind: “I’m sorry, Daddy.”
“Oh, baby girl…” Dad moves his foot off me and helps me to my feet. “Come here. Give me a hug.”
I’d rather hug a rattlesnake. But I do what he says and I let him wrap his treacherous arms around me.
And then, when he steps back, I grab his face and shove his head hard against the stone wall.
It’s not the blow that gets him—it’s the surprise. Surprise, and a small amount of fear, when he sees that I’m not stopping there. I twist my waist so I can hit up under his chin with my elbow, the back down with my other against the back of his neck as he crumples to the floor.
I may have been watching Demyen train with his men. Once or twice. I’ve just never been brave enough to try this shit out.
And now that I have—on my own father, no less—I don’t know how I feel. Relieved? Scared of the repercussions?
I don’t waste precious time to mull over my emotions; I just dash out of that room. Once I’m outside behind the building and it looks like I’m in the clear, I tap what might be the passcode to Bambi’s phone and try to unlock it.
Lady Luck smiles on me this time. Whether by coincidence or a recent change, it’s Willow’s birthday.
I scroll through the contacts until I find Pavel, which actually takes less than half a second to do. He’s right at the top in her priority contacts, so I tap his name and wait for it to ring.
And ring.
And ring.
Fuck.
“Hey, Pav, it’s me.”You probably don’t want to hear from me, but tough shit. “Listen—I sent a recording to Bambi’s cloud. Make sure she hears it. Please. Demyen, too, if you can get him to listen. It wasn’t just my father in on it; it was Raizo, too. And they’re planning something?—”
I hear something scuffle a few yards away. Probably a stray cat. I hope.
“Anyway. It’s all there. I don’t know…” My voice suddenly catches.Dammit, keep it together!“I don’t know if or when I’ll be back, so please make sure this gets to everyone. Bambi, Dem, a judge, everyone. And please… tell Willow I love her.”
I hang up before the sobs take over. I can’t afford to lose myself in this rush of fear and panic and grief and just…everything. Everything, too much, all at once.
More scuffling. It’s footsteps, and they kind of sound like Demyen.
But when I turn to greet him, a sharp pain blooms inside my head.
And everything goes dark.
31
CLARA
“Hey. Psst, hey. You awake?”
I groan. I try to blink, but that hurts.
A gentle hand touches my arm. “You really need to come out of it. Like, now.”
It’s a woman talking to me. Soft, hushed. She seems nice. I do my best to peel my eyelids open, then immediately squint in the light. “Ow. Where…?”
“In the garden. Or wherever, I don’t know. But you need to wake the fuck up.”
The urgency mixed with fear in her voice does the trick. I remember going outside and calling Pavel, then something hitting me in the head.
Someone, apparently.
