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I steer her to my bed and finger the long braid, noticing how blonde her hair is now. We look alike, except for our eyes.
“I can’t tell you. It’s not that I don’t trust you, but believe me, it’s safer if you don’t know. Papa’s people have a way of knowing if someone is lying and getting information out of them. Especially women.” I kiss her forehead, and she pulls me in for a hug.
“How can you leave? Do you have money?”
I don’t want her to worry about me, but she can’t know that scum Dante Caruso helped me.
“I have some money. Enough. Papa doesn’t hide his extra cash very well, and there’s so much of it, he doesn’t even realize it’s gone. I have enough to live on for a while. I’ll figure out how to get more when I’m settled somewhere.”
“Take me with you, please?” She grabs hold of my wrist.
The desperation in her eyes stuns me.
“Katya, I can’t take you with me. Yulia will look after you.” I uncurl her fingers from my wrist and stand. “You just made the Dean’s List at East Side Performing Arts, for crying out loud. Papa didn’t let me go to college. I’m so proud of you. Keep dancing, mladshaya sestra.” I call her little sister in Russian to strengthen our bond.
“I will keep dancing.” She hugs me again. “Will you write me?”
“I can’t.” I shake my head. “Papa checks the mail.”
“Wait here.” Katya dashes into the hallway.
Hating goodbyes, I grab my suitcase and swing it off the bed. This is a good time to leave.
The worry in Katya’s eyes might make me back down, or delay. Then I’ll be stuck.
I take one last look around my bedroom. This is it.
Sadness hurts my heart, but I draw on the last ounces of my strength. I need to run, start a new life, and live on my own, away from everyone and everything I’ve ever known.
I slide open my window to climb out, but Katya returns and gasps in the doorway.
“Are you crazy?” she hisses, yanking me back inside. “You’re leaving in the middle of the day?”
“Papa is across town at a meeting, and guards are watching from the main road for an ambush.”
I check the time on my watch. Shit, I only have ten minutes.
“It’s supposed to snow tonight, and I can’t take a chance on being stuck in a blizzard. I’ll be fine.”
“Wait. Don’t bring your suitcase. Papa will think you left on your own. In fact…” She glances around. “We have to make it look like someone took you.”
Her suggestion stills me in my tracks.
“You want him to think someone kidnapped me?”
“This way, if he finds you, he won’t punish you.” She nods enthusiastically, like this is a game.
A game to save my life.
“Oh my God, that’s brilliant.” I pull her into my arms.
We open my suitcase and empty it.
While I hate not having my favorite clothes, if it will throw Papa off, make him chase an invisible perpetrator and forgive me if I have to come home, it’s worth it.
Katya knocks over some furniture to make it look like there was a struggle. Even breaks my mirror.
“Here, take this.” She shoves a piece of paper at me. “Students have mailboxes on campus. This is mine. You can write to me there. Papa doesn’t know about it. No one does. Send me your address, and I’ll try to mail you some of your clothes.”
