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Shit. The real fight had just begun.
The red and blue lights flashed through the windows as Robert and the patrol officers drove away.
I wanted to say a million things to her, fromI’m so sorrytoI love you, but the way she avoided my gaze and my touch, I could tell she wasn’t about to forgive me.
“They’re gone,” I said, peeking out the front door’s small window.
She didn’t say anything at first, then cleared her throat. “Will they come after me like they’re after Andrei now?”
I shook my head as I looked into her swollen eyes. She stared at the floor.
“They won’t. Can’t. You’ve done nothing wrong. Just make sure you get a lawyer. The best one money can buy. He can talk on your behalf at least until Andrei is found and they have more than a warrant on him.”
She played with the bracelet I’d given her for her birthday. Would she give it back? Throw it on the floor like it was poisonous?
“Our family lawyer will take care of it. I’m sure Andrei left instructions for him in case this happened.”
“Can you trust him?”
She nodded.
“Good. Besides him, trust no one.”
Her eyes finally met mine.
Trust no one, and, after all the lying, that definitely included me. It was my turn to look away; I couldn’t bear the way she was looking at me.
“And don’t ever,ever, tell anybody that you knew about Andrei. It could make you criminally liable.”
“But I didn’t hurt anybody, never knew who, how, and when! Only that it would be one less monster in this world.”
“That doesn’t matter. Just promise me you won’t repeat that.”
She nibbled on her bottom lip, brows drawn together, and nodded. Her small hand was still playing with the golden bracelet, but just when I thought she would jerk it off her wrist, her hand shot to the handle of the front door and opened it wide.
Please don’t leave!
A painful storm was raging inside me. My arms twitched a little, wanting to grab her and pull her into my arms, but of course, I had no right to do that.
She took a step, now one foot out the door.
“Mila,” I gently called out for her. She didn’t turn to look at me.
“I—”
Too late. Before I could tell her one last time how much she meant to me, would always mean to me, she walked off, head held high, steps confident, not turning to look at me once.
I followed her onto the porch and watched her in utter devastation as she walked down the street. Out of nowhere, a cab turned onto the street.
“Mila, wait!” I shouted desperately. She opened the door to the cab, not looking back.
No goodbye, no hateful curses, nothing.
“Mila, wait!” I yelled again, running down the stairs and onto the road, but the cab was already driving down the street, getting smaller by the second.
It turned a corner and was gone.
I stood in the middle of the road for I don’t know how long; until a car horn startled me and someone yelled at me to get out of the way. It was as if I’d been sent to a different reality, as if the world I’d lived in my whole life had suddenly evaporated and morphed into a world I didn’t recognize at all.
My hand rose to my chest. Losing her was making me physically ill. For a moment, I wasn’t sure if Robert, that pig, or Andrei hadn’t put a bullet in my chest, and that was the pain I was feeling. But there was no blood, no entry wound.
No, this was a broken heart. I’d only felt it twice before: first when my mother, and then my father, had died.
Even during the darkest night, the sun is still out there.
I tried to say those words to myself, but for the first time in my life, they meant nothing to me.
The love of my life was gone forever, and her brother was most likely out there planning to kill me. I could run, try to get a new identity, get a transfer to a different city. But why? What for?
No, I’d wait for him. Let him come to me.
