“I didn’t want to help him, but he threatened me, Molly. He told me I had to or else he’d kill my family.”
“What about my family?” I ask weakly, my voice barely audible.
Hannah swipes at her eyes and takes a step towards me, but I wave my hand, keeping her at a distance.
“I know,” she sobs. “I told him where you guys were and when you left the house. I felt like shit the whole time, and I tried to get you to leave, but you wouldn’t do it. I tried to get you to leave Viktor, but—”
“Am I supposed to thank you?” I spit. “You’ve been lying to me this entire time. Spying on me.”
“I tried to keep Theo safe, too,” she says softly. “I wanted him to stay home the day of the photo shoot. I didn’t want him to be there for whatever was going to happen.”
Hannah was insistent that morning, and I didn’t understand why. Now it all makes sense, and my stomach turns. I thought she missed her son and wanted to spend time with Theo. Instead, Hannah knew we were going to be ambushed and attacked. Luckily, what she didn’t know is that Viktor had a security team in place.
So many thoughts are running through my head, but one separates from the others and rises to the forefront of my mind. “Why are you telling me this now?”
Hannah doesn’t have a chance to answer.
I hear a car door open behind me and turn around just as Fedor steps onto the curb, gun in hand.
“Because I want you to suffer the way I did when you took my son and my brother from me.” His eyes are narrowed on me, but the gun is pointed at Hannah. “She’s telling you this now because her mission is over.”
Hannah sobs and folds over, her body going slack. “Please. No. Please. I did what you asked.”
All of my animosity towards Hannah fades the second I realize Fedor is going to kill her.
She doesn’t deserve this. Regardless of what she did, she doesn’t deserve to die.
A smile spreads across Fedor’s face, and for a moment, I’m startled by how much he and Theo look alike. They have the same smiles and the same pointed chins. But where Theo’s eyes are warm and brown, Fedor’s are electric green. And right now, they are deadly.
I lunge forward before I can second-guess myself and shove Fedor’s arm up into the air. “Run, Hannah!”
She takes off running.
Fedor grabs my hair with his free hand and yanks my neck to the side, but I don’t let go of his arm until he drops my hair and swings for my stomach. I want to save Hannah if I can, but I won’t sacrifice the safety of my baby for her.
I jump back and Fedor aims the gun at me. His smile has been replaced with a sharp frown. His nostrils are flared, and he is breathing heavily. He looks crazed, and I’m convinced he is going to execute me on the spot.
Then, his demeanor changes in a flash. His mouth tilts up in a cocky smirk, and he is all swagger and confidence. “My men will find and kill Hannah later. Right now, I don’t care. The slut did her job. She got you here.”
The idea of being taken by Fedor is even more terrifying than a sidewalk execution, but just as I spin around to run, more men step out of hiding and move towards me.
I scream, hoping to draw some attention, but before the sound can even leave my throat there is a hand clamped over my mouth. I thrash and flail, but strong arms pin my limbs to my sides and throw me in the back of a waiting van.
The room is small and white and secure.
I walk the small perimeter countless times, desperate to find a secret hatch or a boarded-over window or a key to the door. But even that wouldn’t help. The door is locked from the outside and there is no handle on the inside.
I walk along the edges of the small room until hopelessness settles over me like a weight, dragging me to the floor.
Eventually, I lie down and try to rest.
In the van, the men tied my arms and legs, and I prayed they wouldn’t notice I’m pregnant. I’m still early enough that it isn’t obvious, but if they’d lifted my shirt, they might have noticed the bump. It’s popping out a lot sooner than it did when I was pregnant with Theo.
Thankfully, they didn’t look at my bare stomach, and I didn’t have to endure any additional violence.
Fedor didn’t talk to me as we drove across town. I was left to lie in the back of the van, guarded by two of Fedor’s men, and he stayed in the front.
Then, when we arrived at our destination, I was blindfolded and carried inside. I could hear gravel crunching under their feet, but that did little to tell me where we were going.
The inside of the building is cold, and even after hours locked inside, I haven’t grown accustomed to it. I slip my arms from the sleeves of my sweater and wrap them around my middle, trying to warm up with my own body heat.
I don’t know whether Fedor is keeping the room cold to torture me or whether there is simply no electricity. There are no lights in my room or any lights visible through the small, barred window set into the metal door of my room, so I can’t be sure.
Guards walk up and down the hallway every so often, and I don’t know if I’m the only prisoner Fedor has or not. I can’t hear any other voices, and the silence is starting to make me crazy when suddenly, there is a loud metallic scraping noise.
I yelp and jump to my feet, shoving my arms through the sleeves of my sweater as fast as I can, wanting to be ready for anything. Then, the long, thin rectangular cut into the bottom of the door opens and a tray filled with food is pushed through it.
The tray clatters to the floor, and I’m so unaccustomed to the noise that I shove my hands over my ears.
After almost a minute of silence, I realize whoever left the food is gone, so I crawl forward and pick at it.
It is a microwavable freezer meal. The macaroni is salty mush and the green beans are rubbery. Still, I eat everything. The baby needs nutrients, and even if I don’t feel hungry, I can’t skip any meals right now.
When I’m done, I shove the tray against the door and lean back against the wall. My hips hurt from sitting on the concrete floor, but I barely feel the pain. I’m far too focused on the burn of betrayal in my chest.
Hannah lied to me. For weeks.
Every laugh we shared, every secret I told her … she was betraying me. She was spying on me and feeding information to a man who wants to kill me and steal my son.
I drop my face into my hands and cry for the first time since Fedor kidnapped me.
Everything happened so fast: Hannah’s admission, Fedor’s appearance, and my saving Hannah from being shot. There hasn’t been any time to process how I’m feeling, and even now, I’m not sure I want to.
My feelings won’t save me right now. Regardless of how I’m feeling, it doesn’t change the facts.
I’m away from my family, locked up by my husband’s crazy brother, and away from my son.
Viktor doesn’t even know what has happened to me. I wonder whether Fedor will try to convince him I ran away.
Surely, Viktor wouldn’t believe that.
At least, I hope he wouldn’t.
I allow myself another minute of crying before I wipe my face on my sleeve and stand up, shaking off the meltdown.
If I want any chance of getting out of here, I have to stay focused. I have to stay strong. I have to think about Theo and my unborn baby and Viktor.