Page 104 of Vendetta Vows

Everything is as it should be, except for the silence. It's too quiet.

"Mom?" I call out, moving through the living room. "Dad?"

I turn the corner into the kitchen and freeze.

Blood. So much blood. My mother's body slumped over the kitchen table, her blonde hair matted with red. My father crumpled on the floor beside her, his eyes open but seeing nothing.

"No," I whisper, backing away. "No, no, no..."

I bump into something solid behind me and whirl around.

There's my little brother, his face pale and still. But he's not the only one.

Beside him is Mikayla, then Stella and Sofia, their small bodies bloody, and their eyes vacant.

And Ruslan. God, Ruslan is there too, his golden eyes dimmed, a dark stain spreading across his chest.

"This is what happens," a familiar voice says from the shadows. "This is what happens when you run from me, Jamie."

Kristofer steps into the light, his police uniform pristine despite the carnage around him. His smile is the same one I remember.

That perfect, disarming curve of wormy lips.

But his green eyes hold no smile. They look almost lifeless as he walks towards me.

"Look what you made me do, Jamie," he whispers, gesturing to the bodies. "All of them. Because of you."

He moves closer, backing me against the wall. I can't breathe. Can't scream. Can't move.

"You thought he could protect you?" Kristofer's face is inches from mine now, his fingers digging into my arms as his other hand points at Ruslan's lifeless body. "From me? You thought he could hide you?"

"Please," I beg. "Please don't?—"

"Look what you made me do," he repeats, pinning me against the wall with his body. I feel his breath hot on my face. "And I'll do it again. And again. Until you understand that there's nowhere you can run where I won't find you."

His hands close around my throat, and all I can do is scream and scream and scream.

I wake up thrashing, a shriek tearing from my throat. The sheets are tangled around my legs like restraints. Sweat plasters my hair to my forehead.

I barely have time to catch my breath before the door to my room bursts open. In the dim light, I see Ruslan's silhouette filling the doorway, his broad shoulders tense, his hands curled into fists.

He looks ready to kill.

"Zarechka!" His voice is sharp with alarm, eyes scanning the room for threats.

A sob escapes my throat as the nightmare's images still cling to my vision. All that blood, those lifeless bodies, Kristofer's eyes staring into mine.

I'm shaking so hard my teeth chatter.

"I—I'm sorry," I stammer, trying to collect myself. "I had a nightmare."

Ruslan moves to my side in three long strides, the mattress dipping under his weight as he sits beside me. Without hesitation, I fall against him, burying my face into his chest.

His arms come around me immediately, strong and solid.

"You're safe," he murmurs against my hair, one large hand stroking down my back. His voice rumbles through his chest and into mine. "I've got you."

I clutch at his powerful frame. His scent, cedarwood and mahogany, helps anchor me to reality, pulling me away from the blood-soaked kitchen of my nightmares.

---