Page 173 of Vicious Games

I sleep with my coat and shoes on, just in case we need to run.

I don’t know how much longer I can do this. But I will. Because I must.

Kira coos when I hum Babushka’s lullaby.

Do you remember it? Maybe one day you’ll sing it to her. If I can’t.

Promise me, if anything happens to me, you’ll find her.

She wears the bracelet Babushka gave me every night for protection.

It’s the only piece of home I could give her.

Please, protect her, Misha, if I fail.

With all my love,

Katya

When I see that there is only one letter left, my heart breaks. But even as I feel all this pain, I need her words to hold me up, to keep me from shattering completely.

Misha,

He’s found me.

I feel his eyes even when I’m alone.

This isn’t paranoia. This is real.

I need to protect Kira. She can’t be touched by his evil. I would rather die than let that happen.

I will find a way. I’ll keep her safe.

No matter the cost.

Be safe. Live for both of us.

Your beloved sister,

Katya

Tears run freely down my cheeks as I read the last letter. My hands tremble as I press the pages to my chest, trying to breathe in the scent of the faded paper, as if it might bring me closer to her.

She sacrificed everything.

She didn’t abandon me. She saved me.

I turn my head over my shoulder when I hear the door creak open.

“Frankie?” Lucky’s voice is soft but tight with worry.

“She loved me, Lucky. She really loved me. She didn’t leave me. She saved me.”

In an instant, he crosses the room and pulls me into his arms. I collapse into him, sobbing into his shirt.

“Of course she loved you,” he whispers, lips close to my ear. “How could she not?”

And in that moment, wrapped in his arms and surrounded by the words of a mother I barely knew but now understand, something in me finally breaks free.

---