Page 8 of Captive Union
I crouch next to Elena, who wraps her arms around me. “What’s going on?” I ask.
“I don’t know. Some psychos invaded the party and started firing.”
“Are you ok?”
Elena glances down at herself, her dress somehow still immaculate. “I’m fine. Are you?”
I nod before looking at Arina and Ana. “Are you two ok?”
They both nod, offering me scared smiles.
“Mom?” I turn to her. “How are you?”
The look in my mom’s eyes is fearful, which is something I’ve never seen from her before. It makes me want to cry my eyes out.
“Mom?”
She blinks out of her reverie and looks at me. “I’m fine, darling. We’re going to be fine. Your brothers will handle this, and we’ll be all right.”
Another piercing gunshot makes me jump. “Are you sure they’ll be fine?”
She reaches around and grabs my hand. I wince slightly. It’s the hand that was stepped on. The skin is already turning blue. “Of course. I have full confidence in your brothers. Well, Maxim more than Alexei, but they’re both good fighters.”
I sit back against the bar, my knees tucked up, waiting for this scary night to be over. Next to me, Arina rubs her small stomach. I know she’s thinking about her growing baby. God, I hope she doesn’t end up miscarrying from the stress and fear. I hope we make it all out alive.
Elena rubs my cheek. “You have some blood on your face.”
“Not mine. A man next to me got shot.”
She nods at my hand. “What happened?”
“I got pushed down, and people ran over me.”
“My god.” Elena pulls me in closer. “You’re all right now.” She says it more to herself than to me.
It’s a long couple of minutes as more gunshots fire off. The sounds of fighting and men grunting fill the room as I’m sure Maxim, Alexei, and Nik are off defending us all. Who are these people, and why did they invade our party? Why do they want to hurt us?
The guard patrolling the bar, keeping us safe, jerks up suddenly. I glance up to see him get a knife to the throat. The man who killed him tosses him away and walks behind the bar. He’s in a nice suit, different from the other men who entered the party. His jet-black hair almost shines under the lights, and his handsome face turns into a snarl as he looks down at us.
I whimper as I press tighter into Elena, who pulls me closer.
Mom gasps, her body tensing. Before I can wonder why, her words explain it. “Erik Novikoff.”
My gaze settles on the man. I’ve never seen him before, but I know the name. It’s haunted my nightmares for years. He’s finally come back to get his revenge on my family.
“Vasilisa Petrov,” he spits out, crouching down to be at eye level with us, casually holding his gun in one hand and his bloody knife in the other. “Good to see you again.”
Her lips pinch. “I shouldn’t be surprised to see you here. Only you could cause this much chaos to my family.”
“And I’m here to cause some more,” he growls, his eyes settling on me.
I shrink back.
“You,” he says to me, “are coming with me.”
“Like hell,” Elena snaps as Arina grabs my arm.
Erik looks at my sister as if she’s just a funny curiosity to him. “I don’t think I asked for your opinion.” He slides his knife away before he lunges forward and grabs me, tugging me away from my family.
