Page 124 of Stolen Empire
We rush to them, piling in, and soon, we're heading away from Radich territory and back toward home where it's safe.
Katya curls against the door, watching the scenery blur past as I safety my weapon and remove the clip.
She's trembling, an aftereffect of all the adrenaline and terror.
I don't know what to say to her now, seated in the back of this moving vehicle, but a lot of questions rise the longer we sit in silence.
If Oleg was telling me the truth, we have a lot to talk about.
"So, is it true?" I ask her, and she looks up at me with fear in her eyes.
"What?" she asks, but I can tell by the look on her face that she knows what I'm asking.
"Are you who they say you are?"
The question can't be more direct.
If she knows about it, it's never come up in our conversations, and that either makes her a very good liar or a plant of some kind.
I don’t know if my heart can handle either one.
"I don't know," she whispers. "I think so."
Her voice comes out hoarse and her face screws up into an expression I can't read.
Then tears stream down her cheeks.
"They showed me photos. That girl looked so much like me but… But I didn't know about any pact. I swear to God I didn't know, Dimitri. I don’t know anything about that life. I'm just Katya."
I believe her, or at least I want to. Reaching for her, I pull her into my arms and hold her against my chest.
She's been through too much to keep pushing her, and she trembles in my arms as she sobs.
If she has hidden her identity deliberately, knowing what her name means, then everything between us has been built on lies.
I just can't see how that's possible. Not my Katya.
I can't believe she'd do something like that.
Besides, if she had, she'd have said something about the pact and enforced her right to my family's protection.
The SUV pulls into the underground garage next to my apartment building.
Sergei kills the engine but doesn't move to open the doors.
He waits for instructions while giving me time to process everything.
After a few long minutes, Katya pulls away and wipes her face with the backs of her hands and I pull myself together.
"Go home," I tell him.
"Be ready if I call."
I'm grateful to my brothers for backing me up, and I will forever be in their debt.
Sergei nods and climbs out.
Then he climbs into the second SUV with the other soldiers, and all of the men disappear into the garage's shadows.
