Page 14 of The One Who Won’t Get Away
I shrugged.“No.Well, she didn’t say what was wrong, but she’d sometimes get phone calls she ignored, but then she’d act weird after, like it disturbed her.”
I had been so happy when Ljuba had started dating Dan.The guy was a bodyguard, and he absolutely adored my sister.I’d figured he would keep her safe, and I guess he had, considering he and Nick had gotten her out of this whole kidnapping mess.
“Here’s what I don’t get,” Nick said as he watched me eat.“Excuse me for being so blunt, but I'm afraid this is too important.From what I found in George’s file, he was into kids.Ljuba is all grown up now.Do you have any idea why he’d want her?”
Bile rose in my throat, and I took another spoonful of ice cream to bury the sensation.
George had only wanted to adopt Ljuba at first because yeah, he was into children, and the younger the better.Ljuba refused, saying she wouldn’t leave me and Vera behind.But George had found other uses for me, hadn’t he?
“God, this place doesn’t have enough ice cream for this shit.”Why had I ever agreed to answer questions?Right.I didn’t want Ljuba to ever have to deal with that bastard again.“He...”
The words got stuck as memories flashed, too fast to dwell on each one separately, but the montage was worse than any one thing.Hands.Grins.Fingers.Cigarette smoke.Pain.Blood.Screams.
Chapter 7
Nick
SHE DIDN’T MAKE A SOUND, but I knew the look.It was the same look I’d seen on lost kids in a police station waiting room, on battered women who couldn’t say what happened, and on those I dedicated my life to finding.
Nadya blinked.Just once, but it was a shuttered lens.When her eyes opened again, they were glazed.Her breaths came too shallow, like she was drowning in the middle of a cafeteria.The fluorescent light threw blue-white angles on her cheekbones and made her seem smaller, younger.I let the silence stretch until it was almost unbearable, just to see if she’d come back on her own.She didn’t.
I itched to touch her, just to offer her comfort because she clearly didn't want anything else, but I forced myself not to.Sometimes, even a gentle hand could feel like a trap.
Her next inhale was sharp enough to cut glass.Fuck.
I leaned in slowly, hands up and open—showing her the universal sign for ‘I’m not a threat.’Then, I reached over and pressed my palm lightly to her shoulder.Not enough pressure to restrain, just enough so she’d know where I was.
“Hey,” I said, voice pitched just above a whisper.“Come back to me.You’re safe now.”
She'd always be safe with me.
Nadya didn’t look at me, but her hand loosened its death grip on the cup.I watched for another breath, then tried again, careful to keep the words simple.“I have a few ideas.Tell me if you like any of them, okay?First idea, I can get all the sugar I can find in this place, and we’ll just stuff our faces with it.Second idea—which can definitely happen while we’re stuffing our faces with chocolate—is we just change topics and talk about something more fun.And my third idea—which can still happen while we do the first two—is that we don’t have to talk about this whole thing with George.If you’re more comfortable with it, you can write down what you know, and it’ll be just as good.”
I waited until her chest eased down a notch.Her focus returned.
“What, no option for vodka?”she asked, voice dry like scraping the bottom of a gravel pit.
