Page 25 of Married to the Don (Kornilov Bratva Duet 1)

I was so focused on the kid behind the counter and Viktor giving chase that I didn’t notice the man standing guard in the corner. Perhaps he’s the security the pervy clerk mentioned earlier. I assumed he was making it up, but apparently not.

“Where are you off to?” he asks, his voice a deep rumble that seems to shake the building.

“Stop her before she does something stupid.”

Viktor’s voice sounds extremely close now, and I realize it’s because it’s coming out of a small headset in the security guard’s ear.

“Why are you running?” he asks, looking from me to Theo. “Have you stolen something?”

“Just let me go.” I try to twist out of his grip, but he holds onto my arm and spins me around just as the stairwell door opens and Viktor walks into the room.

His face is red, either from recently being hit in the balls or from running—or both—and his eyes are narrowed in frustration. He growls as he stomps across the floor, takes my arm from the guard, and walks me towards the door I was just running towards. The door to the outside.

“Where are we going?” I ask, suddenly wishing we’d go back inside. When I ran out, it seemed like a good idea, but now, walking into the cold and dark seems ominous.

Theo seems to calm in Viktor’s presence which only makes me more frantic. What did Viktor say to him during their time alone? Could he really have brainwashed my own child against me in that short of a time? It’s the only thing I can think of which would explain why Theo trusts Viktor and not me. Why he calms in the presence of a relative stranger and cries in the arms of his mother.

The security guard is walking behind us, and Viktor holds out a hand to tell the man to stay back. I suppose that’s a good sign, though I’m not convinced. Nothing about this situation seems good.

“Why are you running?” he asks, his voice deep and even, though I can tell it is taut and strained like a wire cable about to snap. There is a deep vein of fury running just below the surface.

“Don’t hurt us,” I plead, pressing Theo’s face to my chest and covering his ears with my hands. “Please.”

I don’t want to scare him. I don’t like that he seems comfortable around Viktor, but I also don’t want him to be traumatized.

“Just let us go. You’ll never see us again. I swear. Just let us go.” I’m only half-aware of what I’m saying. My clearheaded adrenaline of a few minutes ago is shifting into a caged kind of panic. I feel boxed in, claustrophobic, and I’ll do anything to get out.

“I’m not going to hurt you if you just cooperate,” Viktor says. He lets go of my arm when we reach a black car in the back of the parking lot. He nods for me to get inside.

I hold Theo more tightly until I can feel him squirming with discomfort, and look around for a path of escape. Viktor steps into my line of sight again, shakes his head, and pulls back his leather jacket to reveal a gun on his hip.

“I’m not going to hurt you if you cooperate,” he repeats. “Put Theo in the car.”

Lost. Hopeless. Desperate.

My will to live is draining, and now I’m focused only on saving Theo.

“Let Theo go. He’s innocent. He doesn’t deserve this. Please, let him go. Take me, but leave him.”

“I’m not going to hurt him,” Viktor says, his patience growing thin. He sounds frustrated, but yet, I believe him. I don’t think he wants to hurt Theo. “Now get in the car.”

When it becomes clear I’m not going to move, Viktor pries Theo out of my grip. I want to cling to him and scream, but I don’t want to do anything that will scare him. If he starts to scream and cry, will Viktor change his mind? Would he hurt him just to try and make him quiet?

The thought is acid in my stomach, so I fall back against the car as soon as Theo is taken out of my arms and sag down to the ground as Viktor buckles him into the back seat. Seconds later, he’s in front of me, hand extended.

“Why are you doing this?” I ask. “Why now? It’s been years.”

Viktor says nothing, but reaches down, grabs my hand, and hauls me onto shaky legs.

“Get in.” He opens the driver’s side door for himself and nods for me to walk around the car and get in the passenger seat.

Once I get in the car, I don’t know what will happen. I don’t know where he’ll take me or what he’ll do. Maybe he’s taking us to Fedor. Maybe he’s going to give Theo to the man who attacked me and then dispose of my body.

Tears burn the backs of my eyes, and I know this is my last chance at getting away. If I let myself be driven away from the motel, I might never be seen again.

So, I walk around the front of the car and reach for the passenger side door. Then, as fast as I can, I lunge forward, wrench the door open, and throw myself across the back seat.

Theo had just started to calm down, but he gasps in surprise as I fumble with his seat belt and try to drag him across the leather seat to me.

Just as I’m about to pull him through the door and run, I hear a mechanical thunk. When I look up, I expect to see Viktor with his gun pointed at me, but I’m still unprepared for the rush of fear that tears through me when that expectation is confirmed. My arms go slack, and I drop Theo back onto the seat.

Viktor hides the gun behind the car seat so Theo won’t see it—something I’m grateful for, as absurd as it sounds—and shakes his head at me.

“Get in the car.”

That was it. My big escape attempt. Foiled in under five seconds.

I buckle Theo into his seat, kiss his forehead, and get into the front seat. Viktor waits until I’m buckled in before he puts the gun away.

“My aim is perfect,” he says quietly as he pulls out of the lot. “If I were you, I wouldn’t test it.”

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