Chapter 51: Natalia

Sophia sips on her tea across the room and laughs at something funny on the TV.

She’s watching some old black-and-white show I don’t know the name of. I’m sure the name has appeared on the screen several times, but I haven’t been paying attention.

She’s sitting in one of those winged armchairs with her ankles crossed over the other and her back resting against the side.

I don’t know how she can be so calm, as if nothing has happened, as if she didn’t kill her family.

What kind of person does that?

An absolute psychotic bitch.

I’m falling apart inside, grieving for Mikhail. The tears just pour out of my eyes at will, and I’m screaming inside. I can’t believe he’s dead.

I want to grab her and kill her, but I’ve stayed calm in her presence and everybody else who’d gone in and out of this room for the last two and a half days.

Aleksander is supposed to be outside. He’s been coming back into the room repeatedly to speak with her in Russian.

Of course, I don’t know what the fuck they’re saying to each other. I’m still trying to decipher the words, although I’m sure it’s of little use to me now.

I’m fairly certain everything that happens from here onwards is going to be the shit show I have visualized in my head.

It’s a new day, and the cartel heads will be here soon. After Ivan is done with them, he’ll bring me back here and fuck me. Then I’ll die.

I’ll die the moment he touches me. Whatever I fought long and hard to keep alive inside me will die when that happens.

If it happens.

If.

I’m still holding on to the hope I might be able to escape this.

I’ve been looking around the room, and when I was left alone for a few minutes, I went to the window to look outside. That’s when I realized I know where I am.

This is one of Raul’s estate houses in El Proyecto de Lavanda. The plantation I lived on with my family isn’t far from here.

I recognized some of the surroundings and realized I’d been here a few times before with my mother. I just never went into the living quarters. It’s a massive place. Just as big as Raul’s house was. This room has the same high ceiling and long windows as some of the rooms at his home did. It’s all elaborate. I always figured this was where his business associates stayed when they came to visit. It would make sense we’re here.

Mom came here for medical supplies. This was where they were delivered.

I guess this would have been where Ivan saw her.

I can just imagine what he must have done to her. He’s about to do the same to me. It will happen if I don’t get out of here.

No matter what, I have to try. Because not trying is the same as handing him a gun and telling him to shoot me.

If I don’t try to live, I spit in the faces of all the people who died protecting me, who lost their lives so I could live.

So, I can’t not try.

The main door is to our left. I figure I can take Sophia easily, but I worry about what will happen when I get outside. I need a weapon if I’m even going to have a chance.

Aleksander has a weapon. He’s a big guy, so the problem is taking the weapon from him. The only way I can think to do that is by using her.

I don’t know how that will play out yet.

I’ve just been watching her and assessing her to figure out what she’s doing.

Ivan hasn’t been back since Sophia and that bastard Aleksander walked into the room. I should have known something was up with them being together.

It was the way he did what she told him to do that should have tipped me off. I remember that night he got me cookies and he came out of his quarters to do it.

It was because of her that he did it.

What a fucking bastard.

I wonder if Mikhail knew of his treachery or who else in the house was a traitor.

It makes me sick, but I need to cast such worries aside now and think of myself.

Mikhail would want me to survive. He wouldn’t want me to roll over and accept defeat, so I won’t.

I’ll know what to do when Aleksander returns once more.

Sophia looks at me, and her brows knit together.

“You look like shit,” she states.

“So do you,” I throw back.

“Little bitch.” She reaches into her bag and pulls out a syringe. Holding it up, she smiles. “Want some poison, too? I’ll stab you the way I stabbed your guard.”

“Fuck you. You know you can’t take me down.”

“I can’t, but I can get the guards to hold you down. I can give you just enough poison to paralyze your limbs so you can’t move while they rape you.” She laughs, as if that could ever be funny. “I would be careful with my words if I were you. You’re only alive because Ivan wishes it so. That doesn’t mean I can’t destroy you.”

I can’t believe I’m talking to the same person who helped me pick out my wedding dress and talked to me about my hopes for my career.

That was a façade of shit I need to forget.

This is who she is, and she just showed me something I can use against her.

The poison.

The door handle turns, and Aleksander walks in.

“The men are here. It’s time to head down to the meeting room,” he says to her, walking to where she’s sitting.

She answers back in Russian, and the two continue talking in Russian. When he glances at me, I know she said something about me.

I don’t give a fuck what she said. What I’m looking for is a window of opportunity.

He’s here with the gun I have to take from him, and she has the poison.

I have to get to her to get to him, and I have to be ready to seize the moment. If I’m taken down to the meeting room, with Ivan and all his guards, the chance will slip away from me. So, I must keep my eyes open now.

The chance comes when she gets up out of the chair and walks toward the bathroom door.

Aleksander picks up the TV remote and switches the channel. So he’s not paying attention when I leap off the bed and push myself through the air to reach her.

And neither is she.

Sophia doesn’t look at me until it’s too late. By then, I’ve already knocked her to the floor and grabbed her bag. She squirms to get away from me while I reach into the bag for the syringe that contains the poison.

I grab it and hold it to her neck just as Aleksander rushes toward me.

“I’ll do it if you come any closer. I will do it,” I cry, uncapping the needle. All I would need to do is push once for the needle to pop into the side of her neck, releasing the poison, and kill her.

Aleksander looks terrified.

“Don’t be a fool. Get her,” Sophia cries, and Aleksander comes at me, something I didn’t expect him to do.

At the loss of hope, I do the only thing I can and decide to push the pump on the syringe expecting he’ll stop.

He doesn’t. Sophia screams as I push the entire contents into her neck, and when Aleksander reaches me, I slam into him. He’s built like a wall, so he doesn’t go down. He grabs me, securing his arms around my upper body so I can’t get away.

I kick him and try to wriggle free of his hold.

He squeezes tighter, which is when I feel his gun in his left pocket. I grab it, but because of the position he’s holding me in, when I cock the hammer and fire the bullet, it goes straight in his foot.

It’s enough for him to release me, though, and I fire one more shot straight in his face.

Blood splatters me, staining my body, but the taste of freedom fuels me.

I’m standing here with the gun in my hand, Aleksander dead on the floor, and a look to my left confirms Sophia has to be dead, too. Her eyes are wide open, and she’s not moving.

No one has come in.

Realizing this is my chance to flee, I feel adrenaline move my body and run to the door, yanking it open.

I run through into the hallway, my legs propelling me forward on the concrete floor.

I barrel ahead only to collide with a massive wall of a chest. A hand curls around my throat, lifting me off the ground.

I meet Ivan’s death glare and gasp for breath when he hoists me higher into the air.

“What the fuck have you done!” he shouts in my face.

I try to raise the gun, but I can’t. I can’t breathe. His grip is so tight that stars speckle my vision and everything begins to blur around me.

He relieves me of the gun effortlessly while I gasp, feeling like I might pass out.

The guards enter the room, and seconds later, one of them returns, glaring at me.

“They’re dead,” he informs Ivan. “Aleksander and Sophia are dead.”

Ivan growls and throws me against the wall. I scream when my shoulder smashes into the hard surface.

“You little bitch. You killed my aunt. You will pay for that.” He hits me with the back of his hand. Blood spurts from my nose.

My face feels like it’s on fire, and I heave, but he hits me again, striking my other cheek.

I scream from the pain, yelping as he hauls me up again by my throat and secures a grip around my arm.

God, it feels like he’s going to tear off my arm.

“Let’s fucking go and get this over with. Then I’ll deal with you properly.” He moves with me down the hall, hustling me forward with his guards on either side.

More come—ten more—and I realize how foolish I was to think I could escape.

I was never going to, but at least I know I tried.

This is bigger than me.

Ivan is going to kill me, too, when he’s done with me. I can feel it. He’ll kill me to get revenge for Sophia.

We reach a meeting hall, where I face the same men I faced nearly two months ago in this same position.

Back then I was at the mercy of a man who changed my world.

This man is not like that man, and that man is no more.

“Welcome, amigos,” Ivan says, pulling me closer and pressing his face to mine. “Here she is. The princess. Raul’s daughter. The reason we’re here today. My brother is dead, so I will be marrying his wife and taking over. I am the new Pakhan, and you will swear your allegiance in blood to me.”

A gunshot sounds, making me jump out of my skin. It came from the balcony at the other end of the room and took down the guard next to us.

All the men scramble to their feet, guns raised, but a host of men appears on the balcony.

I, however, have my eyes focused on one man.

The man I thought I’d never see again.

Mikhail Dmitriyev.

He’s alive and at the head of the men with two guns pointed at Ivan.

“I am not dead, and you aren’t taking my wife!” he shouts. That’s when all hell breaks loose.

Bullets fly everywhere. Ivan pulls me away, but I keep looking back at Mikhail as he runs across the balcony and takes the stairs.

“He’s not getting you back, princess,” Ivan promises.

“Let go of me.”

He pulls his gun and holds it to my head. “Come now, or I’ll blow your pretty little head to pieces.”