Chapter 65 Anya
I could not breathe.
Two guards are dead. In our own house.
And somewhere, the killer was still here.
The day was almost over.
I stayed close to Nikolai all day. So close I could feel his heartbeat. So close I could smell the gunpowder on his clothes.
"Eat something," he said, pushing a plate toward me.
We were in his study. The doors were locked. With gaurds stationed outside.
But it did not feel safe.
"I am not hungry."
"You need to eat. To keep your strength up."
"For what? So I can run faster when they come for me?"
He grabbed my hand. "No one is taking you. I will not let them."
"You cannot watch me every second of every day."
"Watch me."
I looked at him. At the dark circles under his eyes. The tension in his jaw. The way his hand never left his gun.
He was exhausted, running on pure adrenaline and rage.
"You need to sleep," I said.
"I will sleep when you are safe."
"I am safe now. You are here."
"Safe is relative when there is a five million ruble bounty on your head."
Five million. I still could not wrap my mind around it.
That was more money than I had ever seen in my entire life. More money than my father made in ten years.
And Viktor Morozov was offering it to anyone who brought me to him alive.
"Why alive?" I asked suddenly.
Nikolai looked at me. "What?"
"The contract. Why does he want me alive? Why not just... kill me and be done with it?"
His face darkened. "Because he wants to make an example of you."
I felt sick. "And then he will kill me."
"He will try. But he will have to go through me first."
There was a knock on the door. We both tensed.
"Pakhan," Mikhail's voice came through. "We found something."
Nikolai stood up. "Come in."
Mikhail entered. He was holding a small black device.
"What is that?" I asked.
"A listening device. We found it in your bedroom. Someone has been monitoring your conversations."
My blood ran cold. "For how long?"
"Unknown. But long enough to know your routines."
Nikolai took the device and crushed it in his hand. "Search every room. Find them all."
"Already doing it. But Pakhan, if they were listening, they know everything. Your plans. Your defenses. Everything."
"Then we change the plans."
"How?"
Nikolai looked at me. Then back at Mikhail. "We set a trap."
"What kind of trap?"
"We make them think Anya is alone and vulnerable. And when they come for her, we take them out."
"No." I stood up. "Absolutely not. I am not bait."
"It is the only way to draw them out."
"Then find another way!"
"There is no other way, Anya. They are in my house. In my walls. Listening to everything. The only way to stop them is to make them show themselves."
"By using me as bait? What if something goes wrong? What if they actually get to me?"
"They will not. I will be there. Mikhail will be there. We will have men hidden everywhere."
"You cannot guarantee my safety."
"No. But I can guarantee that if we do nothing, they will find another way. A way we do not expect. And then you will be in real danger."
I hated that he was right.
"When?" I asked quietly.
"Tonight. We make it look like you are sleeping alone that I had to leave for business. They will think it is their chance."
"And where will you really be?"
"In will be around."
I wrapped my arms around myself. "I do not like this."
"Neither do I. But it is our best option."
Mikhail cleared his throat. "There is something else. We found one of the listening devices in Dmitri's room too."
My heart stopped. "Dmitri. Where is he?"
"In his room. Under guard."
"I need to see him."
"Anya, we do not have time..."
"I need to see my brother!" My voice cracked. "Please, Nikolai. If something happens tonight. I need to see him one more time."
Nikolai studied my face. Then nodded. "Five minutes. Mikhail, escort her. And do not let her out of your sight."
We went to Dmitri's room. Two guards stood outside.
Mikhail knocked. "It is us."
The door opened. Dmitri sat on his bed, cleaning a gun.
When he saw me, he stood up. "Anya. Are you okay?"
I ran to him and hugged him tight.
"There is a contract on my head. Five million rubles. And someone in this house is trying to collect."
"I know. Mikhail told me." He pulled back and looked at my face. "You are scared."
"Of course I am scared!"
"Good. Fear keeps you sharp. It keeps you alive."
"When did you become so calm about death?"
"When I realized that being afraid does not stop it from coming. It just makes the wait worse."
I stared at my little brother. When had he grown up? When had he become this hard?
"Nikolai has a plan," I said. "He is going to use me as bait."
Dmitri's face darkened. "And you agreed to this?"
"I do not have a choice."
"There is always a choice."
"Not this time."
He was quiet for a moment. Then he said, "If anything happens to you, I will kill him. I will kill Nikolai Markov with my bare hands."
"Nothing will happen. He will protect me."
"He better. Because if he does not, there will be nowhere he can hide from me."
Despite everything, I smiled. "I love you too, little brother."
"I am not so little anymore."
"No. You are not."
We hugged again. And I tried not to think that this might be the last time.
Mikhail cleared his throat. "Time to go."
I left Dmitri's room. Went back to Nikolai.
He was talking with Viktor, his guard captain.
When he saw me, he dismissed Viktor.
"Are you ready?" He asked.
"No. But let us do it anyway."
He pulled me close and kissed me deeply. "I will not let anything happen to you," he whispered against my lips.
"I know."
We waited until nightfall. Then Nikolai made a big show of leaving.
"I have business to attend to," he announced loudly in the hallway. "I will be gone for a few hours. Anya, you should rest."
I went to my room, changed into pajamas and got into bed.
But I could not sleep.
I lay there in the darkness, listening to every sound.
Nikolai was in the walls. He had shown me the hidden passage before he left.
I was alone.
Or at least, I was supposed to look alone.
An hour passed. Then two.
Nothing happened.
Maybe the assassins were not coming. Maybe they knew it was a trap.
I was starting to relax when I heard it.
A soft scraping sound. Like metal on metal.
The window!
Someone was opening my window.
My heart started racing. I wanted to scream. To run. To call for Nikolai.
But I had to play the part. I had to pretend I was sleeping.
I closed my eyes and tried to keep my breathing steady.
The window opened fully. I heard soft footsteps on the floor.
Someone was in my room.
I felt the bed dip as they sat beside me.
Then a hand touched my face.
"Time to go, little bird," a male voice whispered.
I opened my eyes and looked at the face looming over me.
It was Viktor. Nikolai's guard captain.
"You?" I breathed.
He smiled. "Five million rubles is a lot of money. More than a lifetime of loyalty is worth."
"Nikolai will kill you."
"Nikolai will not know it was me. I will tell him you were taken by an outside assassin. He will never suspect."
He pulled out a syringe. "Now. This will not hurt. You will just fall asleep. And when you wake up, you will be with Viktor Morozov."
"No!" I tried to scream. But he clamped his hand over my mouth. The needle came closer.
And I realized with horror that Nikolai might not have seen him come in. Because Viktor knew about the hidden passages. He knew where Nikolai was hiding!
The needle touched my skin.
And then the world exploded.