Chapter 111 Anya
They threw me into the back of a van and drove.
I screamed Nikolai's name until my throat was raw. Until I had no voice left.
He had been shot. I had seen him fall. Seen the blood spreading beneath him.
He was dead. He had to be dead. No one survived a wound like that.
The man I loved was gone. And I had been forced to watch.
"Shut up!" One of the guards hit me across the face. "Or I will gag you."
I shut up. But tears streamed down my face.
The van drove for hours. I lost track of time. Lost track of where we were going.
Eventually we stopped. The doors opened.
We were at another warehouse. Different from the first one. It was bigger and older.
They dragged me inside, through corridors and past rooms filled with boxes and equipment.
Finally they pushed me into a small office. There was only a desk and a chair.
Katya was already there, sitting behind the desk, smiling.
"Hello again, Anya," she said. "I trust your ride was comfortable?"
"You killed him," I said. My voice was hoarse from screaming. "You killed Nikolai."
"Did I?" Katya asked. "I shot him, yes. But whether he died or not, I honestly do not know. And frankly, I do not care."
"You are a monster."
"I am a businesswoman," Katya corrected. "And Nikolai was bad for business. Now that he is out of the way, I can take what should have been mine from the beginning."
I did not even care to ask how all of this started. All I knew was she killed my husband.
"His men will come for you," I said, my voice trembling. "Mikhail will hunt you down."
"Let him try," Katya said. "I have resources he cannot imagine. I am not afraid of Mikhail."
She stood and walked around the desk to where I sat.
"But enough about them. Let us talk about you."
"What about me?"
"You are valuable," Katya said. "Even more valuable now that Nikolai is dead. Because his empire will go to someone. And whoever controls you controls his legacy."
"I am not his wife anymore," I said. "I left him. Before all this happened."
"Legally you are still married," Katya said. "Which means legally you inherit everything. And I intend to make sure that everything ends up with me."
"I will never sign anything over to you."
Katya smiled. "We will see about that."
She nodded to the guards. "Take her to her room. Make sure she is comfortable. We have a long negotiation ahead of us."
The guards grabbed my arms again and dragged me out of the office, down another hallway to a room with a bed, a bathroom, and bars on the windows.
"Your new home," one of the guards said. "Enjoy your stay."
They left and locked the door.
I sat on the bed and stared at the wall.
Nikolai was dead. I was a prisoner. And Katya thought she could force me to sign over his empire.
She was wrong. I would die before I gave her anything.
But even as I thought it, I wondered. How long could I hold out? How much pain could I endure?
Days passed. Or maybe weeks. I lost track of time in that room.
Katya came to visit every day. Sometimes twice a day.
She would sit across from me and talk. About business. About power. About how easy my life could be if I just cooperated.
I never answered. I never looked at her. I just stared at the wall.
On the third day she brought food. Real food. Not the stale bread and water the guards gave me.
"Eat," she said. "You are getting thin."
I did not touch it.
"Starving yourself will not change anything," Katya said. "It will just make you weak. And I need you strong."
"Why?" I asked. The first word I had spoken in days.
"Because tomorrow we have visitors," Katya said. "The council is coming. To discuss the transfer of Nikolai's assets. And I need you to look presentable."
"I will not help you."
"You will," Katya said. "Because if you do not, I will start killing people. Random people off the street. One every hour until you sign."
I looked at her and saw that she meant it.
"You would kill innocent people?"
"I would kill anyone who gets in my way," Katya said. "You should know that by now."
She stood. "Think about it tonight. Tomorrow morning I need your answer. Cooperate or watch people die because of your stubbornness."
She left.
I sat there in the darkness trying to figure out what to do.
If I signed, it means Katya won. She would get everything. And Nikolai's death would mean nothing.
But if I refused, innocent people would die. People who had nothing to do with any of this.
The door opened. A guard entered.
"Come with me," he said.
"Why?"
"Katya wants to show you something."
He led me through the warehouse to a room with a television. Katya was already there.
"Sit," she ordered.
I sat. Katya turned on the television.
The news was playing. A reporter stood in front of a hospital.
"...in critical but stable condition," the reporter was saying. "Doctors say Nikolai Markov is lucky to be alive after being shot in what appears to be a gang-related incident..."
My heart stopped. "He is alive?"
"For now," Katya said. "But that could change. One phone call from me and my people finish what they started."
"You have people in the hospital?"
"I have people everywhere," Katya said.
"Now. Are you ready to cooperate? Or do I need to make another example?"
I looked at the screen. At the hospital where Nikolai was fighting for his life.
He was alive. He had survived. Against all odds, he had survived.
And if he was alive, then there was still hope.
"I will sign," I said quietly. "Whatever you want. I will sign it."
Katya smiled. "Good. I knew you would see reason eventually."
She turned off the television. "We will do it tomorrow. In front of the council. And then you are free to go."
"Free?" I blinked.
"Yes," Katya said. "I have no use for you once the papers are signed. You can go wherever you want. Start over. Forget any of this ever happened."
I did not believe her. But I nodded.
She left me there with the guard. Who took me back to my room.
I lay on the bed and stared at the ceiling.
Nikolai was alive. Which meant he would come for me. I knew he would.
All I had to do was stay alive long enough for him to find me.
And I would. No matter what it took.
The next morning they came for me early.
"Get up," a guard said. "Time to get ready."
They took me to a bathroom, let me shower, gave me clean clothes and fixed my hair.
When I looked in the mirror I barely recognized myself. I looked like someone else. Someone who had not just lost everything.
They took me to the office where Katya waited. The council members were already there. Old men in expensive suits. Looking at me like I was a piece of property.
"Ah, Anya," Katya said. "You look lovely. Shall we begin?"
She pushed papers across the desk. "Sign here. And here. And here."
I picked up the pen and looked at the papers. They transferred everything Nikolai owned to Katya. Territory. Businesses. Money. Everything.
I thought about Nikolai. About what he would want me to do.
And I realized. He would want me to survive. To live. To get out of this.
The empire did not matter. The power did not matter. Only I mattered to him.
So I signed. Each page. Each line.
Katya watched with satisfaction. "Excellent. Now you are free to go."
"Just like that?" My voice came out as a low whisper.
"Just like that," Katya said. "I am a woman of my word."
She gestured to the guards. "Take her to the street. Give her some money. Let her go."
The guards grabbed my arms, led me out of the warehouse into the sunlight.
It was the first time I had seen the sun in days. Maybe weeks.
They put me in a car and drove me to a random street corner.
They handed me an envelope with cash.
"Good luck," one of them said.
Then they drove away and left me standing on the corner. Alone and free.
But I was not free. Not really. Because what would Nikolai do when he finds out I was the one who signed away his life?