It almost, almost, almost works. He’s so taken aback by my reaction that he stumbles to the side, his arm twisting towards me. I realize a moment too late that it’s the hand holding the gun. I can only watch in horror as the black mouth of the weapon comes closer and closer and—
BANG.
I feel the searing heat of a bullet missing my scalp by mere inches. “Fuck!” the nasally one swears. “Hurry up, man; we gotta get the fuck outta here.”
“Lev!” I scream. “Lev—no! No, no, no!”
“We don’t got time. Leave the girl. We’ve got him!”
I hear the screech of wheels; I see the barrel of the gun. But still, I run towards the two masked men.
BANG.
The second gunshot is even closer than the first. It grazes over the back of my triceps, close enough to rip through my clothes and the first layer of skin. Pain like a hot brand erupts and sends me to my knees on the gravel. Even still, I try to crawl toward the van.
But it’s too late.
The rear door slams shut on Lev’s frozen face. Gray exhaust fumes from the van flood the air and sting my lungs.
And the van races away… taking Lev with it.
59
URI
They have Lev.
That’s what Polly said to me when she called, crying hysterically and blaming herself for Lev’s abduction.
My first reaction was denial.
It’s just not fucking possible. Lev never leaves the house, much less the grounds. He’d never venture out long enough to be exposed that way. I had to wait until Polly was coherent enough to explain how the hell everything had gone so wrong.
Alyssa wanted to escape. I helped her. And Lev followed Alyssa.
The denial turned to shock. Shock turned to anger. And the anger curdled into something so thick, so dark, so destructive, that I was ready to set the whole goddamn world on fire.
Nikolai’s in the passenger seat, clinging to the armrest as I rip down the road at a hundred and twenty miles per hour. He has the forethought not to tell me to slow down or be careful, probably because he knows I’d just tell him to go fuck himself.
I’m pretty sure the car’s still moving when I jump out of it and storm into the house. I’m already wild with anger—but seeing Alyssa sitting on the floor of the living room with tears streaking her face and Polly’s arms wrapped around her makes me even wilder.
“Get the fuck up!” I snarl.
Polly’s eyes go wide but Alyssa looks almost resigned to what’s coming. She shakes Polly off gently and rises to her feet without so much as a word.
“Did you think I was just fucking around?” I demand in a low voice that I’ve learned from experience packs more of a punch than screaming ever has. “Did you think I was keeping you here because I fucking wanted to?”
She flinches. “I-I’m sorry—”
“‘Sorry’?” She takes a step back, but I’m not letting her away that easily. I snare her arm and twist it towards me. She lets out half of a strangled moan but presses her lips into a tight line to keep it from emerging fully. “You’re sorry? No, you don’t get to be sorry. Does ‘sorry’ bring Lev back? Does ‘sorry’ get him out of harm’s way? Does—”
“Uri!” Polly tries to pry my hand off Alyssa. “Stop! You’re hurting her.”
I refuse to let go. “I’ll deal with you later.”
I can tell from the dried tear tracks on my sister’s face that she’s been crying, too. “Why don’t you deal with me now?” she snarls.
“Polly,” Alyssa interrupts in a small voice, “it’s okay. Stay out of this.”
“No!” she insists fiercely. “I’m not gonna let you take the fall for this on your own. I’m responsible, too.”
“Yes, you are. Why the hell would you help her do this?” I growl. “I told you I had a reason for keeping her down there.”
“And I didn’t buy it,” Polly snaps right back at me. “Just because you’re in charge doesn’t mean you get to be an asshole.”
I can see Nikolai in my peripheral vision, standing by the door, taking it all in. Sometimes, I can’t get him to shut up. But when I need some support, he stands there silently. Go fucking figure.
“Because of you, they have Lev!” I spit as my voice rises. “Because of you, he’s in actual danger! He can’t even handle going out in public, Polly. Now, he’s in the hands of my worst enemy and—
Her indignant scowl starts cracking. Her mouth turns down; her chin shakes. It’s slow at first and then she breaks down all at once, dissolving into tears so big that it takes me a while to understand what she’s muttering under her breath again and again.
“This is all my fault. This is all my fault. This is…”
“No, it’s not,” Alyssa interrupts earnestly, grabbing Polly by the shoulders. “It’s mine. I’m sorry. I should never have gotten you involved.”
“That’s right,” I glower at her. “You shouldn’t have. Now, you’re gonna pay for it.”
I grab her arm and tear her harshly off Polina. Nikolai moves aside to let us pass. I can feel my sister at my back, screaming something, but I’m blocking her out. Nothing else exists in my mind besides the little narushitel who keeps crossing lines she never should’ve ventured near.
Nikolai stays behind to deal with Pol as I drag Alyssa back to the basement. Actually, I don’t have to drag her at all. She comes willingly, without saying a word.
I spin her into the basement so hard that she nearly stumbles over. She manages to stay on her feet and she pivots around slowly on the spot. Her eyes are hazy with fresh tears.
“Uri.” Her voice is barely a whisper, so why does it feel like she’s shouting? “I’m so sorry.”
A better man might take mercy. But I don’t have the capacity for forgiveness right now. I’m not a better man. I never will be.
I stare at her for one long moment. Then, before I can do something I’ll regret, I slam the door in her face and storm back upstairs to my office.
Nikolai is already there when I enter. “Polly?” I ask.
“She’s in her room. She’s pretty upset about this.”
“As she should be. I can’t believe she chose Alyssa over me.”
Nikolai raises a wary brow. “It’s not all about you, Uri.”
“That’s rich, coming from you.” Nikolai opens his mouth to snap back but I hold up my hand, stopping the argument in its tracks. “We don’t have the time for this sibling rivalry bullshit. We have to come up with a plan to get Lev back.”
Nikolai sighs and nods. “We have to go in fast.”
“Fast and brutal. But establishing contact is going to be hard. Sobakin has been a recluse for weeks.”
“Which means he wants us to come to him.”
It’s exactly what I didn’t want to do. I wanted to draw him out, to force him to make the first move. But now, the entire dynamic has changed. The power has shifted back in Sobakin’s favor.
“I sent in a team to investigate the girl’s house,” I say wearily. “It’s been ransacked. A few personal items have been taken, including a laptop. Which means Sobakin has had eyes on her for a while now.”
Niko doesn’t say it, but the unspoken words hang between us. You made her a target the moment you took her out in public.