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“No,” he mutters, his head shaking as he reaches across and buckles me in with a wince. “We’re not going home, Annika.” He pulls back, his eyes locking with mine. “There’s nothing for you there.”
“I don’t understand. What?—”
“Another group of Vadik’s men attacked your father’s house earlier tonight. They were dressed as Krylov men.”
My heart shatters.
“Did—”
“There weren’t any survivors, Annika,” he says quietly. “I’m sorry.”
The passenger door shuts with a soft click. I stare blankly through the windshield as Ruslan slips behind the wheel and starts the engine. He winces again, and it’s only when I turn to him that I realize he’s wounded.
Badly.
The LED glow of the dashboard illuminates the red wetness seeping from his side and his neck as he guns the engine and roars off down the road, away from the chaos.
I look back in the side mirror, watching the flames engulf the Krylov house like a funeral pyre.
That’s when the tears come.
There weren’t any survivors.
Tatjana…
Ruslan is barely conscious by the time we get to the private airfield. The plane waiting for us isn’t my father’s, and the pilot and the other man on board aren’t his men. But they take the bag of money from Ruslan’s shaking hand, looking at us both with deep concern as they nod and usher us on.
They take us as far as Athens.
Ruslan is dead by the time we land.
Then, I’m truly alone.
For the first time ever, I’m without the other half of me. Without my invisible friend.
Without Tatjana.
40
TAYLOR
I wince as I open the door and try to step out of the car.
“Let me help you.”
I grit my teeth, not waiting for her to come around to my side before I try again.
“Fuck,” I hiss, a dull ache shooting up my leg.
“I did say I would help you,” Annika mutters as she gets to me.
She slides an arm underneath mine and loops it around my back, supporting me as I climb out of the car.
“Have you always been this stubborn?”
I shrug, flashing her a grin. “You tell me.”
She smirks as she reaches into the car and retrieves my cane.
