“You won’t regret this,” Arthur said breaking the silence. “I won’t treat you the way your father or Dierk does. If you don’t want to stay married, we can have it dissolved when we return home to the States.”
That was a small comfort…
“You don’t want to stay married?” she asked. Anya had gotten the feeling he cared for her, or Anastasia. She couldn’t be certain which considering she had no idea what their previous relationship had been like.
“I didn’t say that,” he said carefully. “I don’t want you to feel obliged to honor our vows. We didn’t say them under normal circumstances.”
He tapped the steering wheel. The sky had grown dark and they were almost to the German border. They would soon discover what their fate would be when they returned. Would Dierk or Edward make her life miserable? Would she be able to escape the embassy altogether?
“We shouldn’t stay here,” she said quietly. “We will want to help, and it will become too difficult to hide our activities. I wish I could stop it all, but it is impossible. What is meant to be will be.”
“You want to return home now?” he asked, surprise evident in her tone. “I thought you’d want to stay longer.”
She shook her head. Anya would like nothing more than to return home…to her real home, but that wasn’t possible. For whatever reason, fate had decided she needed to travel to the past. Was she supposed to learn some sort of life lesson? She couldn’t be certain. “There’s nothing to keep me here.” That much was the truth anyway.
“Then we will go,” he told her. “I will do whatever it is you want.”
That sounded like a man in love. “Why are you helping me?” She had to understand his motives. Maybe if she did she could wrap her head around the entire situation.
The muscles in his cheek twitched. Had she hit a nerve? Did he not want to admit how he felt? She could relate to that. It was difficult for her to open up to anyone. Finally, he took a deep breath and started speaking. “There’s something about you I cannot resist, never have been able to. You have an innocence about you that is refreshing in this harsh world. I want to protect you. Is that so wrong?”
Not an admission of love, but it might as well have been. She wasn’t sure how it made her feel. Did he have feelings for her or Ana? She’d never truly know and that bothered her more than she wanted to admit. Did she want his love? Anya wasn’t certain; however, she did care about him and he seemed to care for her. That would have to be enough. “I suppose so.”
“What the hell is that?” He frowned. Anya turned her attention to the road and the blaring lights that greeted them outside the windshield.
“That wasn’t there before…” It had been nothing but darkness until a moment ago. “They didn’t want us to know they were there before.” She barely managed to say the words. Anya had a very bad feeling…
“We should turn around and go back,” he said. Arthur must have realized what they were about to face too.
Anya glanced behind her and nearly screamed. “We can’t. There’s no place to go.” There were lights behind them too. They were cornered. “We’re married now. They don’t know what we did.”
How could they? Did the Allendorfs betray them to save themselves? Anything was possible… Anya feared they might be doomed, but prayed she was wrong.
Arthur stopped the car and clenched the steering wheel. “Stay here,” he ordered. “If something happens…” He paused and took a deep breath. “Slide over to the driver seat and try to go around them. Do whatever you can to escape. Go back to where we took Oskar and Johanna. They’ll help you.”
“No…” she called to him, but he didn’t stop. He slid out of the car and held his hands up as he walked toward the group on the road. Anya’s heart beat heavily inside her chest, and she forgot how to breathe. Why was he walking toward them as if he didn’t have any reason to be afraid? This was not going to end well. Somehow, she managed to push air into her lungs, but it burned with each breath. Her hands shook and her stomach was tied in knots.
Slowly, she raised her trembling hand and opened the car door, ready to go after him. She opened her mouth to tell him to come back, but nothing came out. He didn’t even get halfway when one of them raised their gun and shot him. Anya screamed and did the very thing he told her not to do. She got out of the car and ran to him.
“Go back,” he wheezed out the words. Blood pooled around his lips. “Stay safe.”
“I can’t leave you,” her voice wobbled as she spoke. “Don’t ask me to.” A tear fell down her cheek and she barely contained her emotions.
“I lo…” He didn’t finish the words before he stopped breathing. He was dead, and Anya had never been angrier in her life. She wiped the tears away and stood, then marched toward the German soldiers. They would take her back to the embassy, to her father, and she would make them pay for what they had done to her husband.
“Hello, dear,” Dierk said then sneered. “My little whore.”
She gasped. That was not what she’d been expecting. He was the trigger-happy soldier… He had meant to kill Arthur. She held her chin high. “I’m not whore.”
“Perhaps not,” he said. “But you are also no longer worthy.” He lifted his pistol and aimed it at her. It was then she realized her mistake. He never intended for either one of them to make it out of this alive. Somehow, he had known there was something between Anastasia and Arthur. There was no other explanation. He must have been watching them both and decided to catch them in the act of betraying him. Anya had doomed them both. It was her fault Arthur was dead, and soon she would be too.
“You can’t shoot me. The embassy…”
“Will think you ran away with your lover and stop looking for you. Don’t worry, dear, I’ll make it quick. I might have sampled your favors first, but I don’t want used goods.”
Anya took several steps backward, intending to try to run to the car. She should have listened to Arthur. She didn’t make it far before the blast of a gunshot echoed through the air and the sting of pain filled her. She fell backward and landed next to Arthur. She coughed, and blood spurted from her mouth and trailed down her cheek. She was dying. Anya had made one mistake too many, and the cost had been great. Arthur was dead. Ana would be dead. Her fate…she didn’t know, but she perhaps she deserved that uncertainty. She’d been foolish. Dierk moved forward and stopped to leer over her. “Goodbye, love,” he said maniacally, then aimed and fired one last time.
