“Where is everyone? Where are my parents? They should have been home by now- Lev!” Digging in my heels, I force him to spin and look at me. He’s gritting his teeth, eyes narrowed. “Where are they!”
“Your father trusted me to keep you safe,” he hissed, “now walk out this door or I will carry you out.”
Nodding, I follow him out the door, so scared that my teeth are chattering.
“Please Lev, I am begging you, what is happening? Where are we going?” We’re blazing down Highway 1 toward the airport and he is not following safe driving guidelines, speaking rapidly into his headset, ignoring me. The SUV is armored and not the usual one I ride in. This bullet-proof monstrosity is for myotets, or my brothers. Not for me. I’m not a security risk.
I’m just… the daughter. My parents were never cruel, though they made it clear my value was as a bargaining chip. Though other Bratva daughters often had arranged marriages set as early as fourteen - like my friend Mariya Morozova - I’m twenty and unattached.
As far as I know.
I wouldn’t be the first Bratva princess who ended up at the altar without knowing what was happening to me until they were lacing me into my wedding dress.
Disconnecting from his call, Lev finally looks at me in the rearview mirror. “Let me get us to our destination and we’ll talk, all right? I promise you an explanation.”
He looks like he’s dreading that explanation, and the knot in my stomach ties that much tighter. Looking out the window as we turn, I see we’re heading for a darkened airfield. It must be one of the private airstrips that circle the Vancouver International Airport.
“We’re flying out of here?” I ask anxiously. “Without my parents?”
Lev ignores me, racing down the road toward the small grouping of darkened airplane hangars. There’s a jet parked outside of one. Its running lights are off, but I can hear the engine. He pulls up in front of the stairs and opens my door before I have time to get my seatbelt off.
“Wait, hold up!” I dig my heels in, trying to make him slow down as he hauls me toward the jet. “You promised me an explanation!”
Two of my father’s men hurry down the stairs, guns out. “Any sign of them yet?” Lev asks them, keeping me moving.
“Not yet,” Nikolay says grimly, his weapon held up as he makes a visual sweep of the airfield.
This is bad. This is very bad. Nikolay is one of my father’s top soldiers. He rarely travels without him.
“Where are my mother and father?” I nearly scream.
Without breaking stride, Lev throws me over his shoulder and takes the boarding stairs two at a time. I don’t recognize this plane; this isn’t one from the Aslanov fleet. It’s still luxurious, with gray and cream leather seats and elegant wood detailing. I’m carried past a flight attendant, a smile frozen on her lips as I writhe and kick against my bodyguard’s grasp.
He’s barely put me into a seat and strapped me in when I feel the jet move, the high whine of the engine ready to take off. “Are you insane?” I shout at him, clinging to his jacket. “What the hell is happening!”
Lev continues to ignore me as he looks out my window, his brows drawing together. “Tell that pilot to take off before I shoot him and fly us out myself,” he orders the now-terrified flight attendant.
Following his gaze, I see headlights - three cars, I think - closing in on us. The jet’s cabin shakes as the engines scream, pushed to their limit as the wheels lift off the tarmac. There’s a thud to my left and I turn to see an odd starburst pattern in the window just in front of me; cracks snaking out from a small hole in the center.
“Did- they just shot at us, didn’t they?” I gasp. There are two more solid thuds along the body of the jet as we finally lift off. More headlights join the others, but we’re out of their reach now.
Lev leans over to examine the bullet hole. “It cracked the outside window, but the interior one is secure,” he said, back to his cold and calm bodyguard demeanor.
Grabbing onto his jacket, I fist the material. “Now. You’re going to tell me what the hell is going on.Now.”
“Privet sestra,hello sister,” my brother Roman says, trying to force a smile for me. My oldest brother was always the one to shield me from our father’s anger and impatience, the brother who pushed to allow me some normalcy in my life. Thanks to him, I was able to attend Simon Fraser University for the last two years, though I was the only one taking notes during the lectures with a bodyguard sitting next to me.
After we were at cruising altitude, Lev had placed an open laptop in front of me and connected to the incoming video call from Moscow, and my brother appeared. His usually immaculate bespoke suit is ripped and there’s a rust-colored stain that looks suspiciously like blood on his dress shirt.
“Ya skuchal po tebe,Roman, I’ve missed you,”I try to smile back. “What’s happened? It’s bad, isn’t it?”
“Da,”he says flatly. Roman is also the brother who will never lie to me, even when I almost wish he would.
Firming my lips, I nod. “Tell me.”
“Our parents were returning home from the meeting in Seattle when their jet exploded.”
There are words trying to make their way out of my mouth but none of them make sense. I make a noise instead, moaning like a wounded animal. “No,” I shook my head firmly. “I spoke toMat', to Mother, two hours ago! They were fine! Your intel isgovno,it’s shit!”
