My face is wet with a cold sweat. My universe just disintegrated and reformed in a shape I don’t understand.
The man with the bulldog face puts a gun to Alexi’s head. “Take your hand out of your jacket, Alexi Turgenev.”
“You’d rather follow this fool over the good of our family, Ivor Artyomov?”
Ivor prods him in the head with the barrel of his pistol. “Raise your hands.”
“I’m going to send my fiancée out to my men,” Alexi says calmly, “then we can discuss your concerns.”
A barrage of gunfire outside makes me shriek and someone yanks me away from Alexi, holding my arms painfully behind my back as I struggle.
“This was my final test, brother.” Dmitri is up, a stupidly huge gun in hand. “I knew you weren’t loyal to the family anymore. You’d refuse to give up agirl?You’d risk your position for this stupid little slut? She’s a pretty little thing, but is she worth this?”
The gunshot sends my ears ringing and I look at Alexi in horror as blood spreads over his shirt. He rocks back but stays standing. The second bullet hits him in the chest and as I scream and kick against the men holding me back as he falls to the floor, ribs heaving and trying to roll on his side, trying to reach me.
Dmitri straightens his jacket and stands over Alexi. “She’s mine. It’s all mine. Greet our father when you see him in hell.”
Nononononono…
He aims one more time and I see the blood fly from Alexi’s head.
“I’ll fucking kill you!” I scream, thrashing violently, trying to get to him, gore spreading out around him on the white floor.
“Throw him in the bay, along with his men,” Dmitri says, putting the gun back in his shoulder holster. “Take my fiancée to the jet.”
“Fuck you! You fucking cowardly piece of shit! You pathetic tiny-dicked motherf-” There’s a sting in my shoulder and my vision fades, the blood draining from my Alexi’s body is the last thing I see.
Chapter Twenty-Five
In which there is no way to process this much loss.
Lucya…
For a couple of seconds, as I return to consciousness, everything’s okay. I’m in a warm bed, there’s the low soothing buzz of a jet engine.
Then, I remember.
I let out an enormous, gasping sob, my soul feels torn from my chest and I can’t breathe.
Alexi is gone.
I remember the blood spreading rapidly from his head, horribly bright against the shiny white floor and I wail uncontrollably, arms wrapped around my stomach.
I want to die, too.
There’s nothing left in this world for me.
Dmitri’s men haul me off the jet after tying my wrists and ankles. I’d managed to break someone’s nose and another man grunted in pain as my elbow met his throat, but there were so many of them.
They throw me in the backseat of a black car and my only comfort is that I’m alone. The two men in front sit silently as I scream and curse at them.
I’m shocked when I see the warm lights of our family home. I thought they’d take me to a prison somewhere, or worse, the Turgenev mansion. The front door opens and my mother stands there, silhouetted in the glow from the massive chandelier.
“Lucya?Lucya!” she shrieks, racing down the marble steps. “Take these restraints off my daughter! Howdareyou-”
The men carrying me to the house ignore her, dumping me in the front hall. “The Pakhan instructs you to get Miss Dubrovina ready for their wedding. Everything will continue as planned for the ceremony.”
She helps me sit up, arms curled around me protectively. “What do you mean? Where is Alexi Turgenev?”
