To my enormous relief, my cab was already waiting.
I got in and spoke to the driver in Russian. “To the Sapsan train station, please.”
The Sapsan wasa rapid train both modern and clean, even in economy. I sat alone, tucked my bag under my body and fought sleep as the gentle rocking of the train did its best to lull me.
I knew I should have been planning my next steps, but I was too stressed about what would happen when they discovered me missing.
I woke up to the sound of the conductor walking through the car and announcing that we were ten minutes out from the Moskovsky railway station in St. Petersburg. I checked my ticket. I had two hours to make my connecting train, which departed from the Finlyandsky railway station on the other side of the city.
I disembarked and walked through the large station, trying to locate a taxi line. I went out a set of side doors and was trying to orient myself when I heard the piercing sound of a woman screaming in terror. To my left, just past a series of benches, two men circled each other like big dogs, looking for a fight. One of them lunged with a knife in his hand. The woman screamed again, and her cry was followed by the sound of men shouting and people running toward them. But it was too late. The unarmed man collapsed on the ground, pressing his hand to the wound in his side.
The man with the knife was tackled by two men, while another man crouched next to the one who had been stabbed.
I blinked. There was so much blood. It pooled around the victim in a crimson circle, growing so quickly that the other man was now kneeling in it.
I wanted to move, to back away, but I felt both frozen and strangely hypnotized by the scene. The same woman was now wailing while the two men held down the assailant. Some people fled, and others watched in chilling, silent horror. Eventually the man crouching next to the victim shook his head, made the sign of the cross and unsteadily got to his feet.
He’s dead?Had I just witnessed a murder?
By the time the sirens wailed in the distance, my legs were shaking so badly I could barely stand. I staggered to a bench as the revulsion of what I had just witnessed washed over me.
The truth of my vulnerability was starting to creep in around the edges. I was only four hours into my escape, and I had justwitnessed a murder. Up until this point, I had only been worried about money and how to fend for myself. I hadn’t factored in how to keep myself safe. After years of being protected by bodyguards with guns, my own personal safety had never once been my own responsibility.
How would I survive this? Why did I think I could possibly fly to another country? I had limited skills in the real world and no safe place to land.
But then I thought about Sergei. Marrying him wasn’t an option, nor was it survivable. I could not allow myself to be legally bound to a man who had less empathy than a rattlesnake. It didn’t matter how it happened. I needed to escape this nightmare and make my way back to Canada. There were no other options.
I took a deep breath and stood up, pulling my knapsack over my shoulders.I can do this.I slowly turned and looked to the far entrance.
One step at a time. First, I needed to find a taxi to take me to the Finlyandsky railway station.
Taking one last look at the crime scene in front of me, as both police and ambulance workers ran toward the situation, I stepped back and bumped into someone.
“Sorry,” I mumbled, as I glanced back at the person I had bumped into.
Looking down at me was my uncle’s employee, Axel.
He gave me a regretful smile. “Hello, Mila.”
CHAPTER TWO
Five hours earlier
AXEL
I approachedGrisha’s large family house. Despite the fact that it was three thirty in the morning, it was lit up like a Christmas tree. Several of his men stood outside in small groups, smoking and talking in low voices.
I approached another fixer who worked the east side of Moscow. “I got an emergency text to return to the house. What’s going on?”
“We all got the same text.” He took a drag before blowing smoke above my head. “The niece, Mila, went missing. Grisha’s losing his mind.”
I looked around the front driveway. There were at least thirty men standing around. I was distinctly aware that I was the driver who’d brought her home alone and possibly the last person to see her. “When’s the last time anyone saw her?”
“Grisha saw her asleep in her bed shortly after midnight.”
I felt the tension in my shoulders ease slightly, knowing that this cleared me from any suspicion. “Have we started looking for her?”
“We’re standing by for Grisha’s orders.”
