I frown. “You want me to… help him?”
I nod, even though my knees are ready to buckle. It's all moving too fast. One minute I’m an ER nurse with a mortgage,and the next I’m a ghost in a mansion. I nod, knowing that by stepping onto those stairs, I’m signing away every right I have to a world that will never come looking for me.
She measures me for a long moment. “You’ll keep his heart beating. You’ll never leave his side. What happens to him happens on you.”
I nod once. My chest is tightening. “What happens to my father?”
“He’ll answer for what he’ve done.” She doesn’t look back. “But not now.”
Dad lets out a small sound that barely leaves his throat. “I’ll pay it back.”
She doesn’t even look at him. “Sokolov. Take Jonah to Petrov.”
The tall guard steps forward with a curt nod. I look at Dad again. His mouth is set tight. His eyes won’t meet mine. I can’t help but wonder if he knew this would happen. If he brought me here knowing exactly what they’d do to me.
A rush of regret climbs my throat. “I can’t leave him like this.”
“You can. And you will. Your work is upstairs, not here.”
Dad’s face twists. Sokolov steps behind me and closes a hand around my shoulder.
“You’ll keep him drawing breath.” Her gaze stays on me. “If you fail, I’ll bury you with him. Alive.”
The word hits me in the gut. My throat closes. I can already feel the weight of the dirt and the cold pressing into my chest until my lungs stop moving. I'm already panicking.
I look at Dad because there’s nowhere else to look, still believing he’ll rise to defend me.
He doesn’t move.
“Say something,” I whisper.
He lifts his head. The fear in his eyes turns into a sharp, ugly heat. “Say something? To you? You were the biggest?—”
The echo of his words from years ago slams into me.
The biggest mistake of my life.
They hit me harder than a physical blow, knocking the air from my lungs. The words hit me harder than a fist, and suddenly, the guard’s grip is the only thing keeping me upright. I want to scream, to hit him, to demand he take it back, but my body is already going numb. I’m half-outside myself as the guard hauls me away.
“Walk.” Sokolov’s grip tightens, already guiding me forward.
I let myself be dragged away. Anything’s better than Dad’s words. He betrayed me, or perhaps I betrayed myself. All I bought him was time.
The hallway outside is darker. A keypad glows at the far end. There is blood on the doorframe. Sokolov hauls me through, and the door locks behind us. The sound is final. There’s nowhere left to run, and honestly, after what Dad said, I don't think I want to.
CHAPTER
FOUR
JONAH
Sokolov guidesme down the corridor. His grip is locked around my arm. Our footsteps echo off the walls. Each turn takes us farther from the room I just left behind.
What if I can’t keep the man alive? No. I can’t think like that. I am a good nurse. I have to be. But my steps hitch before I catch myself.
“Where are you taking me?”
“You’ll see.” Pressure clamps on my shoulder as he steers me down the hall.
