A feral scream rips from her, and the sound echoes harshly around the vaulted entryway, bouncing off the cold, hard floor until it feels like the sound is clawing at my eardrums.
“Anika, stop,” I growl, locking one arm around her waist as I hold the robe closed over her naked body.
I can feel eyes on us, curious bystanders coming from their rooms to see what the commotion is all about.
Anika’s knees buckle, her body collapsing into me as she breaks down, bawling like a heartbroken child. “Please, just let me die,” she sobs, her breaths ripping from her lungs in sharp, ragged gasps. “Please, please. I can’t take it anymore.”
Her words cut sharper than a knife, flaying me open as I hold her trembling body.
I close my eyes against the agonizing wounds, wishing I could absolve myself of responsibility for her pain.
But this time, I can’t, and that makes the horror that threatens to consume me all the more unbearable.
“Shh, Anika, you’re okay,” I murmur, my eyes pleading as I spot Gio entering the foyer, the twins on his heels.
They all look ready for a fight, knives out and guns at the ready, likely thinking it’s an intruder that’s set Anika off.
Then a cold, sharp voice stops my heart in my chest. “Get your hands off her.”
The frigid command comes from my right, down the hallway that leads to the far wing of the house. As I turn my head, I’m shocked to find Svetlana Novikov out of her wheelchair, one hand braced against the wall as she leans heavily on a cane with the other.
“I said, take your hands off your wife,kozyol.”
I don’t know what she just called me, but it stings just the same as her voice cracks like a whip.
Though it goes against all my instincts, I do as she says, slowly releasing my grip on Anika only after I’m sure she won’t crumple to the ground or make a mad dash again.
Then I take a single step back—the most space I can bring myself to give her.
Anika sways dangerously, her tears coming hard and fast as she slips her arms through the sleeves of her robe and pulls it more snuggly around her.
Then she dares a glance back at me over her shoulder.
It destroys me to see her in such pain.
But the look of betrayal on her face is what truly kills me. guilt floods my chest as I stand rooted to the spot, because even if I didn’t mean, I hurt Anika.
“Come,vnuchenka,” the old woman says, gesturing for Anika to come toward her as she hobbles to the end of the hall. If Svetlana comes any closer, she’ll lose the support of the wall, and I’m not sure she has the strength to walk without it.
My heart aches when Anika takes a step toward the wizened old grandma, and I reach for her, an objection on my lips.
“Anika—”
“Don’t. You. Dare,” Svetlana growls, her eyes full of such disgust, she could rip me to shreds with a single glance. “She’s coming with me now.”
The gathered audience remains perfectly still, utterly silent, and I can’t shatter the ice that’s frozen me in place.
It crushes me when Anika willingly steps into the old woman’s arms, burying her face in Svetlana’s neck as she breaks downcompletely. I can’t believe how terribly I’ve failed her. Each sob that racks her feels like a hundred daggers opening cuts all over my body.
“Hush, child,” Svetlana soothes her, lifting her hand from the wall to gently stroke Anika’s hair.
The knuckles of her hand gripping the cane turn white with the effort to hold herself upright, and I’m awestruck by the strength and fortitude of the frail old woman when it comes to protecting someone she loves.
It’s agonizing.
Every bit of it.
The fact that I couldn’t protect Anika.
