I sat at the edge of the bed, facing the door.
“Run, girl! It’s a raid, can’t you see?” the older lady yelled at me before running ahead of me, away from the side of the warehouse.
But I kept walking towards the front of the warehouse.
Why wouldn’t I?
He was in there. And if the deafening gunshots were any indication, he was in greater danger than I was. Even though saving him was the last thing I planned to come see him for, I couldn’t stand back. I had to see what exactly was going on and what I could do to help.
I was standing by the wide metal door of the warehouse in no time. As people ran back and forth, my eyes searched for him. There were many bodies on the floor already, and all the blood made it hard for me to take a step into the warehouse.
Then I let out a breath of relief as I found him. He was on the floor, the dust all over his black tee and jeans, telling me he’d been crawling to escape. Then he raised his head, and his eyes met mine. Happiness flooded my mind as I mirrored his loving smile.
But then, he looked to his front, and the warmth on his face vanished again, replaced by terror.
Following his gaze, I saw who he was looking at—and my heart practically jumped out of my mouth when I saw the gun he pointed at my boyfriend.
“Noooo!” I yelled. “No! No! Please! Don’t kill him! Don’t!”
“Go!” Siroc shouted at the same time another gunshot echoed.
“No!” I bellowed out, my hands covering my mouth as I watched the blood pool around his lifeless body.
The man with the gun turned towards me, and I turned around before I could think. I ran for my life.
I swallowed as low sounds outside the door pulled me out of the past—only to plunge me into the cold reality of my present.
‘…Alina Sokolov, Gregory Ivan, and the others with whom he had frequent communication in the past few weeks would be vetted…’
‘You’re coming with us. That’s all you need to know.’
The click of the door ended my trail of past and present thoughts.
I looked up just as he stepped in. The ghost I’d hated for years. He came to stand in front of me, arms folded, eyes stormy.
“Konstantin Lobanov,” I spat. “You’re the one who killed him.”
He raised a thick eyebrow at me and, before he could say anything, he pulled out his vibrating phone from his pocket. Then he was out of the room, the door closing behind him.
I stood from the bed, slowly pacing the length of the room.
The hatred I had for Konstantin was alive as ever. Back when I used to care for Liza, I actively avoided him. On occasions when I unavoidably passed by him or ran into him, I always turned away and simply left. I never wanted to gaze up at him or look into his eyes. I had never been able to think of anyone I hated more than I hated him. The worst part was that he didn’t even know it.
I found the only plastic chair against the far right wall and brought it to the other side of the bed. I sat on it, wrapping my arms around myself.
The door opened again, and Konstantin walked in, his leather jacket glimmering under the dim light.
“As you may have realized, you’re here because of Vitya Morozov,” he started, his voice calm as he folded his arms again. “Your boyfriend, or ex—whatever he is to you, betrayed us. He betrayed the Bratva by gathering information to sell. Now, he’s been arrested, and we can’t exactly reach him to get details of the stolen intel from him. That’s where you come in.”
He took a step forward as he went on. “We found details of you meeting him at covert locations even while he was hiding from the Bratva. There are files showing bank transfers linked to your name, some of which were even transferred by you at the bank. All we want from you, as his partner, is information on where he stored the intel. We find it, erase it, and you’re free.”
Okay, this is incriminating.
I swallowed, trying to garner the confidence not look away like a guilty person.
“I’m not Vitya’s partner—in whatever atrocities he has committed or in any sense at all,” I declared. “I broke up with him months ago. I know nothing about the information you speak of.”
“Lying will not help you. The faster you tell the truth, the better for you,” he remarked, his expression grave. “He was in contact with you right until he was arrested, don’t think I don’t know that.”
