"I didn't have a choice." I turn to face her, letting the towel drop so she can see the knife wound, and her eyes go wider as she shakes her head. "I need you to help me clean it and wrap it. Can you do that?"
She nods slowly and moves to the cabinet where we keep the first aid kit. Her hands are steadier now that she has a task. She pulls out gauze and antiseptic and tape, setting them on the counter, and in the process, she drops the scissors. I pick them up for her and something in her kicks into gear. She starts giving orders like a charge nurse, which I am prone to obey.
"Sit," she says, pointing to one of the kitchen chairs. "This needs stitches." Her voice sounds chastising, but she doesn't protestagain as she wipes the cut clean, uses bandages to butterfly the laceration together, then applies gauze and tape to hold it in place. When she's done, she uses an elastic wrap all the way around my ribs multiple times to hold it all in place, and then I take her hands.
She's still trembling, and I hate to see her so scared yet again, but this particular danger is past, and I need to reassure her of it.
"Rodnaya," I start, and her eyes track up to meet my gaze. It's a tender word for her considering I've never told her what I feel, but I think she's beginning to understand. "He's gone, and he will never hurt you again, okay?"
"But Marko?—"
"Marko didn't send him." Anger swirls in my chest at the idea that he promised Danica to Petr once the debt was collected. If I'd have known Petr worked for Marko, I'd have told Marko to call off his dogs a long time ago. But it makes sense now why he's been singling her out. "Okay?" I say, but she shakes her head in disbelief.
"Petr wasn't pleased that I paid your debt. He thinks he was owed you… He's probably the one meant to keep an eye on you for Marko, and when I paid your debt, Marko called him off, but he never got paid."
Danica's eyes dart around anxiously. "I was his payment?" she asks.
"Not anymore, okay?" I rise and press a kiss to her forehead, gripping her face in my hands so she whimpers and pulls away. "I have to take care of this, though, or the police will get involved. We can't have that, okay?"
"No, please, don't go…" She clings to me, but I have to force her back.
"Danica, if I don’t take care of the body now and the neighbors see the blood or take out their trash, it will trace back to me or you." My chest constricts when I think of spending a life in prison away from her. And what if she were to be blamed? It wouldn't be the first time Petr had a complaint about her. Someone could've seen him following her.
"No…" she whines, but I press a kiss to her lips and swallow her protest.
"It'll take a few hours. You go have a shower, have some vodka, and climb in bed. I'll be home soon."
I can't stay to listen to her protest again. She doesn’t understand how my world works yet, but if she sticks around long, she will.
It's just one thing after another here, and I don't have the mental capacity to keep dealing with bullshit. But at least this one is a one and done deal. Petr is out of her hair and out of mine. I just have to dispose of the body.
And pray when Lev or whoever Yuri is sending shows up, they don't ask questions or snoop around what I've been doing for the past month.
24
DANICA
Vadim leaves and I go straight for the vodka. Maybe it's not a good idea, but the constant demand on my nervous system has left me feeling like I'm on a death yo-yo from hell. I need something to calm my nerves and help me sleep. He said it could be hours until he gets back, and I have no clue what's required to dispose of a body.
A shudder runs through my entire body, shaking me so hard, I almost drop the bottle of vodka and head for the front door to lock it. Petr may not be around tonight, but I know there are plenty of men just as scary who are. Who knows what creep or sleazeball might be hunting Vadim and come looking for him, only to find me. I set the lock and the deadbolt and hope Vadim remembered to grab his key, then I go to the bedroom with my liquor to hide.
Dusan's debts have haunted me for so long, I don't know what it feels like to be free of them. I thought I did, just three hours ago when I was enjoying a quiet evening at work for a change. Then Petr decided to follow me, which I had feared for months, not just today, and all of it came crashing back.
I had no clue Petr worked for Marko. He never seemed like the sort of man to deal drugs and help a loan shark. I knew he wasn't a pleasant man, but I'm shocked to find out Marko promised me to him like I was some whore on the street corner he could pay off. It's frightening to think a man could claim ownership over me, though that's what happened with Vadim.
Pushing open the bedroom door, I try to decide if I want lights or not, but right now, the idea of hiding in darkness seems favorable. So I leave them off as I kick off my shoes and chug the vodka in three long pulls that have my stomach burning and me coughing a little. I sputter around until I set the bottle on the nightstand and crawl into bed, then pull the covers over my fully clothed body and press my eyes shut.
All of this, and it isn't even Vadim's world that's the scary one. It's mine. My brother's past haunts me while he lives happily somewhere else, probably pissing someone else off and racking up more debt. But I'm the one suffering, being hounded by his ghosts, and all the while, Vadim is trying to save me.
When all of this started, I feared him and the life he was dragging me into. Now I know that without him, I would definitely be some man's slave if not his whore, and maybe I'd be dead. Whether Vadim was here or not, Marko was going to call in those debts. And without being able to pay, who knows what he'd have made me do?
My body feels heavy with exhaustion and emotion. The panic only makes it worse as it wears off. I find myself so tired I can barely hold my eyes open but unable to sleep due to fear gnawing at me.
Vadim has killed for me now, not just in self-defense, though I know he's probably not a stranger to it. Marko took so much ofhis money too, probably more than he's ever paid for anything other than a home in his whole life, and Vadim never blinked an eye at it. This man is serious when he says something is his, and he's claimed me fully.
What am I supposed to do with that knowledge?
He wasn't kidding at all when he asked me if I'd think about moving to Russia with him. I believe that now. The lengths to which he's gone to protect me and make me feel secure aren't something a man does for just any woman.
