The bullet wound has started bleeding again, seeping through the bandage, but he doesn’t seem to notice.
“We should change that,” I murmur, gesturing to his shoulder.
“In a minute.” He pulls me closer. “Just let me hold you for a minute.”
I nestle against his chest, listening to the steady thump of his heart.
For the first time since this nightmare began, I feel something like peace.
Like maybe, just maybe, we can find a way through this together.
That’s when his phone buzzes on the nightstand.
Mikhail tenses immediately, his entire body going rigid. “This a private number.”
He reaches for the phone with his good arm, and I see his face go pale as he reads the screen.
Without a word, he turns it toward me.
The video loads slowly, the connection weak this far into the mountains.
But when the image finally resolves, my blood turns to ice.
Melinda.
She’s tied to a chair in what looks like a basement, her blonde hair matted with blood.
One eye is swollen shut, and her lip is split. Bruises mottle her arms and neck.
She’s crying, her whole body shaking with sobs.
“Sophia,” she whimpers, looking directly at the camera. “Please. Please help me. They said…they said if you don’t come, they’ll…”
The video cuts off abruptly, replaced by a text message.You have 24 hours. Come alone, or your friend dies screaming.
The phone slips from my nerveless fingers, clattering to the floor. This is my fault. I called her. I led them right to her.
“No.” The word comes out as a broken whisper. “No, no, no.”
Mikhail’s arms come around me, but I barely feel them. All I can see is Melinda’s battered face, her terrified eyes, the blood in her hair.
“We’ll get her back.” Mikhail’s voice is hard, determined. “I promise you, Sophia. We’ll get her back.”
But as I stare at the blank phone screen, all I can think is that I’m cursed too.
Every person I love is destroyed.
And I can’t save her.
14
MIKHAIL
The video plays on loop in my mind, even though I’ve turned off the phone.
Melinda’s battered face.
Her swollen eye.
