I nodded.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I should have sent more men to the back of the warehouse. Olaf should not have got away.” He pushed the magazine into the gun with a vicious snap.
“It’s okay,” I said comfortingly.
He jumped to his feet. He wasn’t quite as big as Luka, but his size was still intimidating, especially when he was angry. “Is not okay.” He stared at me. “Bastard takes Luka, takes you...he needs to die. He’s pure poison. Always has been.”
There was something in his eyes—a more intense version of that sadness that always seemed to be there. I suddenly knew who’d given him the scar across his face.
I put a hand on his arm. “You did great, Yuri,” I said softly. “You rescued us. Without you….”
I didn’t want to think about what would have happened without him. I could still feel Olaf’s hands, cutting my dress away. Before I was even aware I was going to do it, I pulled the big man into a hug, wrapping my arms around him and patting him on the back. He responded awkwardly, as if no one had hugged him in a very long time.
When I unwound myself, he said, “Luka likes you.”
I nodded.
“I think that maybe you are what he needs,” said Yuri.
I nodded again.
“But I’m there to protect him,” said Yuri, the loyalty fierce in his eyes. “From everyone.”
“I understand,” I said levelly.
He nodded solemnly, as if to say that we’d never mention this conversation again, and went back to cleaning his gun.
I found Luka and Vasiliy in the drawing room, looking at something on a laptop. Blueprints of a house, presumably Olaf’s. Luka reached for the lid to close it as I walked in....and then relaxed and left it open.
He trusted me. He finally trusted me enough to have no secrets from me. Just as I was about to destroy his life.
He came over to me and put his arms around me. “What’s the matter?” he asked. “You look worried.”
I stared into his eyes and drew in a long breath. “I—” Tell him. “I—” Tell him!
Vasiliy was looking at me, too. He walked around from behind his son. “Arianna,” he said, his accent rolling around my name like rocks grinding it smooth, “I owe you an apology. When you came here before, when you indulged me by playing chess...I did not trust you.”
He suddenly grabbed my hands, squeezing them in his. I felt as if I was contaminating him with my sins. My own hands felt like cold, dead flesh. “Luka was right about you,” he said. “And I am honored—honored—to welcome you into our family.”
My mouth moved soundlessly. I could feel the tears rushing towards my eyes. God, no! Don’t do this to me! Not now!
“Leave her alone,” Luka muttered. “She’s been through enough without being pressured.”
Vasiliy smiled kindly at me and released my hands. They throbbed from his warmth. “I’m sorry. Don’t mind me, Arianna. I’m not looking for you to marry him.”#p#分页标题#e#
“Father!” Luka’s cheeks were flushing.
“Not yet, at least.”
“Father!”
Vasiliy’s eyes were twinkling. Any other time, it would have been funny and wonderful. Now, it just made me want to vomit up all the darkness inside me. No, I wanted to run to the stairs and hurl myself over the edge, down to the bare stone floor below. Maybe I’d crack my skull open and maybe then I wouldn’t be a threat to them anymore.
But even that wasn’t an option. Ever since Adam’s phone call, we’d all been locked into our fate. The only question was how many of them I was going to kill.
And really, there’s only one answer to that. I’m a geek at heart. I know how to do math. One death is better than two.
“Maybe we could have a drink,” I said, surprised at how level my voice was. “To celebrate.”
Luka looked at me, surprised, but then smiled. Vasiliy led us down the corridor to the tiny room where he’d questioned me, and poured whiskey for himself and vodka for us.
I had the tiny capsule in the palm of one hand. The two of them were so happy, it was easy to pick up Vasiliy’s glass for a second and crush the plastic against the rim so that the clear fluid dribbled into the whiskey.
“To family,” Vasiliy said, picking up his glass.
“To family,” Luka repeated.
“Family,” I said in a hollow voice.
We all raised our glasses to drink.
Time seemed to stop. I was in the car again, the wheels sliding over the snow. Falling and falling, the ground coming up to meet us.