Page 11

There’s Alina, Kara, but it’s not the same. I know that.

I wanted Demyan to come and save me, but if he does,Niko will kill him. At least if Demyan rescues Sasha and decides not to come after me, Sasha will have a parent.

It’s insane, thinking that way, because Demyan’s the type to come after someone he thinks of as his. Even if he no longer wants me and his words of love were nothing but a lie, I’m the mother of his child, and to a man like Demyan, that means something.

To save Demyan, to give Sasha the chance at having at least one parent, hopefully two, I’m going to have to try and get out of here myself.

And all that water is the perfect excuse. At first, I thought maybe it’d give me a chance to see where I am, but now, I’m going to have to make a run for it.

I made it out of Demyan’s fortress; I can make it out of here.

I hope.

“Niko,” I whisper, trying to be as weak and small as I can be, “please, I need to go to the bathroom.”

“I’ll send one of my men. He will take you, and he’ll watch.”

His words of where the bathroom is in here come back on a wave of horror and I shake my head. “No! No, please. You must have one where I can go in private. Please…”

He looks at me for a long moment, then mutters something under his breath. Niko closes in on me and unlocks the restraints.

I try to control the surge of adrenaline.

Niko grabs me roughly by the arm and yanks me to my feet, hauling me, stumbling across the room, and out into a hall. It’s dark and we pass the guard at the door. Niko drags me up a few stairs and left to another hall. There’s not much to go on. I think, with the low lighting, that we’re underground, but past me, as I look down the hall, is a door with a rim of bright light around it.

My heart starts to thump hard. An exit?

To me, it sure looks like it. He shoves open a door to my left and snaps on a light. Then he basically throws me in. “Hurry up, I don’t have all day.”

I nod and go to close the door. He puts a hand on it.

“I’m not peeing in front of you. Please move.”

For a moment I’m not sure he will, but he steps aside and lets me shut the door.

It stinks in here and I’m about to look around to see if I can escape when the door bangs open and Niko appears again.

“Get out.”

He grabs me by the face and squeezes, hurting my face, the bruises. “Speak to me like that again and peeing will be the least of your worries. I changed my mind. I’m letting you use the nicer facilities, but you’re going to be watched.”

Shit.

He lets me go and humiliation burns through me. But I’m not giving up.

I fight the urge to throw up as I stare at him, right in the eye, as I use the toilet as quickly as I can. Then I get up and wash my hands in the small dirty basin. The entire time, I keep one thought in my head to stop myself screaming at him, watching me relieve myself.

This is the nicer bathroom?

Christ, what’s the one like in my cell?

But as we head out, I keep myself on alert. If I get any chance to try and escape, it’s going to be in the walk back to my cell.

Niko’s phone rings and he answers it, his gaze cutting to me a moment, and he stops, so I do as well. As he speaks in a low, urgent voice in Russian, I steady myself. This is it. My one chance and I have to catch him off guard.

He’s distracted, but his gaze is on me, so I take thatmoment to take stock. I sweep my gaze up and down the hall. The man at my door’s not there, and now that I’m used to the low light, I can make out a couple of other doors, all of them shut. But the door up ahead is cracked open.

Now, every instinct whispers. Now.