Page 27 of Crowned

If Dad dies, no one else on this planet will know that I’m pregnant except me. Letting Elyah kill him is probably the safest thing I can do for my child. The thought leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. Will this be my first act as a mother, to kill my own father?

I look at Elyah and give a tiny shake of my head. Elyah’s eyes narrow. His stubborn jaw juts. Then he raises the gun and looks away, anger flashing through his eyes.

“Don’t come after me,” I tell Dad. “Don’t try to find me. Don’t allow my name to ever pass your lips again. And leaveBabulyabe.”

Dad raises eyes so furious they’re almost black to my face, and my heart skips, wondering if I’ve just made the wrong decision. I’ll just have to make sure that I hide myself so well that Dad never finds me to take revenge for this humiliation.

When the four of us disembark, leaving Dad, the pilot, and flight attendant tied up on the floor of the plane to be discovered after we’ve gone, we’re greeted by a freezing wind and a waiting car.

“I will drive,” Elyah says, and takes the keys from the man who brought the car, a black Lexus with heavily tinted windows.

He gets into the front seat, and I’m corralled into the back between Kirill and Konstantin. His migraine seems to have eased and his eyes are bright and determined as we head out of the airport. Whatever he has in store for me next, it’s going to be brutal. I recall with how much pleasure he ripped apart my composure and self-esteem in the judging room.

Were you a good daughter, Lilia Brazhensky? Were you a good lover, Lilia Aranova?

My hand passes briefly over my belly, a secret greeting to the tiny life inside me. If I can protect this child, then all the versions of myself who came before no longer matter. I stare at the road ahead, my mind racing. I can endure pain for myself. I would have let Elyah break my arms to save Hedda from the same fate. The night Kirill strung me up in the cellar, I suffered hours of agony with barely a whimper. If they want to torture the location of the diamonds out of me, I think I could endure their torment for hours, maybe even days, out of sheer stubbornness. But it’s not just me anymore. If they hurt me, I’m going to have to tell them about the baby. It’s their baby, Elyah’s or Konstantin’s. Couldn’t they—wouldn’t they—

Love it?

Elyah’s eyes meet mine briefly in the rearview mirror and they’re stormy with emotion. Konstantin slips a hand around my thigh, warm and possessive. On my left, Kirill’s bare, muscular arm is pressed against mine, reminding me how I shattered beneath his brutal touch just hours ago. Now I’m going somewhere with these men, and I’m going to be truly alone. The memory of Elyah’s large, strong hand on the nape of my neck while Kirill fucked me with a gun and Konstantin watched on flickers across my mind, and a hot, fluttering feeling fills my belly.

Jesus Christ, Lilia. They’re planning on torturing you to death, not having a gangbang.

We drive for hours, and I think we’re bypassing Paris and heading for the coast. The countryside around us is rural, but not so remote that there aren’t cars on the road and occasional houses dotted around the field. All the while I’m silently arguing with myself. Tell them about the baby. Don’t tell them about the baby. They have to know. They might hurt it without realizing.

Fuck.

“I need to pee,” I announce.

Konstantin’s jaw flexes, but he says nothing. A few minutes later, Elyah announces, “There’s a gas station coming up.”

I turn to Konstantin. “Ireallyneed to pee. Please.”

ThePakhansays nothing, but Elyah turns off the highway anyway and into the garage. It’s a tiny place with two pumps and no one around but an indistinct figure inside at the till. The sign for the bathrooms directs people around the back.

Konstantin jerks his head at the passenger door on Kirill’s side of the car. “Go with Kirill and Elyah.”

“Can you take me, please?” I ask him.

Elyah’s eyes narrow, and I remember how he declared that I’m a viper and Konstantin shouldn’t trust me. “I will come, too…”

I hold my handbag open for them to look into. “I’m not armed. Kirill checked me thoroughly. Konstantin has a weapon, don’t you?”

“Why me?” Konstantin asks.

I shrug, tucking my hair behind my ear. “I thought we could have a talk while I pee. There’s something I need to tell you.”

Konstantin opens his jacket and shows me the gun holstered under his arm. “If you try to get away from me, I’ll shoot you. If you ask anyone for help, I’ll shoot them. A bleeding heart like you won’t want that on her conscience, will she?”

He thinks I’m weak for letting Dad live. “I don’t want innocent people to die, how sappy of me. Can we go? I’m going to wet myself back here.”

When we’re standing outside the car, he grasps my upper arm and holds me close as he steers me toward the women’s restroom. Elyah and Kirill follow behind. It’s a ramshackle, rusty kind of place with old cars and barrels stacked everywhere. There’s buckled old shelving by the restroom door holding an array of oil tins and car parts.

I’m not surprised when Konstantin follows me inside the dank, smelly little restroom, and he puts his foot in the door when I try to close the cubicle.

“Can I lock this?”

“No. Leave it open.”

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