Page 19 of Vitaly

“Pakhan,” Alik interjects, pausing Nikita’s foot just as he goes to swing it again. I whimper my thanks then bury my face in the carpet to muffle any sounds that threaten to come out next.

“Mila is the only person who knows where Vitaly is. With all due respect, sir, she isn’t useless to us yet.”

Seconds pass while Nikita weighs this. When he grunts, I know the pain is over. “Put her in the car.Do notlet anyone else find out he’s back.”

Alik kneels beside me as Nikita leaves. When he touches my shoulder, I don’t know whether to flinch or lean into it.

Alik isn’t kind. Or warm. Or merciful.

But he isn’t cruel either. He at least understands reason.

I let him help me to my knees and look at him when he turns my head his way.

“Why would he take you?” he asks, his face hard as stone. He could be angry, but I’d never know. That’s just his face.

I shake my head. “I don’t know.”

His eyes roam my face like he knows I’m lying. When it comes to Vitaly, Alik is possibly the only person who got more screwed than me. He might hate Vitaly even more than I do.

“I didn’t feel the need to talk to him about it,” I add, trying to harden my eyes.

Alik wouldn’t care that Vitaly thought he was saving me. I’m not convinced Alik cares about most things.

But Nikita… I wouldn’t put it past Nikita to slit my throat in front of Vitaly just to mock his efforts.

It’s better if they don’t know he was saving me.

Alik still doesn’t look convinced, but he stands up and offers his hand. I take it and let him help me to my feet, cringing at the aches in my body.

“Are you all right?” he asks.

My face pinched, I nod.

With only a moment's hesitation, Alik starts for the door.

“Alik?”

He pauses and turns to me.

I suck in a deep breath and let it out slowly, forcing my nerves to calm. “Is Nikita going to kill me when we’re through?”

Alik is still for several moments before he lifts a shoulder. “Maybe… But I doubt it. He was disappointed when you didn’t come back last night… Make yourself useful, and you’ll be fine.”

He turns and continues to the door while I hang my head with a sigh. I sigh partially from relief and partially from the exhaustion that comes with playing Nikita’s games.

I push it all out of my mind and focus on Vitaly instead.

When I lift my head up, my breaths have evened, but my blood heats once again.

7

VITALY

By the time I find my mother’s grave,the mid-morning sun forms beads of sweat beneath the hoodie my hands are tucked into.

I forgot what the winters were like here. When I was a kid, I used to shiver and complain, and my mother would laugh at me before telling me stories of her winters back home. Her family of nine would huddle around a wood stove after a weekend afternoon of skating on the iced pond outside. It was rare that my mother smiled, so I never interrupted, even when it seemed she could go on for hours about such mundane things.

She wore dresses in the wintertime that made me think she was cold-blooded, but now I understand. I understand what it’s like to be truly cold, to feel a bite in my toes so unforgiving I wished they’d fall off.

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