Page 37 of Zafira

“They’re inside. Get into the tunnel and run. You know where the safe house is. Get to it and phone for help.”

“I’m not leaving you behind, Mom. Come, we need to—”

Zafira caught her hands. “No, my darling. It’s my duty to keep you safe, and it’s your duty to keep your children safe. That’s what’s important now. Think of your unborn children. Go. I’ll keep them off as long as I can. Hopefully, Antonio managed to get hold of Bogdan, and he’s on his way.”

“Be safe, Mamochka.” Vanya hugged her fiercely. “Your grandchildren are going to need their nana around.”

“Go!” Zafira urged as the soft footfall ascending the stairs warned her the perpetrators were close. “Slava Bogu.” With a sigh of relief, she watched Vanya disappear through the hidden door in the corner of the room. When the shadow of the assassin darkened the doorway, Zafira was ready. Her stance was perfect, calm, confident, and unwavering as she lifted the Glock and took aim.

“I hate uninvited guests,” she sneered as she squeezed the trigger. By the time the man’s head turned in her direction, it was too late. The bullet slammed into the door behind him, splattering brain matter and blood as the bullet drilled a path through his skull. When his body hit the floor, he was already dead.

“I swear, Luciano Maranzano, when I get my hands on you, I’m gonna squeeze you like the low-life bug you are,” Vanya sneered as she quickly crawled along the narrow space in pitch-black darkness. She knew these tunnels all by heart since she had played in them ad nauseum when she was little. Except danger had never chased her, and now the short distance to the stairway leading to the underground tunnels seemed miles away.

“God, please keep my mother safe. She’s too young to die,” she murmured as she fumbled for her cell phone and switched on the flashlight. Maneuvering the uneven stairs in the dark was dangerous, and she refused to put her unborn children’s lives in more danger by being overly cautious.

Vanya hated running from a fight, more so leaving her mother behind to battle alone, but Zafira had been right. The only thought that had been running through her mind from the moment the first gunshot had sounded was to protect her twins.

“Don’t worry, poppets. Mommy isn’t going to die today because Daddy will be seriously pissed if I do, so... we’re gonna do this together.” She hesitated to open the steel door when she reached the outside latch two miles from the house on the far side of a rocky hill. “Blyad’! What are the chances that someone is waiting on the outside for me?”

Vanya depended on her ever-present sixth sense cautioning her against storming out blindly. There were guards all over the farm and still a group of assassins managed to bypass them to get to the house. Clearly, there were some corrupt members on their team. Vanya flinched at the echo of a shot coming from the study but refused to give way to the fear that her mother might be dead.

“She has survived two attacks. This time, she knew they were coming and was ready. I have to believe that. Mom isn’t dead!” Vanya checked her phone. “Blyad’! No signal,” she muttered as she keyed in the access code that would unlock the latch. “Well, poppets, we can’t stay here. If there are more of them, they’ll find the hidden door at some point. Just go to sleep. Mommy’s got this.”

Vanya’s heart pounded wildly as she cautiously pushed open the latch of the underground tunnel’s exit. With every creak, her fear intensified, her mind racing with the thought of the danger lurking just beyond. But she couldn’t afford to hesitate; her instincts urged her forward, driven by a fierce maternal determination to protect her unborn children.

Stepping out into the open air, Vanya squinted against the sudden brightness of the day. Before her stretched a vast expanse of grassy hillside, rolling gently beneath the azure sky. In the distance, the patchwork quilt of farmlands spread out like a painting, a tranquil scene that belied the turmoil raging within her.

Though the landscape was serene, Vanya’s senses remained on high alert, and every nerve tingled with trepidation. She couldn’t discount that danger lurked in the shadows, that every step she took could be her last, but she refused to let fear paralyze her. Instead, it fueled her determination to keep her children safe at all costs.

“Don’t worry,” she exhaled slowly and repeated the words, more to calm herself than anything else, “Mommy’s got this.”

Resolutely, she scanned the immediate area for any sign of trouble. Her back snapped ramrod straight as a familiar mocking voice sounded from atop the grassy knoll where she stood just outside the tunnel entrance.

“One thing I have to give the Guzuns. If nothing else, you are predictable as fuck.”

By the time she turned to face him, Luciano Maranzano stood an arm’s length from her. Hatred for the man threatened to choke her, but she forced a smirk on her face.

“Well, I can’t say it’s a pleasure seeing you again, fuckface.” Acting irresponsibly wasn’t an option, but that didn’t mean she had to be polite. Still, it would be prudent to be cautious. This man had no empathy and wouldn’t care that she was pregnant.

“Careful, la mia bella donna. I might just believe you missed me.”

“I’m not your anything, you demented, dickless, piece of shit— Ugh!”

Vanya realized it was the worst thing she could’ve said as the black claws of unconsciousness wrapped around her before the pain of the gun smashed against the back of her head penetrated. The words he sneered accompanied her drifting off into the dark void of nothingness.

“You fucking bitch... you’re gonna pay for that.”

Chapter Eighteen

Three days later, Ferma La Guzun...

“You will finish this plate of food today, even if I have to force it down your throat,” Bogdan’s growl resonated ominously through the room. “You barely eat enough to sustain your body.”

“Stop mothering me, Rusu. I don’t need a keeper,” Zafira snapped as she studied the CCTV footage that was routed to her laptop. The IT team had installed facial recognition software and although they were scouring the web 24/7 for signs of Vanya and Maranzano, she insisted on doing it herself.

“What you need is sustenance and rest. You’re no good to anyone in this state, Comare, least of all your daughter.”

“My daughter is in this mess because of me.” She turned on him with fury flashing from her eyes. A fist bumped her chest. “Me! Do you hear me? It’s my fault that she’s missing.”

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