Page 18 of Midnight Wedding

Maybe I made a noise. I can’t even say. I’m barely in control of my body. My knees are shaking and my cheeks are numb. But Saro looks straight into my eyes and his face brightens, almost like he thinks there’s a chance he can get out of this?—

A gunshot hammers into his skull and his head explodes into a pink mist. The stone wall behind him gets splattered with gore.

Whatever he thought, whatever he felt, it’s gone now.

Arsen’s gun smokes as I back away. One step. Another step.

Then he turns. His eyes fall on mine. There’s a blackness in his gaze, a void of emotion. He just killed a man in cold blood and there’s no feeling, no reaction at all. Only mild surprise at seeing me there.

“Who the fuck is that?” the other guy asks.

I turn and run.

My legs start working. I speed into the club, going as fast as I can. Arsen saw me. He saw me. He knows. He knows. I witnessed a murder. I saw my one-night stand kill someone. He knows!

My brain’s screaming with gibbering cosmic horror as I shove my way through the crowd. I think Enrico calls after me but I can’t even respond right now. I have to get out, I have to get away.

Saro’s dead. His corpse is in the alley right now.

“Oh god, oh god, oh god,” I say as I burst out the front door and spring away from the club. I run and run and run, speeding past people, ignoring anyone that calls out. I go and go and go, lungs burning and legs heavy, until I spot a bus nearby. I don’t even know where it’s taking me. I get on, swipe my card, and collapse onto the seat.

I ride the bus for a while, huddled in on myself, until I feel safe enough to cry.

Chapter 6

Lena

Ihave no other choice.

After riding the bus for a couple of hours, I head home.

I thought it through. There’s no way Arsen doesn’t know who I am. We locked eyes, and he’s absolutely sure I witnessed that murder. He’ll come find me, and if I’m not around when he does, then he might take it out on my family.

I can’t risk it. My mom’s sick, my dad’s barely hanging on physically, and my brother’s a freaking dumbass. Vadim will get himself killed trying to protect our parents.

There’s only one way to help them.

“You’re home early,” Mom says from the living room. Dad’s sleeping on the easy chair beside her while she reads on her Kindle. She pushes her glasses up, frowning at me.

“Club flooded,” I blurt out. It’s the first excuse that pops into my head.

Mom’s brows raise. “Flooded? How?”

“Toilets. They clogged.”

“All of them?”

“Enough. And a pipe broke. It’s a real mess.”

“Huh. Sounds like a nightmare.” She smiles at me and pats the cushion beside her. “Come sit and relax. You look exhausted.”

I curl up beside my mother and lean my head on her shoulder. She strokes my hair and reads her book, and when I close my eyes, I see Saro’s head explode into blood and brains, I see Arsen staring death at me, I hear that other man call out. I have to fight the urge to break down and start crying, because if I do that, Mom’s going to know something’s really wrong.

I hold it together. I make some tea and help get Dad to bed when he snorts himself awake. Mom’s not far after him, and I’m left alone at one in the morning, pacing back and forth across the living room.

Waiting for my one-night stand to come murder me.

Why isn’t Arsen here yet? He knows I saw, and he knows where I live. Is he too busy dealing with Saro’s corpse? Is he getting off on the thought of making me suffer? I want to scream and hide. I want to curl up in a ball and sob myself hoarse.

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