Page 70 of Run, Little Rabbit

Shit, even just saying the words out loud have me faltering a little, those memories clawing their way out of the deep pit I buried them in.

“My parents had regular jobs, nothing out of the ordinary. At least, that’s what I thought growing up. Mum was a nurse, Dad was an accountant and Briony was going to be a ballet star.” I chuckle softly at the memory of her twisting and pirouetting down the hallway in her new pointe shoes. “She was a beautiful dancer. I, of course, teased the shit out of her for it, but I absolutely believed she would be on some stage dancing with the best of them.”

Echo squeezes my hand and scoots her chair closer. “If she’s got any of the same determination you have when you’re in the ring, I imagine Briony would have danced her socks off until she made it.”

I flinch a little, hearing someone else say Briony’s name. I haven’t heard it said aloud by someone else in such a long time; it sounds foreign. “My dad had debts. I didn’t know just how bad they were until he died and I found his ledger. I’m pretty sure Mum knew; I just don’t think she knew how bad either. He liked to gamble, and one night, he gambled in the wrong casino.”

“Whose?”

I cock an eyebrow. “Whose do you think?”

“The Volkovs?”

“Bingo. Although it was run by Maxim’s father, Dimitri, at the time. And, instead of standing on his own two feet and working the debt off himself, my dad offered up my skills as payment.”

“The fuck?”

If I wasn’t so wrapped up in all this old history, I’d chuckle at how outraged she is on my behalf.

“Yep, even back then I was a highly skilled hacker, and apparently that appealed to Dimitri Volkov, so I became my dad’s repayment plan for the next five years. At eighteen, I was working for a Bratva boss and trying to finish my studies. I hated it, and I resented my dad for it. The last day I saw him, we argued about it. Dimitri had put another year on my indentureas interest, and I was pissed. The last thing I said to my dad was that I wished he was dead because then his debt would be fucking paid. And then I’d left. Walked right out the door and left them. If I’d have been there, maybe there would be a chance that they’d still be alive.”

“You can’t know that, and you can’t blame yourself, Sphinx. You were still just a boy, and you should never have been put in that position in the first place.”

I knew this, but it didn't change the fact that I felt guilty about being the one who survived.

“How does Max fit in all this?” Echo asks softly.

I take a deep breath and release it on a shaky exhale. “That night, after I’d been hanging in the park with my friends, getting high and just trying not to wallow in how shit my life was looking, I went home and found my entire family slaughtered. Like fucking cattle.” The images of them all lying there, covered in blood, haunt me to this day. And the blood was everywhere. It coated the walls and the floor. Handprints. Arterial sprays. Drag marks. The whole place had looked like a scene from a horror movie.

“Maxim was there when I got home, standing over the bodies.” I’d always liked Maxim. He wasn’t much older than me, and I think he was just looking for someone to connect with who wasn’t Bratva through and through. “I think he tried to stop me from seeing everything, but at the time, I thought he was attacking me to finish the job. So, I ran. I ran and ran and never looked back. And I blamed Maxim for it until I decoded that fucking phone.”

Echo frowns and purses her lips. “Why did you think it was Max?”

“Besides the fact that he was standing over the bodies?”

She shakes her head. “I’m not trying to defend the guy; I’m just wondering if Max’s father was so determined to keep you underhis thumb, why all of a sudden would he have Max kill your family?”

“Well, you know I said Dad was an accountant?”

“Yeah.” An adorable little crease appears over her nose. “Wait. He wasVolkov’saccountant?”

“Yep. He came home one night in a panic, saying something about money and product going missing and how he was going to get the blame. He was frantic.” I’d never seen my father as scared as I had that night. “I guess Dimitri figured it was my father who’d been skimming to pay his debt back and set me free. But no one steals from the Volkovs and gets away with it.”

Echo flops back in her seat, her eyes wide as she digests everything I’ve said. “What was on the phone?”

“CCTV footage from across the street showing someone leaving just before Maxim got there. I guess whoever committed the crime had it wiped before the police got hold of a copy. To this day, my family’s murder is still unsolved. I just want some answers, Echo. I owe my family that much.”

“Okay. Then let’s get them.”

I cock my eyebrow. “Just like that, huh?”

“Yep,” she says, popping that fucking ‘P’ like bubblegum, a dopey grin plastered on her face. “We’re friends. Friends help each other out.”

I stare so hard at her that her smile drops and her bravado falters.

“We are, aren’t we? Friends?”

I snort and shake my head. “Yes. We’re friends.”

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