Page 86 of Vasily the Nail

Vasily looks my way then. His lips twitch, but with those glasses, I can’t tell what he’s thinking.

“Please, Vasya!” I beg. “Don’t let them take me, please!”

The six men, now that Dima has joined them, approach me. Gino on Tony’s other side inches his hand toward his gun but does it clearly enough that it’s a message to the Russians that he’s on alert. No one else reaches for their piece.

Vasily gets close enough to me that I feel his warmth. Still, I can’t see through the reflective lenses, and I start squirming again against Nicky Leo.

He touches my cheek. His fingertip is sticky with blood. I lean into it anyway, desperate to feel him more, for him to take me away and explain what’s going on, to hold me close while he tells me whatever nightmare we face next.

We’ll face together.

I just need him to tell me we’ll be together.

“Fifteen days,” he says, his attention turning to Tony. “The debt is paid. She is yours.”

I break at that. My weight flops down, and Nicky Leo has to hold me up to keep me from folding in half. He can’t stop the tears from falling down my cheeks, though.

“Vasya, no!” I sob. “I’m yours. I’m not his, I’m yours.”

“Not anymore,” he says as simply as if he hadn’t pledged himself to me not even 24 hours ago, like he didn’t brand me his.

“I love you,” I whimper. “Don’t leave me, please.”

“Go on, now. You’re embarrassing yourself.”

I kick out at that, anger punching me in the gut. “You can’t–you didn’t–you—”

“I did what I was commanded to. I took payment.”

“You ruined me.”

His lip curls into a cruel sneer. He’s not Vasily. He’s a monster. He’s a doppelganger. This can’t be right.

“Yes, that was the payment. Goodbye, Analiese.”

He turns without another word and boards one of the choppers. The other men follow him. It’s a couple seconds that are an eternity in the blink of an eye before the chopper lifts up off the roof and into the sky, leaving me forever.

To Be Continued . . .