Page 103 of Forbidden Fate

He smiled. “You like me.”

I bit into the apple before answering. It was soft and mealy, but it tasted like Champagne. I swallowed. “You are kind to me,” I said.

“You stay close,” he said. “No problem.”

No problem.

Right.

The other girls really hate me now.

They know Ştefan takes me to another room, and they know I come back looking less hungry than when I left.

I’m alone with them. They all huddle together on one side of the small room while I sleep beside the opposite wall wrapped in a thin blanket that smells like BO. It’s probably mine. I haven’t showered in…who the hell knows?

My mind never stops except when I succumb to sleep. Across the room, I hear the others breathing, snoring softly, until⁠—

I jerk upward just a moment before⁠—

A blast throws me sideways.

For a second I don’t hear anything more…but then the noise slams back into the room so hard I scream.

Shouting.

Glass breaking.

Wood cracking.

Men yelling.

Girls crying.

Another explosion? I don’t know. I know only that the air is suddenly full of smoke and dust, and the building that has held us for weeks seems to be under attack.

Poliţişti!

The men yell. I know that word. Police.

The door bursts open, and light floods the room. Men in black. Helmets. Guns.

For half a second, hope is so bright it hurts.

Then the men holding us start shooting.

The girls scream. One of the police officers yells something. A gunshot cracks so close my ears ring. Then another.

I hit the floor.

Someone steps on my hand. I yank it back, swallowing a cry. A beam of light swings across my face. A man shouts in Romanian. A body slams into the wall.

“Down!” someone yells in English.

Or maybe I imagine the English.

I don’t know.

Ioana runs.