Page 43 of Exacting Vengeance

“Wait.” He prevented the women from getting into the Explorer. If this was about Yuri’s obsession with Victoria, there was no need to put Alyona in danger again. “We’re splitting them up. Deke, you and Malik take Aly to the new safehouse. The rest of you, drive out when we do. I’ll take Victoria.” Her life might not be at stake physically, but her life was in jeopardy because Yuri had seen her.

And he wanted her back.

Chapter Eighteen

“Get down!” Kyle shouted.

Victoria slid down behind the front seats, instinctively covering the back of her head with her hands. She’d barely had enough time to give Aly a congratulatory hug before Kyle’s brother had whisked her away.

“Hang on.” The SUV’s engine roared as it rocketed from the courthouse. Tires screeched, and she was thrown against the side panel as Kyle made a sharp turn. The briefcase she’d been clutching slid off the seat and smacked her in the face.

She squeezed her eyes shut, sucking in short breaths. Everything happening was eerily similar to the night people from the Women’s Crisis Center had helped her sneak back into her Chicago house to grab some personal belongings. Her heart pounded as hard now as it had then.

There was no doubting it was Yuri in the courtroom. He had the same slicked-back hair and the same ugly sneer on his face. And those dark-brown, malevolent eyes she knew so well. Running in the opposite direction had been her first instinct until he'd done just that. Run. Why, she didn’t understand. It wasn’t like him, and it had always worried her when he didn’t behave like she expected him to.

In fact, it scared her to death.

A sob rose in her throat, and she swallowed it down. Aly had found the courage to confront her demon. Victoria had to dig deep and do the same. Otherwise, she’d lose everything. Her new life was here. A new job, people she loved working with. Pulling up stakes again would render it all meaningless.

“All units,” Kyle said, “anyone following you?”

A disembodied voice crackled on the radio, “Ten-four. I’ve got two on my tail.”

“Same here,” another voice said.

The SUV jerked hard left, throwing Victoria against the seat cushions.

“Deke?” Kyle asked.

“Negative. We had a tail and lost them in traffic.”

“Copy that,” Kyle said. “Let me know when she’s at the new safehouse.”

“Ten four.”

The hope was that, when Boris Kolbayev was sentenced to prison for a long, long time, there would be no reason to go after Aly. Revenge against spouses was rare. Still, she was glad to hear the FBI wasn’t taking any chances with her life so soon after testifying.

Victoria dug her nails into the bench seat, and a bubble of anger, not fear, raced up her spine. It was time to get one—a spine—and stop running. She would not let Yuri dictate her life ever again.

A calmness invaded her senses, and she let out an unsteady, yet self-assured breath. It was time to take charge of her life and live it. Not hide from it.

For the next ten minutes, she listened to Kyle communicate with his team on the radio. Finally, he said over his shoulder, “You can sit up now.”

She climbed onto the seat, recognizing the New Jersey Turnpike. “Where are we going?”

“I don’t know yet.” He shoved a hand through his hair. “Pennsylvania. Delaware. To a hotel until I can arrange another safehouse for you to stay in.”

Another safehouse. More running. More hiding like she was a fugitive. Didn’t she deserve to pursue her dreams and happiness? Yuri was out there somewhere, doing whatever the hell he wanted, and she was relegated to being a rabbit on the run from a fox.

Screw Yuri.

More anger bubbled up inside her, and she dug her nails harder against the seat cushion. “I need to go to my apartment first.”

“No. It’s too dangerous.”

She caught his angry gaze in the mirror. “I need to get a few things first.” It was a lie, but he didn’t need to know that. Not yet, anyway. “You’ll be with me. I’ll be safe.”

He exhaled audibly, though it was accompanied by a growl. “Fine. But you need to be quick.”