Page 33 of His Ruthless Vow

It's a good question but one I have no answer for. My immediate plan is to get as far away from my father as possible, then decide what will happen next.

"I don’t know. I'm thinking a hotel right now. Then I’ll decide. With what's about to happen in this city with the alliance off the rails, I think being out of town is safer. I wish you could come."

Her bottom lip pouts out farther. "I don't want to leave Mamochka. My place is here." Her shoulders sink as I put the framed picture of me and her on her sixteenth birthday into my bag and grab my phone charger.

"I'll try to stay in touch, you know? I'll call and text. We can talk." I'm not sure how realistic that is, either. I know my father's reach. He'll track everything. I may not be able to have my cell phone at all. I don't know.

"And what if I need you? I mean, a girl needs her sister, right?" she asks, on the verge of tears.

Turning, I pull her into my arms and hug her tightly, then press a kiss to her cheek.

"I'll be here if you need me, okay?" I don't think I can keep that promise, but it will help me get out of this house faster.

Natalia nods and backs away, and I pick up my bag and sling it over my shoulder. I don’t have a car, no driver to usher me around. I can't use my father’s, which means I need a cab or Uber, and those things are traceable. I'll have to have a ride downtown then walk on foot somewhere safer. None of this feels right. To have gone from a woman who could barely go in public alone eight weeks ago to venturing out on my own for good in such a short time is terrifying.

"I love you," I tell her as I walk to the door.

"Please stay," she whimpers as tears streak her cheeks, but I can't. I step out the door and close it. In the hallway, I feel my phone vibrating and pause to pull it out of the bag. I hear Natalia crying, probably curled up on my bed, and it makes me want to cry too.

When I look down at the phone screen and see it's from Dimitri, I feel a hot flush from my chest up to my face. I told him we can't do this thing three days ago and I meant it, but after what just happened tonight, I think all of that has changed my mind.

I swipe to unlock and see his message lit up on my screen.

Dimitri: 8:47PM: I'm leaving town, Alana. I'm going to St. Petersburg. Thank you for doing what you did. It saved both of our families.

The note is simple, no huge plea for my attention or affection, but it stirs something inside me. I jam the phone into my pocket and head downstairs, shocked to find both of my parents missing, probably in their room bickering. And Yuri isn't at his post at the front door. Batya probably ordered him to go out and deal with the uprising in the street. I'm sure that's flared to life again already.

I grab a coat from the hall closet, some gloves and a hat, then dress quickly before snagging my bag. At the door, I look back into the house I grew up in and feel sad I'm leaving it. But sometimes, life doesn’t give you a choice. And tonight, I’ve made mine.

I'm three blocks from home, already shivering in the bitter cold and fumbling with the app on my phone to order an Uber to drive me downtown, when I start to cry.

My chest burns and my heart feels so broken. I stop and lean against a light post, closing my eyes and silently praying for some sign that things will be okay, but I've learned a long time ago that this sort of stuff doesn't happen for me.

When good things happen, it's because I make it happen. And I'm ready for good things to happen. I am sick of life kicking me while I'm down. I want to love and be loved, and I want safety and shelter.

And the only time in my adult life that I’ve felt that was in Dimitri's arms. He's given me everything I ever wanted and more, and I'm such an idiot for pushing him away.

I reach into my pocket and pull out my phone and send a message I'm positive is the right choice. I'm not going to second-guess myself ever again. This is what I want, and I'm taking it. Damn the consequences.

Alana: 9:17PM: I'm leaving too and I need you. Please come get me.

23

DIMITRI

When Alana told me three days ago that she loved me, I was wrecked. Why would she push me away if she loves me? I decided right then and there that I was leaving Moscow. I'm on the outskirts of the city when I get her message, and it stops me dead in my tracks. Literally—I pull to the side of the highway and stop to read her message over again to be sure I understand what my car's hands-free device read aloud to me.

Alana: 9:17PM: I'm leaving too and I need you. Please come get me.

My chest about explodes and I feel choked up. I'm not a guy who cries easily, but my eyes burn with tears. I was ready to write this whole city off—cut ties with my family and never turn back. But Alana needs me.

She needs me. I can't leave her like this. I'm the one who dragged her into this and nuked her life, and now it's up to me to protect her and keep her safe.

I shoot a text that I'm coming and ask her to share her GPS location and within twenty minutes, I’m there, pulling up along the curb where I see her dark form silhouetted against the backdrop of lingering snow piles. She's shivering, staggering to the car in snow boots and a long, rose-colored pea coat. I unlock the door as she approaches, and she slides in, dumping her bag in my back seat.

"My God, it’s so fucking cold," she says, teeth chattering, and as I pull away from the curb, I turn the heat all the way up for her.

"What's going on? What happened?" I'm picturing some bloodbath in her house after Nikolai got her home. He was as angry as my father, but I'm lucky enough to have had my own place. My father didn't get a chance to lecture me, but I've no doubt he's sent men to come after me now, if for no other reason than to drag me back to his place to scream at me. But of all of my imaginations, that's the nicest one. I'm sure he'll not be so kind if he actually catches up to us.