Chapter 34

Katya clutched her cloak closer as she tiptoed, looking back severally to ensure no one was following her. Even with the gloves she wore, her fingers were trembling.

She stopped- out of nostalgia, to pet the dogs. They had gotten so used to her smell and presence that they did not bark anymore.
Even if they did, she doubted that anyone would hear. She’d done the cooking for the night by herself, thankful that Freya had to nurse her baby and recover after hours of grueling childbirth. It gave her enough leeway to add sleeping pills to their food.

The baby- a screaming red thing that took after his father (or so the other men said) was a blessing. And she was grateful that she at least got to hold him.

Even if it was only for a week. Because she had no idea what lay ahead, as the message had come two nights ago.


To save Michal and everyone he loved. To give herself to a man who went from being her father to a murderer.

He wanted her alone- the message said. If she did not want him to kill Michal and his family, including those loosely related to him, he wanted her to come home to papa.

He only wanted to see her. He would not hurt his daughter. He was not the criminal they were painting him to be.


Katya did not believe the message. She did not think her father could love her, and neither did she for once think that she would return alive. To her, he was a cold, brutal man who would kill anyone that stood in his way.

Or side with the enemy, which was what she did.

As she left the house and the surroundings, Katya spared a thought for Luyeva. For the only woman, she’d known since birth. Others were either a tiny part of her life or a part of something she came in brief contact with.

The last they heard about her was that she had gone to live with her brother. Apparently, the message she got was that Katya and her father had decided to relocate to Russia and no longer needed her services.

It hurt Katya that she could not tell the older woman the truth, but it was better if she remained with what she already suspected in the past and the fabricated lie of the present.


Michal…

Not knowing that she could fall in love, she had gone ahead to do the exact thing. She could not think of loving anyone else the way she loved him. Could not imagine what her life would have been had he not been hired by her father or offered to bring her to Russia.

The tears came unbidden. She might never see him again. Never get another chance to tell him how much she was in love with him and how happy he made her feel.

The time they had together seemed so short now- looking back. She would have loved a little more time, and glimpse into what their future could look like.








Katya shook her head.
Now was not the time to talk about what could have happened. This was happening because of her- whether Michal said so or not. Because the death toll and number of injured people wouldn’t be as large as it was, the message read.

Her father was only trying to get his father back from the man who took her. How did her life get to be so fucked up?


She reached a specific place and saw a car waiting for her. She knew that it was the car her father sent to get her because he said so in his text.

How was he so confident she would not show the message to Michal?



Before she got to the car, a door was already opened. She tried taking a look to see who it was and how many people were in the car, but her arm was yanked so hard she fell in, and the vehicle began to move.


Inside, the car was pitch black.

“Did my father send you?” She asked aloud, scared to reach out and touch whoever was seated to her left and right.

“Where are we headed?”
“Is my father in this car?”

She had to keep talking to reduce the panic closing around her throat. Despite the courage that took her out of the house and to the car, she was trembling.


After asking more questions without getting answers, she decided to wait it out and see.










She was roughly awoken by a hand shaking her shoulder, and Katya opened her eyes to bright light. Just a moment ago, she was awake, so how did she fall asleep?

Did they do something to her?

She glanced at the men she could see for the first time and shivered.
Was this the kind of company her papa kept? Men who had violence in their eyes and stared at her with undisguised intentions. If she had been brought as a hostage, rather than their boss’s daughter, she shuddered to imagine what would have been her fate.


She got out of the car on shaky legs and began to follow them into a building. She saw men, women, and children milling about, some stopping to stare at her with hatred and curiosity.

A child stopped to point and shout something in a language she couldn’t understand.


Then she was led into a large room and was left alone. Katya found her way to a corner, waiting for what would happen next. Then the door opened again.




“Katya. My baby,” she watched as a man, made his way to her, his arms open wide.

Papa.

No.

The man she thought was her father. Whose reason for keeping her away from Russia was because he did not want his troublesome daughter hanging around.

The man who took her from her mother. Who took her mother from her family. The man she’d come to hate.