Page 83 of The Mad Don
“Mondi,” I say. “Where is he? My brother?”
That body- it wasn’t my brother? Was it? But I am scared to ask.
I clear my throat and ask. “How is Giovanni?”
He looks at me. “Didn’t you shoot him?”
I look away. I hate Giovanni. I do. And the memory of the trigger won’t sit right with me because pulling it hurt worse than the bullet would have.
“He’s fine,” Kirill says.
I swallow. He takes my good hand.
“Annika and the little one fly to Australia tomorrow. You go with them.”
“Kirill, I?—”
“It’s an order. You’re not working. It’s a vacation. You go, and you rest.”
“My brother —”
“I’ll handle it. I promise you. But you go with Annika first.”
I look at the blanket. I don’t know anything. My eyes go around the room like there’s an answer written on a wall somewhere.
“Trust me,” he says. “This once.”
My head splits with pain. I nod instead of speaking. I have nothing else left to hold but trust, so I lie back as he stands.
After another day, they let me go.
Annika helps me put on clean clothes that aren’t mine, and we drive straight to the airport. Annika holds my arm the whole way. Dimitri walks ahead, chattering about an ice castle, a moat, and a dragon with three heads as we wait for our flight. Beside us are two of Kirill’s men in plain clothes. Annika’s phone rings, and she lifts Dimitri onto her hip.
“Wait here, okay? Don’t move.” She gives a nod to the guard. “Have your eyes on her.”
I couldn’t run if I wanted to. I bow my head into my hands. The ache won’t ease. It just sits there.
“Sestra.”
Sister.
My head bobs up to see a young man running toward me. He drops down, and his arms come around me, and he holds on like he’ll fall if he doesn’t.
“Sestryonka… eto pravda ty.”
Sister. It’s really you.
I feel rigid as I look at his face. It’s familiar, and it isn’t. It used to be smaller, rounder, soft. It isn’t soft anymore.
“Who are you?”
“It’s me, Christov.”
A tear runs down his face.
I pull back. “What — What —”
What cruel prank is this?
