And Gavril. My heart burned painfully in my chest as I thought about my husband, now frantic about his best friend’s death and my disappearance, all in the midst of a war that he never should have had to fight. If he had married Sveta, the right Sveta, he wouldn’t be in the position he was in. I looked at my wedding ring, the way that the band sparkled in the low lighting of the bathroom, and thought about taking it off.
It stood for nothing, right? Now that the secret was out, I wasn’t really married to Gavril at all.
With the weight of the world on my shoulders, I took off the ring, removed the delicate necklace around my neck, and slid the ring onto the necklace for now. If we got out of this alive, Gavril and I would have to discuss the future. We hadn’t made any promises to each other in those final moments together, and while I hoped he could feel the intense way I felt about him, I wasn’t so sure.
Gavril clearly believed that he was unlovable, and while there were things that he did that I didn’t agree with, it didn’t mean I didn’t love him.
After splashing some water on my face to erase the traces of tears down my cheeks and attempting to fix my hair, I stepped out of the bathroom and walked to the kitchen, where the older couple were sitting at their table, cups of coffee before them. “I have a friend coming,” I said, my voice sounding steadier than I felt. “She’s a cop.”
Mary clucked her tongue and rose from her seat, gesturing for me to take it. “Sit and let me get you some coffee, dear. You look like you could use a strong cup.”
“Strong means she burns the beans,” Clyde added with a wink, causing me to smile. “She doesn’t know how to use that fancy machine she has.”
“I can hear you, you know,” Mary chided her husband as she pressed a few buttons on the coffee machine. “And you bought this for me, you rascal.”
Their banter was cute, like a young couple, and I smiled through the hurt, wondering if that could ever be me and Gavril in the future. I shouldn’t want a future with him. I should beg for him to let me go, but if he did, then he would be taking my heart with him. I couldn’t leave him any more than he could leave me at this point. “How long have you been married?” I asked, wanting to know.
Clyde cleared his throat. “Fifty-five years. She married me straight out of school and right before I was shipped off to Vietnam.”
“What he means to say is that he wasn’t going to leave me here without his last name,” Mary added, placing the steaming cup before me along with sugar and a small amount of cream in a silver pot. “He declared that he didn’t want to come back and see me wed to someone else.”
“I didn’t think I was coming back at all,” Clyde responded, reaching up to clasp her hand in his. The look of utter devotion they gave each other nearly made me burst into tears. They had overcome the odds in their lives.
Why couldn’t we? At the first opportunity, I was going to get Ilsa to help me get back to Gavril. He needed me. In his misguided attempts to keep me safe, he had only exposed himself even more, and now he didn’t even have Anatoly to protect him.
He needed me at his side, and I needed to be there. Our very future depended on it.
The doorbell rang suddenly, and Clyde slowly rose from his chair. “I will get it.”
“Drink up,” Mary urged with a gentle smile once her husband left the kitchen. “Lord knows you might need it.”
I drank a few sips of the burnt coffee, hoping that it was Ilsa that had come and not Jon. I wanted nothing to happen to this precious couple.
A moment later, Ilsa appeared in the doorway, and I held back a sob as her keen eyes raked over me. She had put on her police uniform, complete with a shiny gun at her side, but it couldn’t hide the fact that she was visibly pregnant, the buttons straining over her bulging stomach.
Still, I knew she could throw down any day. “Naomi,” she breathed, her lips parting and her eyes wide as if she couldn’t believe I was sitting at this table.
“These are Clyde and Mary,” I offered up as I rose to my feet. “They have been very kind in helping me.”
Ilsa got over her initial shock and drew to her full height, which wasn’t much. “You have my thanks. I can take it from here.”
“Are you sure?” Mary asked, concern evident in her voice. “Don’t you have to take our statements or something?”
Ilsa turned on a bright smile. “Of course not. We have already found her car and will get Naomi checked out at the local hospital just to make sure. You were very kind in helping her.”
Her voice was like smooth honey, and I could see some of the worry easing from the woman’s eyes. Ilsa could be very convincing when she needed to be. “I will be fine,” I assured them, clasping my hands over my chest. “Thank you so much for everything you have done for me.” I would find a way to repay them one day.
Ilsa grasped my elbow, and I said goodbye to the couple before she led me out to a sleek tinted sedan. “Don’t worry,” she whispered as we approached the passenger side. “I’ll send a few guys to watch their house for a couple of days in case that asshole shows up.”
“Thank you,” I murmured, looking back one more time to wave at the couple on the doorstep before climbing in. The inside climate was cool and smelled like leather, but having lived with a Mafia boss for the last few months, I could tell that it was one of the private cars that Roman likely used and not an actual police car.
Ilsa maneuvered herself behind the steering wheel before shutting the door and huffing out a breath. “Goddamn, that used to be easier back in the day.” She looked over at me. “Are you like actually okay, or do you need to go to the hospital?”
I shook my head, barely keeping it together as it was. “I’m fine.”
She eyed me before putting the car into drive. “You don’t look fine, but we will save that conversation for later.”
I released a breath as she drove away from the house and down the street, realizing that my hands were shaking. I was leaving. I was getting away, and now I was with someone who had the means to help me get back to Gavril.