Prima

Clara shook her head, reaching out to touch him once again. “I don’t blame you, or you,” she added, turning to include me. “I might have been living, but I wasn’t truly living if you know what I mean.”

“We do,” I assured her, easily understanding that “looks” were what truly mattered to Kosloff. He’d been fine with Clara’s leaving when her career was already in the toilet and her disappearance fed the tabloids, pointing to her guilt at being the one to hurt Lara. But now that news had spread about her triumphant return to the stage, he wanted Prima back on his arm.

Well, tough shit. Clara was mine.

“We can’t change the past. All we can do is work together to figure out a way to assure we all have a chance to live in peace doing what we love to do,” I said.

“And that includes me continuing to pretend all is okay,” Clara reminded us both. “Nikolai can’t even think anything is wrong or he’ll teach me a lesson I won’t be able to live with. I left when I thought he’d arranged for Lara to have an “accident.” Knowing the truth… knowing he wouldn’t hesitate to hurt Baba or kill either one or both of you, I can’t live with that. I’d rather die.”

It took everything I had within me to nod, though I did understand. “All right, but promise me you’ll call me the moment you get free of him,” I said.

She looked away then sighed and met my eyes. “I will, but it might be tomorrow…”

It wasn’t necessary for her to finish her sentence, the meaning perfectly clear to all of us. I bit back my anger. “Just call me.”

“If you’re sure you want me to,” she said softly, shame returning some color to her skin.

“Don’t… it’s all right,” I said even though that was so far from the truth I couldn’t let the statement stand. “Fuck, that’s a lie, nothing about this is even remotely all right, but you are not to feel ashamed of doing what is necessary to survive. It sucks, but it’s all we can do right now. While you’re gone, Yuri and I will come up with a plan, okay?”

“Okay,” she said, and this time when I reached out to cup her face with my hands, she didn’t flinch or pull away. Instead, she repeated, “Okay.”

“I’ll walk you out,” I said, bending forward to kiss her forehead before standing and going to the door. “I’ll be back in a minute,” I told Yuri who nodded.

“Be careful,” he said to Clara.

“I will,” she assured him before we stepped out into the hall. It was a promise I wasn’t sure she could keep, but I was praying she could hold it together for at least one more day.

Before I opened the door that would take her outside, I pulled her to a stop. “I’m serious. If you don’t feel safe, or if you fear Nikolai knows you’ve shared his confession, you get somewhere safe and call me. I won’t relax until I know you’re safe. In the meantime, I’m going to call Babka and invite her to dinner to meet Yuri.”

Relief flooded her eyes and had me swearing to myself that absolutely no harm would come to Olga… not on my watch.

“Thank you,” she said.

“No need for thanks, remember?” I said, bending down to kiss her softly. She nodded though I wasn’t sure she actually took my words to heart. That was fine; she’d learn I didn’t say things I didn’t mean. I watched as she slipped out the door, making another promise.

I’d do whatever it took to assure Nikolai Kosloff was out of her life as soon as humanly possible. How I’d keep that promise I couldn’t yet say, but I was willing to bet my life on my ability to assure the words became the truth.29Alek“You’ve got one shot at convincing me you have some sort of plan that avenges our father.”

The statement was the first thing I heard as I stepped back into my office. “Or what?” I shot back. “You’re going to go off half-cocked and get yourself killed?” I knew I should have regretted my words, but I didn’t. Still, I sighed and went to drop heavily into my chair behind my desk. “Look, I understand you’re pissed. I am, too, but fighting each other isn’t going to do any good. We need to work together if we’re going to get through this as unscathed as possible.”

“Like you’ve been working with me for the benefit of the company?” he said, his anger palpable. “I told you this would happen, I warned you to stay away from her, and what do you do? You not only don’t listen, you’re fuck—”

I was up and out of my chair before he could finish, my hands gripping his shirt, my face an inch from his. “Don’t!” I gritted out. “Don’t you ever let me hear you so much as hint that any of this is Clara’s fault. It’s my fault. It’s your fault. It’s Kosloff’s fucking fault, but Clara is absolutely innocent of any blame. She was a kid when she fell prey to that bastard and still had the courage to walk the fuck away. She had rebuilt her life and, instead of puttering in her garden or teaching kids how to dance, she is doing only God knows what in order to keep her grandmother safe… to keep us safe though we are the ones who dragged her back into this fucking mess.” Releasing him, I added, “You can kick my ass when this is done if that will make you feel better, but right now, I’m asking you to get off your fucking high horse and help me figure out a way to get her out of that bastard’s hands.”