Four Broken Pieces ✓

Forty Nine

I stared at her for several moments trying to process exactly what I was seeing. My brain seemed to have short-circuited. There was no way. She'd been with Robert the last time I'd seen her. In all my rush to get to Ivan's mother, I'd forgotten about my own. This was all my fault. I heard Mikhail's gasp, Ivan's outrage as he screamed at his father and Alexei whispering in my ear, telling me it would be okay and that he'd get us out. I didn't understand how he'd manage that. We were going to die.

My mother would die with us because I'd been foolish enough to get involved in this without understanding the consequences. She didn't belong here. My fault. All my fault.

Everyone's voices that tried to comfort me turned to background noise. Everything had faded the moment they'd dragged her into the room. My mother. The woman who broke me into pieces, who I loved more than anything in the world, and who'd finally found happiness stood before me with matted hair, a nasty bruise around her eye and the bleakest expression I'd ever seen her wear. I'd put that expression on her face.

I still couldn't quite believe she was standing before me. I should've known, should've tried to find a way to keep her safe.

Bait. Of course Ivan's father would have more bait up his sleeve. I could practically feel the smug happiness that radiated off him because he believed he'd won. As if we hadn't been defeated enough before, we surely were now. I thought I'd stopped caring before. My heart had become a black hole in my chest. I'd been waiting for death to claim me.

And now I wanted it a thousand times more as the men behind my mother forced her to her knees. I begged for unconsciousness when her pleading blue eyes met mine with agony and desperation. I was going to drown in my guilt if anything happened to her. It would be the finally nail in the coffin.

The smallest part of me hated the fact that even now, even with the wound in my side, her blue eyes were only pleading one thing from me.

Get me out. Please get me out.

Not us. Me. She'd never place me first like I always did. I forgave her for that though, like I always did. She was afraid so of course she would place herself first. She had a lot to lose in this life, a dream, a future husband, everything. I already felt like I was dying anyway after everything that had happened today. It was only a matter of time for me. My mother's lower lip was trembling in an effort to keep in her tears as Ivan's father came to stand in front of her. He gave her a long, hard look before turning to me. The room had turned dead silent now other than the occasional whimper from my mother. In the shock of seeing my mother, I hadn't realized that Alexei was now bearing my whole weight in his arms as I sagged against him. He was frozen at my side and I was positive he wasn't breathing as Ivan's father came closer to me.

I could see the devil lurking in those eyes and red-hot fear seared through my blood. I knew what he was going to do. I could see the gears spinning in his brain as he glanced between my mother and I, and then to a gun.

"No, no." I was whimpering like a coward as I backed into Alexei even further. He held me tight against him but he couldn't save me now. No one could. We were like putty in his hands and he had us exactly where he wanted. I would pay for not listening to Ivan and running away as far as I possibly could while I still had the chance.

"I know you said you'd be willing to sacrifice your life for my son but what about your mother? Would you kill her? An innocent?"

He stepped aside as he finished. My mother lifted up her face to meet mine and there was so much fear in them. She shouldn't die for the mistake I made but if I caved now all of this would be for naught. Our struggle would be in vain. That man that had died protecting me would have died in vain and as ridiculous as it sounded, we had to focus on the greater good.