Millie
My aunt has been gracious enough to let me work for her while I stay here, and owning a bakery of my own has made acclimating to this job extremely easy. Her small group of employees like me already, and I can see myself getting more comfortable here than I was expecting when I initially decided to come out here.
It’s finally time to close, and I’ve spent the last hour prepping for a catering order that was called in last-minute for a convention in the city. Even though it’s short notice, my aunt is all about the challenge, so she took it on and asked me to begin preparations for her.
The sun is setting outside, and I’m just about to start counting the cash drawer when I see a familiar face walk in that fills me with dread.
It’s Stepan.
I refuse to act kindly toward him. “Stepan, get the fuck out of here,” I growl, feeling like a cat that’s trying to make myself look bigger.
“I came all this way to tell you that Viktor forgives you. He wants you to come back,” he replies, his eyes reddened. His movements are jarring and unnatural, almost like he’s a malfunctioning robot in human skin.
“Oh yeah? Then why didn’t he come here to get me?” I ask incredulously. I know there’s absolutely no way that Viktor would send Stepan to come fetch me, especially not after we hadn’t spoken for a few weeks. He knows how much Stepan despises me, how uncomfortable he makes me.
“Don’t make this harder than it needs to be,” he replies, losing the agreeable, compassionate tone he had perfected as a cover for his complete lack of empathy.
“I need you to know right now that there is no fucking way that I’m getting into a car with you,” I affirm, standing up straighter and glaring at him. I know I don’t look mean, but I hate the idea of coming across as weak.
“How about now?” he replies, pulling a gun out of his pocket and pointing it directly at my head.
“You think that’s going to scare me again? You can’t just pull out a gun and expect me to do whatever you want, Stepan. Don’t be a child,” I say, shocked that I’m able to say such a thing in the face of potentially imminent death. To be honest, the gun feels more like a gimmick than anything.
“Oh? Let’s see how she feels about it,” he hisses, pointing the gun directly to the left of my head, aiming it at my aunt, who has emerged from the cooler to see what I was yelling about.
Seeing him threaten my aunt like that sends my body into a state of near delirium. Even if he had every intention of killing me, that would be my choice to antagonize him. If he actually killed my aunt out of spite for me standing my ground, I would never forgive myself.
“Fine, I’ll go with you,” I bark, pushing him out of the way as I angrily blow through the front door.
He follows close behind, secretly thrilled that he’s gotten me to come with him so easily. I can hear my aunt screaming inside, begging me not to go with him, and yelling for one of her employees to call the cops.
She has no clue how deep this situation runs. The police won’t help a goddamn thing. If anything, their involvement will only make it worse.
Outwardly I appear as an enraged woman who is willingly about to embark on an unknown journey with a man who is likely strung out on something. Inside, I’m panicking. How the fuck did he find me? Why is he here? He had gotten rid of me just like he wanted. I can’t imagine he loves drama that much.
“Hey!” I hear a pointed shout from across the parking lot.
It’s Viktor, and he has Nikolai right behind him. Why would he be with Nikolai if he thought he got me pregnant?
But more importantly, how did they find me?
I have no time to answer my own questions before I’m being shoved into the backseat of the car next to me. Stepan nearly bends me in half as I fight against him, crushing my head against the roof of the car before he finally succeeds in pushing me down.
He climbs into the car and starts it, pulling out of the parking lot so fast that I’m flung back down into the seat as I try to leverage myself against the door.
“You ruined my goddamn life, you fucking slut,” he growls, and this is the most I’ve ever heard Stepan address me at once in my life.
“What the fuck are you talking about? Nothing I’ve ever done has had anything to do with you, you selfish piece of shit,” I snarl back, smacking him in the back of the head in hopes of derailing him somehow. Even if a car crash puts me at risk, I’ll have a much better chance of escaping.
The car swerves into the oncoming lane, and I scream as Stepan reaches behind himself and grabs me by my hair, pulling me across the center console.
“You stole my daughter’s husband away! How fucking selfish are you?! How can you not see that they were supposed to be together?!” he continues shouting as he adjusts his grip on my hair, damn near pulling me into the front seat.
It hurts like hell, but I can’t let him think he’s winning. “Yeah? Well, he got me pregnant, not Katya, and there’s nothing you can do to change that!” I scream, aggressively writhing in an attempt to free myself from his grip.
Before I’m able to pull myself away completely, I hear a horrendous crashing noise coming from the back right of the car as it begins to spin uncontrollably in the middle of the road. I’m thrown into the side of the car, initially panicking that I’ve landed on my belly, but feeling more terrified of being thrown from the vehicle.
Everything happens in slow motion. I see the world outside blurring by in circles as the glass from the windshield flies through the air, scraping me across the cheek like a thousand razorblade kisses.
For a moment, I feel like I can see myself from above the car, watching it spin out into a cluster of trees on the wrong side of the road.
That’s when I blackout.
Am I dead?
NO, it’s not that easy.
I wake up completely disoriented, upside down in the front passenger seat with my head under the glovebox. My skull is throbbing, and I can feel blood pouring from my nose and down my throat.
I know better than to panic and struggle my way out of my position. I need to adjust myself in a safe way, assess my injuries, and wait for someone to assist me if possible. I can feel my cell phone in my bra still, by some miracle.
My ears are ringing, but I can vaguely hear shouting happening outside of the car.
First, I make sure that I can feel my legs before I proceed to free myself. I have no idea what condition the car is in, and I’m uncertain of whether or not I smell gas leaking.
Before I have the chance to finish my self-assessment, I feel myself being lifted aggressively out of my place, then dragged back across the console and nearly thrown on the pavement.
“Don’t move, or I’ll fucking kill her,” Stepan announces, pointing his beloved gun directly at my temple and holding me hard by the throat as I struggle to kick him.