I watched as Ivan disappeared into the crowded cafeteria blending seamlessly with the students milling about. My heart was racing and my mind still reeling from what had just transpired. I had said yes. I had agreed to leave with him, to run away from all of this-Judas, Lucius, the entire Romanovski world.
I should’ve felt relief, but instead, all I could feel was the heavy weight of dread settling over my chest like a shroud. I could still hear his words in my head. Two days. That was all it would take for us to escape. Switzerland, he said. A fresh start. Far from the claws of Judas and the webs he build around me.
But was it even possible? Could I really trust Ivan?
My fingers twitched, the memory of his touch still lingering, a ghostly warmth that contrasted with the cold, gnawing uncertainty gnawing at my insides. I glanced down at the table, the flash drive still sitting there like a mocking symbol of everything I thought I had accomplished. Ivan was right-this was a distraction. Judas knew. He always knew. And now, I was caught in a game far bigger than I had imagined.
But as I stood up, the cafeteria bustling around me, one thought began to take root in my mind, growing stronger with each passing second. I had to leave. Ivan’s offer might’ve been riddled with danger, but the thought of staying here, trapped under Judas’s suffocating control, terrified me more.
After attending whatever class I could, to stall more time in the university, so that I could think, the only conclusion I came up with was everything but staying with Judas.
It was evening before I could blink and I knew I had to face my nightmare.
I walked toward the gate where Kyle was waiting for me with quick steps and pounding heart. My thoughts kept drifting-two days, two days.
Judas wasn’t home when we reached the apartment and I was grateful. That was my only saving grace. His absence was a gift and a chance to prepare without his eyes boring into me, without the weight of his presence making my skin crawl. Only Kyle was at the apartment, and the moment we walked through the door, I felt his eyes on me, lingering too long, too cold.
Kyle was always calm, always composed. But something was different today. His gaze wasn’t just cold-it was suspicious, calculating, like he knew something was off. He didn’t say anything, didn’t ask any questions, but the tension in the air was palpable.
I forced myself to act normal, to keep my movements casual, though my heart was thrumming in my chest. I grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge, my hands shaking just enough for me to notice. I had to keep it together. I had to make it through the next forty-eight hours.
Kyle sat at the table, his eyes following me as I moved through the room. I could feel his presence like a shadow, oppressive, looming. He was too quiet, too still, and that only made the anxiety gnawing at me worse. I couldn’t trust him. Not anymore. He was Judas’s right hand-loyal to the end. Whatever plan they had, Kyle was part of it.
But I had my own plan now. In two days, I’d be gone.
I locked myself in my room that night, pretending to study, pretending that everything was fine. But in reality, my mind was racing, making mental checklists, preparing for the escape. Ivan had said he’d be ready, that all I needed to do was show up at the rendezvous point. He’d take care of the rest.
I should’ve felt reassured, but a part of me-deep down-knew that this wasn’t going to be easy. Nothing ever was with Judas. The man was a puppet master, pulling strings that I didn’t even know existed. And yet, there was no turning back now. I had committed to this. I would escape.
I was deep in my thoughts when I heard the front door opening and my heart dropped.
Judas was home, well past midnight. I could hear his footsteps as he entered the apartment, the familiar sound making my heart lurch. I stayed in bed, feigning sleep, hoping he wouldn’t come to my room.
But he didn’t. Instead, I heard his voice-a low murmur-speaking to Kyle in the living room. At first, they spoke in Russian, their words quick and sharp, too quiet for me to make out. But then, they switched to English soon unusual of them, and my heart skipped a beat.
I held my breath as their voices grew clearer, creeping through the thin walls of my bedroom. Every word felt like a knife twisting deeper into my gut. Judas’s voice, cold and devoid of any emotion, sent a chill down my spine. Like it always had. He was my ruin. My destruction and my death.
“Lucius is a loose end,” Judas said, his voice flat but laced with lethal intent. “He’s outlived his usefulness. I want him dead. Tomorrow.”
My eyes widened as the familiar name fell upon my ears. Lucius? Lucius Morozov?
“And his incompetent brother?”
There was a brief pause. I could almost picture Judas’s twisted smirk, his pale eyes glinting with cruel satisfaction. “The son of the bitch will be handled, too. Once his asshole of a brother is gone, the Morozovs will be vulnerable. We’ll strike them when they’re weak, cut off their heads and watch the rest fall apart.”
My fingers clenched the sheets beneath me, knuckles white as dread gnawed at my insides. Ivan. They were going to kill Ivan. I agreed to run away with him. My heart slammed in my chest. The very man who promised me escape was now marked for death.
“And the warehouses?” Kyle’s indifferent voice followed.
“Bombed,” Judas said casually, like he was planning a small party and maybe it was a party for me. Violence was in his veins and no one could convince me otheriwse. “We’ll set them ablaze. The entire operation. Morozov’s people, their resources, all of it… wiped out in one night. I cannot fucking wait anymore.”
A sudden wave of nausea hit me. My stomach churned violently as I struggled to keep my breathing steady. The warehouses… There were people there, innocent people. Families, workers who had nothing to do with the bloody war between Judas and the Morozovs. But to him, they were nothing more than pawns. Collateral damage.
Just like I was.
“Sacrifices, Molotov,” calm laced his stormy voice. “They need to be made. A few lives lost to secure our future is a price I’m more than willing to fucking pay.”
I bit down on my lip hard enough to draw blood, tears burning the back of my eyes. Sacrifices? To Judas, life meant nothing. It was just another tool to be discarded when it no longer served his purpose. And now he was willing to slaughter dozens, maybe hundreds, just to destroy the Morozov family.
I couldn’t stop the trembling that overtook my body. My breath came in shallow, ragged gasps as panic gripped me. What have I done? What was I about to get myself into?
Ivan had seemed so confident, so sure that we could escape. But how could I trust him now? How could I trust anyone in this hellish game of power and betrayal? My mind raced, dark thoughts swirling in a chaotic storm. I could feel the walls closing in, suffocating me, trapping me in Judas’s nightmarish world where cruelty and death were the only constants.
As their conversation droned on, I pressed my hand over my mouth, trying to suppress the sob that threatened to escape. I couldn’t do this. I couldn’t stay here.
But leaving seemed just as impossible. Ivan was a target. Lucius was doomed. The Morozov family would be obliterated. And what if Ivan was playing me, too?
My chest tightened with a heavy pressure settling over me as anxiety clawed its way up my throat. Judas would find out about my plan. He always found out. And when he did, I’d be next. He wouldn’t hesitate to kill me, too.
My heart pounded furiously in my ears, my thoughts spiralling into chaos. I had to run. I had to leave before it’s too late.
But how? With Judas and Kyle lurking in the next room, their merciless plans unfolding before my very ears, it felt like there was no way out. No escape from the claws of the Romanovski empire, no escape from Judas’s cold, psychotic grip.
As my breathing quickened, I clutched the sheets tightly, trying to ground myself, trying not to break. Forty-eight hours, Sera. Just forty-eight hours, and you’d be free.