“Babulya made sure I would be well cared for in her absence,” I assured Sergei with a wobbly smile.
I wondered if this was why she had asked for her death to remain private. Had she been afraid of me meeting this side of the family? It said a lot that she was willing to give up a traditional Russian funeral. My babushka was very old fashioned, and she was proud of our Russian heritage.
I saw a flicker of amusement in his eyes. “Very well. I will give you my contact information. Perhaps I can find you a nice Russian husband? I know quite a few good men who would be pleased to have a beautiful ballerina.”
My breath caught when he so casually mentioned ballet. Just how much did he know about me? Babulya wouldn’t have told him anything. Had he checked into me after her death? Or had he been watching both of us for longer?
“Ivan?” He motioned to one of his men, who pulled out a card and laid it in Sergei’s outstretched hand. Sergei then handed the card to me and gave me one last searching look before saying his goodbyes.
Sergei’s men trailed behind him, and I shivered as Ivan passed by me last. He had a large, ornate knife he tucked under his belt, and he fondly caressed it before tugging his jacket back in place to hide it. Creepy.
All four men had slight bulges in their coats that could only indicate weapons – these men were dangerous. I wanted to get out of here as quickly as possible and never see any of them again. While the Italian Mafia might kill a man and send flowers to his wife the next day, the Russians would kill you, your spouse, your children, grandparents, and neighbors. They were brutal and didn’t hesitate to eliminate threats immediately.
I kept my posture stiff as I walked back over to Ryan and his parents. I didn’t look back at my newfound ‘family.’ Human trafficking and forced prostitution were a part of the Bratva’s sources of income. While Sergei might claim to be family, I wouldn’t trust him to have any real loyalty to me. I planned on staying very far from him. It made me worry just how much he knew about me and how little I knew about him. However, the best thing I could do was get far away from him and forget we ever met.
Ryan gave me a kiss on the forehead before he helped me into the back of the car, which helped to remind me that I wasn’t really alone. Ryan and I weren’t related by blood, but we were family. I’d rather have Ryan and his loving parents over a Russian mobster who claimed to be related to me by blood. Sergei probably wouldn’t hesitate to sell me if the price was right.
I closed my eyes and leaned back in the seat, trying to close the door to the maelstrom of emotions that I had unwittingly released. I needed to stuff down all of my crazy so that I could keep going and live my life, just like Babulya would have wanted me to.
I kept my eyes closed for the majority of the ride, and not even the blaring horns, shouts of angry drivers, or the cacophony of roadwork machinery could reach the deep place in my mind that I had gone to. The only thing that broke through my concentration was Ryan’s voice.
“KitKat? We’re home. Dad is going to let us out here so he can return the car.”
I opened my eyes to see Ryan peering at me, trying to pretend that he wasn’t evaluating me for insanity.
I gave him a weak smile to try to ease his mind.
“I’m okay,” I said quietly. “I think I just need some sleep.”
Ryan nodded and helped me up the stairs, and then into his room where I collapsed in the bed. He climbed in right after me, pulled the covers over both of us, and snuggled up to me. Knowing that I was safe in his arms, I sunk down into the darkness that had been waiting to swallow me whole.
Chapter 2
Katya
I slumped down on the seat next to Ryan, and we leaned up against each other to get as comfortable as we could on the subway. My entire body hurt. We were only a couple of months from our performance season, so in addition to all of our classes, we had been doing extra rehearsals to prepare. Every muscle in my body was aching, and my feet were a mess. I couldn’t wait to get home so I could slather myself with icy hot and dunk my feet in a bucket of ice water.
It was getting late on a Friday evening, so the crowd of commuters on the subway had thinned out. New York was always full of interesting people, but the subway on Friday and Saturday nights had some really unique characters. I ignored the group of college girls squealing in excitement over some bar they were headed to and rested my head on Ryan’s shoulder. I breathed a sigh of relief when the annoying girls got off, but that’s when I noticed the guy again.
I gave Ryan a nudge to get his attention, but he just grunted and didn’t bother to open his eyes. We always had to be aware of the people around us in the city, but I started watching even more closely after my interaction with Sergei in the cemetery. I cataloged
