I nod. “Yes.”
“Then you need to fucking trust me, and we need to go, right now. Do you understand?”
I nod, my head spinning as I try and take this all in.
“Good, get dressed, quickly.”
In the week since Viktor carried me half naked from my room to his, this has basically become my room too. Which means half of my clothes are already here. I throw on jeans and hoodie quickly while Nina glances outside through a slit in the shades.
“Okay, ready.”
She glances back at me and nods. “This way.”
She leads me through the lavish master bathroom and into Viktor’s closet. At the far end, she reaches inside and opens a little hutch and slides out an elegant tray of expensive looking watches. I stare as she reaches under it and clicks something. Suddenly, the wall behind the hutch slides open, revealing a spiral staircase down. Nina glances back at me and nods.
“This way.”
I don’t question her, I just follow. We dash down the staircase, down more than a few stories, into what must be the sub-basement of the house. At the bottom, a long stone-lined hallway disappears into the darkness. Nina points her phone’s flashlight down it and starts jogging. I swallow my fear and rush after her, until finally, I can feel air.
Quietly, Nina opens the wrought-iron gate at the end of the tunnel. She steps out and pulls me after her. I glance around and realize we’re standing in a thicket of trees at the very back of Viktor’s property, with a little dirt maintenance road running past us.
“Nina, what the hell happened?!”
Her face is grim as she glances at her cellphone. “Viktor’s contacts in the Chicago PD were only able to give him a three-minute warning. He made the call to go meet them at the front gate, giving the rest of us enough time to shred anything that needed shredding and get out.”
She looks up from her phone, her lips thin. “He’s being arrested on racketeering charges, guns, drugs, kidnapping…” her eyes narrow at me.
“Holy shit,” I breathe, whirling as my head spins.
“Oleg is on his way to get us. There’s a rendezvous elsewhere where we can meet up with Lev and plan the next move.”
I nod. But then I look at her curiously. “Why are you helping me?”
Nina frowns. “Because he loves you.”
My heart skips. My jaw drops as I blink. “What?”
Nina rolls her eyes. “I said because he loves you. Obviously.”
I blush, sucking my bottom lip between my teeth. “Nina, I—”
“I don’t hate you, Fiona.” Nina looks at me plainly. “I get the impression that you do, but I don’t.” She shrugs, smiling subtly at the corners of her mouth. “I think I kind of like you, actually. I’ve just been skeptical of you.”
I hold her eyes firmly with mine. “Because you’re in love with him.”
She smiles. And then she starts to laugh quietly. She throws her head back, shaking it and rubbing her eyes.
“Nina—”
“Because I’m his sister, Fiona.”
My jaw drops. “What?!”
“Well, half-sister.”
I stare at her. “Hang on, you’re—”
“Get back.”
She yanks me into the shadows of the trees as a Range Rover with the headlights off slowly rumbles down the dirt road. It stops about twenty feet away and blink the lights twice.
“That’s us. Come on.”
I’m still stunned as Nina drags me to the SUV. Oleg nods at me from the driver’s seat as we climb into the back seat. And then we’re off—first on dirt roads, then onto the highway back towards the city and away from the blinking lights.
And from Viktor.
“He found me eight years ago.”
Nina is looking out of her window at the city as we drive.
“I was in a group home in St. Petersburg. Our father—that’s Viktor and I’s connection—managed to abandon both of his kids. Viktor was looking for him, for answers, I guess. He was dead by then, but that search led him to me. He brought me back to the US, and I’ve been here with the organization ever since.”
I slowly shake my head. “You’re his half-sister…” I murmur incredulously.
She turns to look at me. “I love my brother, Fiona. But I am not in love with him,” she smirks. “Just protective of him.”
I groan. “Oh my God, I’m such an asshole. I really thought—”
“Yeah,” she grins. “I got that impression. And I’m the one who was a bitch to you.”
“Because you were looking out for him.”
“Always,” she nods.
The car pulls through some gates into a seedy looking warehouse and shipping area. We drive down until we get to two warehouses side-by-side with a few other black cars parked out front. At the front doors, two men with rifles nod when they recognize Oleg behind the wheel.
“This is a remote office of ours,” Nina explains as we step out. “Right now, it’s being used for—”
“Hey, I know her…” I frown when I see Dr. Turgenev, the woman who helped me with my ankle, stepping out of a car and into the first warehouse.
Nina pauses. “Viktor wasn’t sure about showing you this.”
“Showing me what?”
She frowns. “Come.”
The guards step aside for us, and Nina opens the door. Inside, there’s a small office area and another door.
“Nina, what is this?”
“Something you need to see.”
She opens the next door, and we step inside. Instantly, my heart jumps into my throat. The large space is built out into a kind of bunkhouse. There are dividing walls and rows of small but cozy looking beds and bunkbeds along one wall. On the other side, there’s what looks like a food pantry kitchen, with picnic tables. There’s also a big jungle gym, swings, a basketball hoop….
And children.
My heart swells as I stare at what must be two dozen kids of all different ages running around on the playground area, laughing and giggling with each other. Some are playing basketball. Others are sitting at table. Dr. Turgenev looks up from a little boy she’s kneeling in front of and waves at me.
“Oh my God,” I
