We get out and Yuri throws the duffel across his chest and then wraps an arm around my waist, leading me towards the parking garage next to the apartment. It takes me a minute to adjust to the darkness inside, but once I do, Yuri begins gesturing to cars, letting me have my pick.
“I don’t care,” I say. “Whichever one you want.”
He raises his brows in surprise and then turns towards our options, lips pouted in thought. Then his face lights up and he points towards the row of cars to our right. “What about that one?”
It’s a rust bucket if ever I’ve seen one. The metal is so eaten away that it’s hard to tell what color the car was originally and the back window is patched over with a quilt of tape, cardboard, and plastic tarping. Just looking at it makes me want a tetanus shot.
I wrinkle my nose. “Absolutely not.”
“I thought you didn’t care,” he teases, elbowing me in the side. “Come on. It’s your first time. Just pick one.”
I turn to him, finger wagging. “It’s also my last time. I’m only stealing a car now because our lives depend on it. Don’t think you are turning me into a criminal.”
He holds his hands up in surrender. “I wouldn’t dream of it. Now, please, pick one.”
I scan the lot for a moment before my eyes land on a silver sports car in the back. It has black stripes moving diagonally across the sides and chrome wheels. Yuri follows my gaze and whistles. “You have expensive taste.”
“We can pick another one,” I say, feeling self-conscious for some strange reason.
“No.” Yuri presses a hand into my lower back and ushers me towards the car. “What my lady wants, my lady gets.”
I’m embarrassed by how much I’m tripped up by his casual use of “my lady.” Am I his lady? Is he my man? The questions plague me enough that the next thing I know, he’s opening the passenger side door for me, beckoning me into the white leather interior with a strong arm.
The car isn’t the nicest one I’ve been in, but the thrill of being in it without permission excites something in me I didn’t know existed. Guilt flares up in me like a fire, but it’s doused the moment Yuri pulls out of the alley and steps on the gas. The car purrs beneath us, sending butterflies into my stomach, and I can’t help but laugh.
“It’s nice to hear you laugh,” Yuri says, reaching across the console and grabbing my hand. “After you found out the truth about your dad, I wasn’t sure I’d ever hear it again.”
I squeeze his hand back and do my best to keep smiling, but the mention of my dad sours things a bit. Finally, when I can’t resist any longer, I let go of his hand and continue asking questions. “How do we know we have the right impression of my dad?”
“What do you mean?” Yuri asks, placing both hands on the steering wheel.
“I mean,” I say, trying to find the right words. “You know my father was meeting with The Society, but what if he felt he didn’t have another choice? What if he only met with them in secret because they figured out he was a mole and were threatening him?”
Yuri thinks about it for a few seconds, and I appreciate him not immediately dismissing the theory. Then he surprises me. “We don’t technically know where he is right now, so that is a possibility.”
“You have no clue where he is?” I ask. I kind of thought they were just telling me that so I wouldn’t try to run away and reach out to him. But if they really don’t know where he is, how do I know he’s even still alive? The thought lodges in my throat and makes my eyes water. I fight back tears.
Yuri shakes his head. “That’s why we grabbed you. We thought threatening you would catch his attention. If The Society has figured out what his role in all of this was, he could be in serious danger.”
A tear rolls down my cheek before I can stop it, and I wipe it away quickly. “Why didn’t you tell me any of this sooner?”
“Because I didn’t want to worry you,” he says. “I figured either we would find him alive and everything would be as we suspected, or we would find him dead, and we’d deal with it then.”
A surprised sob breaks out of me, and Yuri twists in his seat, sending the car swerving into oncoming traffic before he quickly corrects it. “Shit. I’m sorry, Bella. I didn’t mean your dad is dead. The fact that we haven’t found him yet means he’s probably still alive. As you saw back at the hotel, The Society aren’t great at keeping a low profile. They prefer kicking down doors and turning people into Swiss cheese. If your dad was dead, we would have found him by now.”
My heart is still thundering, but his words actually calm me. “Are you telling me the truth?”
Yuri reaches across the console and squeezes my knee, his thumb brushing fire across my skin. “I’ll always tell you the truth from now on. Like you said, we’re in this together.”
“Thank you,” I say, laying my hand over his. “I just wish I could be more helpful. So far, I feel like a burden.”
“No one expects you to take out trained assassins, Bella,” Yuri says. Then, he pauses. “But if you do have any idea where your dad might be hiding out, that would be great.”
“I don’t have a clue,” I say. “I always thought he was either at home or at his office. Now I know he had this whole secret
