24. DANYA

I stood soaked in blood.

The guns came with limited ammunition. So, I opted for a knife.

My fingers ached from the grip on the handle of the sharp fish knife. It was usually used for filleting fresh fish and making sure you got all the bones out. I used it to slice into the throats of Mikhail's armed guards standing around, acting like they already owned this place.

They probably did. I realized that everything I thought was true about my family had been a lie. We were as Mikhail had said, sitting on the shoulders of the Sokolov family, propped by their money to make us look big and vicious.

The last man had fallen in front of the bedroom door. Relief swelled in my chest. I wiped a bloodied hand against the white shirt and tugged it, popping the buttons. I opened the door to see my father, uncle, brother, and brother-in-law standing around in their suits, like they were still willing to go ahead with this forced marriage. "I ran out of bullets," I said. "They're all dead."

"What?" My father scoffed. "What have you done?" Spit coming out of his mouth. "Danya. Who did you kill?"

"All of them," I said, wiping the side of the knife on my shirt sleeve and then bringing it to my face like a small mirror. "Except for Mikhail and Anastacia. But I learned something. And maybe you know what I'll say, but before I do, I'm out. All of this. I'll make my own name."

"Stop being dramatic, Danya," my brother scoffed. "You want a thank you for maybe starting a war, or something. Our family will not survive this."

I stared at our father, the same strong, stone-faced expression. "Nobody leaves the family."

"I do," I said. "I'm done. Mikhail told me he set this entire thing to get a foothold here. I don't know why he couldn't go the immigration route; his family has the money."

"Dirty money," my uncle said.

"They asked you if Ana could marry me five years ago," I said. "You said no."

"Your mother said no," he revealed. "I was all for your marrying a woman. I was all for having you get your life right and being more useful than someone who people fear on the street. Eventually, everyone turns against the people they fear."

My jaw tensed. I wiped the other side of the blade on my sleeve. "I did what was needed. I did what I had to do to prove myself. So, I made myself feared. You wouldn't understand what it's like to be me. You're so absorbed in the past, in Russia, in everything you hate but cling to about your old life, you can't even understand what is happening here, now, and with your own children."

There was a moment of silence as we all exchanged glances. Lev looked out of place.

"Mikhail stole his own money from us, and then used me as the scapegoat he needed to pay for what had happened," I stated. "Forcing me into marrying his sister. But it's not happening anymore. He's in the pit, he took one too many shots of that cleaning vodka. You can keep him there if you want, or you can kill him, or free him, I do not care, because I've washed my hands with everyone now. Look. See, my final act was to save you." A wide grimace crossed my lips. "And it feels good. Arkady, you taught me well." I glanced into the metal of the knife once more.

"Nobody leaves the family," my father repeated himself.

"Except today they do," I said. "You're all for show. Propped on Sokolov money. Keep them around, save their lives, make them owe you. But they're ruthless, they killed their father in cold blood."

I was done. I'd been done for a while.

Flashes of memories came to me, solidifying my decision to leave.

My father had tried to get me to sleep with a sex worker when I was sixteen because I'd felt comfortable enough to come out, and I'd never been someone who had struggled with the conflict of what I was. The conflict only came when my father beat me, followed by training with my uncle, who also beat me in his attempts to make me tougher.

More flashes of their snarled faces, their hushed voices, all conspiring with the idea that they were talking about me. And then the first time I was caught with a guy in my bed, my father threatened him, a gun to his head. I moved out the week later.

In a way, it almost felt like what I imagined dying felt like, memory flashes, echoes of voices, the idea of not walking into the light.

And the electricity came back on.

Once I was turned. I wasn't looking back.

I headed out the hallway, then downstairs to the foyer. I grabbed a set of keys from the mantle by the door. It wasn't my car, but it would do to get me back home. I reached a hand into my pocket and felt the USB. There was nothing left for me in this place. Everything I needed was out there, and hopefully waiting for me back at the apartment.

My mother raced out of the front door as I was leaving.

"Danya, where are you going?"

I turned for her to see me covered in blood. "The wedding is off," I told her. "I love you. Take care of them. They're gonna need you."

Placing a hand over her heart, she stared at me. "Are you coming back?"

I couldn't leave her like that. I approached her, seeing the tears in her eyes. "I don't know," I said. But I've got to do this alone now." I gave her cheek a kiss, pressing a little blood to her skin. "I love you."

There was no time to waste.

Footsteps thudded behind me. My cue to take off in the SUV I had the keys for.

Showing emotion in my family never happened. The most emotional thing anyone ever did was kill someone, because anger was the only accepted emotion. My father had said anger is the emotion of progress, you can't do anything properly unless you're provoked into it. I wonder if he thought of that now that I was provoked into leaving this family behind.

It was getting darker as I headed to the apartment.

I didn't have my phone on me, so I couldn't text Sutton, but since I'd seen him getting away, I knew he was properly there waiting for me. Or maybe he'd packed and gone somewhere else after I wasn't the one who saved him.

Either way, I needed to see him. I needed to tell him what Mikhail had said about the money being taken for the sole purpose of forcing me into marriage with his sister. Sutton was collateral, and I'd almost done something that could never be taken back when we first met.

Sutton was the reason a pit of emotion opened in my stomach, and I wondered if he had a similar pit of feelings there too. It was a nice feeling, scary almost, like standing on the edge of a cliff, waiting to free dive into water, without knowing if it was shallow, or deep.

The door of my apartment was ajar, a slither of light spilled out onto the hallway. I didn't know what that meant, but I didn't like the idea that someone could've got into my beloved collection of toys.

Slowly, I pushed open the door. There was the clicking of computer keys. It was music to my ears.

"I'm so glad you're—"

At the breakfast bar, an older woman with intense green eyes and her blond hair in a bun turned around to me. "I've been waiting for you, finally," she grumbled, rolling her eyes at me. "I've narrowed his location, you're gonna have to—" She sighed. "You're gonna have to change first. Please. And then you'll have to go out and find him. But I've got an idea where he might be in this area."

"I—I'm sorry," I said, taken aback by her. "And who are you?"

"Do you have to ask me that?" she grumbled. "I thought you saw the images on the thumb drive." She held out her hand. "Which I'll gladly take from you now."

"Wait. Wait. Are you—no."

"Go on," she said, her eyes rolling again. "I can see that brain working overtime. Say what you see."

"Sutton's mother."

"And the person who pushed you two together," she said. "I thought for a second you would kill each other. But I've been behind the scenes all his life pushing him into things that are good for him. And—I suppose a little dangerous, but I know he takes after me, so he must like a little danger."

"Hi," I said. "What's going on?"

"I don't know how much you know about me, and I don't believe he knows anything about me," she said. "I'm Petra. And before you say anything, I didn't abandon my son. I'll get into that once we rescue him. Ok?"

"Rescue him?"

"Yes," she snapped. "Keep up. What happened? Did someone hit you on the head? Yes. I need you to save him."

It was a lot to take it, but the moment I knew it was Sutton's mother, I realized they shared a lot of the same sassy similarities. "Ok, so I've narrowed his location based on the footage I scraped from street cameras. I followed him all the way from your house, where I cut the power. You're welcome for that."

"You cut the power?"

"Duh," she scoffed. "Those images weren't for you to see. But now that you have, I'd like them back. Over twenty years since I've seen those baby pictures."

I reached into my pocket and handed over the thumb drive. "So, why was this in a sandwich?"

She shrugged. "Not my move. That was my sister, Maura. She tried to get me out in the open with this as bait. She's been using Sutton as bait for years, but every single time, I manage to get something in the way of it."

There were so many questions, but before I could throw any of them out at her, she shooed me off to change out of my bloodied clothes.

I knew little about Sutton. He was guarded, and with reason. He didn't have a mother or father. He grew a thick skin from being in the system. And he learned to hack from Maura, who I now realize is his aunt. I wondered how much of it he even knew.

In a nice pair of gray slacks and a clean white shirt, I felt renewed. I walked out of my room to see Petra with tears in her eyes, slowly tapping on the keys. She was looking through the pictures.

"My biggest regret is not having been able to take him with me," she said. "But I'm back in the city now, and I'm ready to take him with me."

"Wait. No. Where have you been?"

"Somewhere someone who stole a lot of money can be without raising red flags," she said, wiping the tears from her eyes. "I'm not even supposed to be here, but Sutton's name was raised quite a bit on some Russian backchannels. So, I burned some of my forged documents, took two boat rides, three flights, and found myself back in a city that hasn't changed."

I didn't want to pry into her personal life. "Let's find him then," I said.

"Ok," she said, wiping the tears from her face. "I have a comms kit. Put the earpiece in and I'll guide you. But you'll have to be prepared. Once I'm in my sister's system, she'll be coming for me, and possible Sutton. But I'll have her exact location then."

Nodding. I understood what was at stake. A lot of it was the same. But I didn't want her to take Sutton when I was open to exploring something with him. It felt like a cruel punishment. But I was ready to help no matter the cost to save him.