21. ISABELLA

Chapter 21

ISABELLA

“For the record,” I tell Temur, “this is a dumb fucking idea.”

“I know you feel that way,” Temur tells me. “But I promise you it’s for the best.”

“Olga isn’t me,” I point out the obvious. “The messenger isn’t going to speak to them.”

“How do you know?” Temur’s trying to be the voice of reason as he shadows me around my latest prison cell—the small three-bedroomed apartment above the women’s shelter in Toronto where I’ve been stuck for the past two days. “I thought Olga was very convincing as you.”

“That’s just putting another person at risk, and it’s stupid,” I point out.

“Olga looks similar to you, and she’s pregnant,” Temur tells me, ignoring my statement.

“Is that supposed to make me feel better about another pregnant woman taking my place?” I look at him in disbelief. “And don’t say it’s because she’s trying to find Urie. Because that just makes me feel even fucking worse, as his disappearance is also my fault.”

“No!” Temur holds up an index finger. “That is not how it sounded.”

“It sounded like Olga’s life is less important than mine, as is her child.”

“Can you just stop being so unreasonable for a few minutes.” Temur sighs. “We can go for a walk outside. Would that make you feel better?”

“You mean around the roof garden?”

“That’s outside,” Temur observes. “Look. As soon as Andrey and Sasha have found Lev and neutralized the threat…”

“You mean as soon as they find and kill Lev, then my life can just go on as normal,“ I translate the real meaning of his words. “But it’s not just Lev’s life though, is it?”

“Lev started all this shit,” Temur states.

“Did he?” My brow creases. “Or is he just another victim of this world you all live in?”

“Like it or not, princess,” Temur’s voice dips and his eyes darken, “this is the world you’ve always lived in as well. Deep in your heart you’ve probably always known something wasn’t quite right about your life.”

I gape at him in disbelief before punching him on his hard arm. “Fuck! It’s like punching a brick wall.”

“I work out,” Temur tells me. “A lot . Especially these past two days.”

“Oh, because I’ve been driving you crazy!” I sneer. “I’m not keeping you here.” I point at the exit. “There’s the door. Please let it hit you in the ass on the way out.”

“You’re such delightful company today.” Temur stands from the sofa and walks to the large glass door. I see him turn his head slightly as if listening to something. He pulls his phone out of his pocket. “Fuck!”

I know that fuck! It’s not the good fuck, it’s the get your fucking things together fuck fuck because there are gun-toting maniacs after me to get hold of my babies. I touch my stomach. I wonder if my mother pumped me full of her super serum, and now my babies are super babies and that’s why everyone wants them.

“Isabella!” Temur snaps. “Get a coat and your boots that allow you to jump over roofs. We have to move— now! ”

“I knew it was get your shit we’re moving fuck!”

I jump up from the sofa. I’m not even alarmed anymore. I’m more irritated with having to leave the nice, cozy, warm apartment and go into the freezing autumn Canadian weather, and I didn’t get to have my apple pie from Maggies.

“What about the women in the shelter?” My eyes widen. “No!”

I refuse to take the long coat and boots Temur is shoving at me. “There are women in this center.”

“They’re not going into the center,” Temur tells me. “They’re coming up the back. They can’t get into the shelter, remember?”

“Oh!” I nod. Of course. I shake my head. Fuck, my memory is like Swiss cheese.

I let Temur help me into the flak jacket that has been made especially for me, my coat, and I slip into the fur-lined boots my uncle apparently brought me from Russia. As I’ve put those on, Temur shoves the woolen hat onto my head.

“Do you have mittens to go with that?” Sarcasm drips off my tongue.

“No.” He shakes his head and pulls leather gloves from my coat pocket. “Gloves.”

As I’m sliding them on, Temur has already pulled the sunroom ladder down and scaled it to open the hatch to the roof garden. He slides down. “Up you go.”

“I hope you’re coming with me?”

“I’m right behind you,” he assures me. “You know the drill—keep below the balcony.”

“Yes!” I roll my eyes and climb the ladder, shivering when the blast of cold air hits me in the face. I crouch and crawl on my hands and knees below the balcony level. “This is getting so fucking old. If I was reading a book about my life, I’d be saying, fuck can’t you get to the point already.”

“Let me see if I can help you with that!” The deep, familiar voice makes me freeze as a large shadow falls across my path.

I look up into Lev Belov’s cool silver eyes and start to back up toward the sunroof, but he moves really quickly for a man who was supposedly cripple and needed leg braces a few days ago. Lev slams the hatch and locks it from the outside, ensuring Temur is trapped in there as the glass is bulletproof.

“While I do love the submissive stance and seeing you on your hands and knees at my feet,” Lev reaches down and yanks me to my feet, “we can look into that in a more comfortable place.” He winks. “Right now, you and I have a whole lot of catching up to do and someone to visit.”

“No.” I try to pull out of his grip, but it tightens on my arm. “I’m not going anywhere with you, you psycho! You killed my friend and your own father.”

I glare at Lev, my heart pounding with a mixture of anger and disbelief.

“My father was a fucker who was trying to kill me,” Lev tells me with a twisted smirk. “And Stacy…” He pauses, his expression shifting to one of mild disgust. “She was supposed to die a year ago. She’d outlived her purpose.”

“You son of a bitch,” I spit, my voice trembling with fury as I begin to struggle against the restraints. “She loved you.”

Lev lets out a long, weary sigh as if exhausted by the very concept. “Oh, Isabella,” he says, his voice dripping with condescension. “What is love, really?” He shrugs nonchalantly, the coldness in his eyes unsettling. “It’s just endorphins and brain chemicals causing people to do stupid shit. It’s a chemical weapon designed by a person’s own body.”

His words slice through me, cold and cutting. As he speaks, the realization dawns on me like a slow, creeping darkness. Lev’s dismissive attitude toward love, his calculated manipulation of everyone around him, and his ability to use and discard people like Stacy without a second thought—it all fits. He’s not just cruel; he’s something far worse.

I remember the psychology class my father forced me to take. There were papers I read about people like Lev. Sociopaths. People who can mimic emotions without ever feeling them. Charming, convincing, and utterly devoid of empathy. They manipulate and deceive, leaving behind a trail of emotional wreckage, and Lev is the perfect embodiment of that. Every interaction, every moment of apparent kindness—it’s all been a part of his game. He doesn’t see people; he sees pawns, tools to be used and discarded as he sees fit. Lev’s cold, calculating nature isn’t just part of who he is—it’s the core of his existence.

And I’m trapped here, face-to-face with a monster. Another horrific thought dawns on me. What if Lev is the monster my mother was referring to in her journal that Andrey told me about? He used to work with her in the lab and was interested in what she did.

Oh fuck! Did he somehow have my mother killed?

“You know, I thought your father had trained you better, Isabella,” Lev says, his voice cold as he pulls me along the rooftop. The wind whips around us, stinging my face. “I thought you’d know how to school your emotions, how to hide what you’re thinking. So either you never excelled at that, or you just don’t care that I can read every thought going through your mind.”

“Fuck you!” I spit, fury and fear battling within me as he drags me to the edge of the roof. He spins me around, forcing me to face him, my heels teetering on the brink.

“Oh, I’m sure we will, beautiful Isabella,” he murmurs, his eyes darkening with a sick desire as they rake over my body. “Well, once we’ve taken care of that nuisance growing inside you.”

“What?” I splutter, my heart pounding in my chest. “You wouldn’t dare—“

“Oh!” Lev laughs, the sound cruel and heartless. “You’d be amazed at what I’d dare.” He gives me a lecherous smile, one that makes my skin crawl. “Tell me, have you ever free fallen?”

“What?” My brow furrows in confusion, dread pooling in my stomach.

“You know, a free fall—like off a cliff, a rock face, or maybe even a building,” Lev says, his voice almost casual, before he shoves me with a force that knocks the breath out of my lungs.

I scream when the world tilts, the sky spinning above me as I plummet. The ground rushes up to meet me, my mind a blur of terror and disbelief. Thoughts flash through my mind, disjointed and frantic. My father’s face. My brother’s laugh. The life inside me that’s barely begun.

I’m going to die.

The cold wind whips past me, and then suddenly, impact—hard, but not the unforgiving pavement I’d braced for. The air rushes out of me as I hit a massive inflatable cushion, the kind used in stunts or rescues.

I’m not dead. I’m alive. The realization floods me with a mix of relief and shock, my body trembling uncontrollably. My heart pounds in my chest as I gasp for breath, my mind reeling from the terror of what just happened.

Lev’s cruel laughter echoes in my ears, chilling me to the core. I’m alive, but for how long? I barely have time to gather my thoughts before the cushion beneath me shifts violently. Lev’s weight slams into it, launching me back into the air.

“Woo!” Lev shouts, exhilaration dripping from his voice. “What a fucking rush.”

His large, beefy hands clamp around me, trying to drag me off the cushion. Panic surges through me, but my training kicks in. I let the bounce of the cushion propel me, using the momentum to my advantage. With a swift, brutal motion, I sink my teeth into his hand, the metallic taste of blood filling my mouth as he yanks it back with a curse.

“You crazy fucking bastard!” In the split second that follows, I twist my body, using every ounce of my gymnastic skill to spin and deliver a vicious kick to his face. Lev’s surprise registers just before the force of my kick sends him staggering back. I seize the moment, grabbing his gun and flipping off the cushion with a graceful somersault, landing in a crouch in the alleyway below. “That’s for pushing me off a fucking roof!”

A second guard lunges at me, but my instincts take over. I fire, the gun’s recoil jarring my arm as the bullet hits his leg, sending him crumpling to the ground. Without wasting a second, I take off, sprinting down the alley as Lev’s shouts echo behind me, taunting and threatening.

“There’s nowhere to go, Isabella!” he calls out, his voice laced with malice.

I round the corner, my heart pounding in my chest, only to see Stacy rushing toward me. My steps falter as disbelief floods my mind.

“Stacy?” I gasp, trying to process the sight before me. She looks pale, her lip split, and a nasty bruise darkening her cheek.

“Bella!” Stacy’s voice trembles with urgency. “Thank God.” She grabs my hand, her grip tight and desperate. “You have to come with me, quick. Lev’s not who we thought he was.”

“No shit!” I snap, my mind still reeling. My instincts scream that something is wrong, but I let her pull me deeper into the alley. “I thought you were dead!”

“Lev made me make that video,” she whispers, her eyes misting over with unshed tears. “He… he hurt me.”

“Stacy,” I breathe, guilt and anger mixing in my chest. “I’m so sorry.”

She nods, trying to pull herself together. “We just need to get you to safety, okay?”

As we approach the corner, Stacy peeks around it cautiously. My breath catches when I hear footsteps pounding behind us. I whirl around to see Lev barreling toward us, his expression murderous.

Instinct takes over. I raise the gun, aiming for Lev’s hip, but before I can fire, shots ring out from over my head. Bullets slam into Lev’s chest, forcing him back. I watch in shock as he collapses to the ground.

Before I can even react, strong hands clamp over my mouth, and a terrifying voice hisses in my ear. “Don’t scream, Isabella.” The gun is ripped from my grasp. “I think in order to keep my balls, I’ll take this.”

Panic floods me, but I bite down hard on his hand. “Jesus Christ, Isabella,” he growls, releasing me only to spin me around and grab my shoulders. “Stop being such an ungrateful fucking bitch.”

My eyes widen in horror as I see Stacy lying limp on the ground.

“Don’t worry, she’s still breathing,” he says, his voice laced with urgency. “But we won’t be if we don’t get out of here now.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you!” I snap, struggling against his hold. “I prefer my chances with Lev.”

“Trust me, you’d have no chance with Lev.“ His jaw clenches, and he shakes his head toward Stacy. “FYI, Stacy was leading you right back to her hubby—the two of them deserve each other. I can assure you, nothing that little psychopath told you is true.”

“It seems nothing anyone has told me my entire life is true,” I shoot back, my voice laced with bitterness.

“Look, Isabella,” he sighs, desperation creeping into his tone. “Either come with me of your own free will, or—“

“Or what?” I challenge, refusing to back down.

“Great,” he mutters, frustration evident in his voice. “I didn’t want to have to do this, and I’m not very good at it, so I hope I don’t hurt you.”

Before I can react, he moves swiftly, his arm wrapping around my neck, but instead of choking me, his fingers press firmly against a spot just below my ear. It’s a pressure point I recognize, one designed to render someone unconscious without causing lasting harm. I fight against the encroaching darkness, my body instinctively struggling, but the world begins to blur, my strength fading faster than I can resist.

As the shadows close in, I force out a final, venomous whisper, “I’m going to kill you, Harry Thompson.”