Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 92957 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 465(@200wpm)___ 372(@250wpm)___ 310(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92957 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 465(@200wpm)___ 372(@250wpm)___ 310(@300wpm)
It's exhilarating yet terrifying. My mind races as the car’s wheels spin, and we hurtle toward home.
Why is he still wholly unfamiliar to me? Even if he was someone who I was running from, I should have some recollection of him… Shouldn't I?
The doctor’s words linger in my mind.
There’s no promise of a full recovery.
Your memories are fractured.
Stress, trauma, trying too hard… all can complicate your recovery.
The sound of booming gunfire shatters my thoughts. Instinctively, Rafail grabs for me and shoves me to the floor while keeping effortless control of the car. I scream, and my leg slams against my cast.
An explosion rips through the air just behind us, and Rafail turns the wheel so hard I’m pressed to the ground with the weight of gravity. My heart thunders in my chest, adrenaline flooding me as the sound of bullets ping off the car.
"Stay down!” Rafail barks at me, his voice sharp and controlled. Panic rises in my chest. I’m shaking. I watch as he continues to effortlessly guide us to a stop. My mind reels.
We’re being shot at, and instead of outrunning them, he’s stopping? I watch in breathless silence as he pushes my head down with one hand and opens the glove compartment. It clicks shut. I stare up at him holding a huge black handgun, its cannon-like barrel glinting in the overhead light. My mind snaps to attention because I know exactly what it is—a Desert Eagle. I’ve held one before, its recoil so strong as to make it almost unusable except to the strongest and most capable of shooters. The way he casually wields it makes it look like a child’s plaything in his hand, his finger already on the trigger as his dark eyes narrow with cold decision, the promise of violence spiraling out of him like an uncontrollable wave of hatred and death.
I cling to his arm and watch him scan our surroundings.
Why is this… vaguely familiar to me? Why do I feel this has happened before? A memory flashes through my mind, familiar faces I can’t place, and a name…
Polina…
My name.
It was my name from a different place in time. I feel as if I've been rebirthed into a second life, as if I've been reincarnated into who I am now.
Voices sound all around us, but my head is spinning as I try to focus.
“Stay down,” he growls. His body presses against mine, keeping me behind him. One hand is flat on my chest, holding me in place before he goes back to gripping his gun with deadly precision.
Tires screech toward us. My heart stutters, and he throws me his phone. It’s on speakerphone, Semyon’s name at the top. “They’re coming in at three o’clock,” he yells. “Stop them.”
A deafening boom like a cannon sounds ahead of us. Someone screams with maniacal glee, and Rafail shakes his head, cursing. Rodion.
A car races toward us at breakneck speed, tires squealing on pavement . Rafail leaps to his feet, heavy boots planted as he stands facing the oncoming car head-on, gun blazing. Fire spits from his weapon. Windows shatter. A tire explodes. I’m frozen in place, my heart racing, when it dawns on me with crystal clarity: they're going to hit us. In that moment—with the vehicle hurtling toward us and the knowledge that I'm going to be hit—a memory flashes in front of me.
I'm running. Running away from a nameless captor who's going to hurt me, running away from… Rafail? I can see the dark intensity of his gaze, even feel the heat of his fingers on me, but… he’s a stranger to me. He isn’t my husband.
The memory of the accident comes back with brutal clarity. All of it. The screech of tires. The impact that shook my bones and rattled me into unconsciousness. His bellow of rage from behind me. Vague voices over me.
Another deafening boom rattles the ground beneath me. Then another. The car in front of us explodes as Rafail hits the ground and covers me.
“That’s it, Rodion,” Rafail says with dark approval. “Atta boy.”
Metal and glass fly over us. In an instant, Rafail presses me beneath him, shielding me with his body.
Bloodcurdling screams.
Boom.
Then… nothing.
Nothing but eerie silence.
I close my eyes, assaulted by memory after memory.
My mother.
My home.
I am Russian, and I…
It’s on the cusp of my consciousness, so close I cry out loud and reach for the air in front of me just before I collapse against Rafail, and my world fades to emptiness.
Chapter 15
RAFAIL
The heavy silence after the gunfire weighs on me like bricks on my chest.
"They're gone," Semyon says from my phone. “We got them.”
I need answers.
I need her safe.
I need names.
My ears ring with the silence as I glance down at my wife. Panic sweeps over me when I realize her eyes are closed.
“Anissa!” I lift her slender shoulders and shake her. At first, she doesn’t answer, but after another shake, she blinks up at me, her eyes clouded with confusion and fear. Her chest rises and falls too quickly. It's too much.