I turned a helpless gaze to him. “What about you?”
“I’ll handle myself. This fucking coward will not dare shoot me.”
I shook my head. I felt almost giddy with fear and shock. “You take Yulia out of here.”
Yuri took a step forward and Ivan fired a shot that somehow missed Yuri. I screamed, and so did Yulia.”
“You think I’m fucking joking, don’t you?” Ivan bellowed. “Take another step and the bullet will go straight through your head, or maybe…” He turned the pistol towards me.
My palms were sweating, hands trembling, and my eyes were too afraid even to blink. I thought my legs would give out on me
“She’s the one you really want to protect, isn’t she?” His gaze on me was angry. “You fucked him didn’t you?” Ivan spat. “Stupid bitch. I should have known. I hope your betrayal haunts you. You’re destroying Yulia’s life.”
“You’re the one who wants to destroy her life right now,” I yelled. “Put your fucking gun down!” I was angry, at the terror he was subjecting Yulia to, however it manifested as streams of hot tears that ran down my face and almost kept Ivan out of focus. I was now resigned to the worst, and no matter what happened, I knew that I wouldn’t regret the decisions I made in this room because they came out of the purity of my heart.
The door behind me flung open with a bang, and my heart nearly left my chest. At the deafening fire of a gun, I screamed and turned to see that Yuri had been hit, and then I don’t know how I did it, but I managed to fire my own gun. I shut my eyes and collapsed to the floor, shaking and wailing, unsure of what had just happened.
I would never know how many minutes went by, but it felt as though the world had collapsed at my feet. A hand eventually touched my shoulder and I opened my eyes to see Alex.
I looked up in shock at him and then turned to see two bodies on the ground. Ivan had been shot straight through the heart, and was unmoving. Jesus, I was a good shot.
Yuri was leaning against the wall his hand on his shoulder. Underneath a wound was rapidly spreading crimson blood all over his white shirt.
“Yuri!” I screamed and ran to him.
He bared his teeth in a ferocious smile. “You did good.”
Just hearing his voice almost made me pass out with relief. “Are you all right?”
He shook his head. “No, but I will be.”
A team of his guards came in then with a gurney, and he was laid onto it.
The pain on his face was too excruciating for me to bear. I turned my face away and suddenly remembered Yulia. I glanced around the room. She was nowhere to be seen. “Where’s Yulia?” I asked urgently.
Alex responded, his eyes still on Yuri, “I took her out. She’s fine.”
I went with Yuri and got into his waiting SUV, and we were sped to the hospital. I didn’t know how I was still functioning, but he held unto my hands as they sped along and I buried my face in his neck.
“I’ll be fine,” he said to me. “I promise you.”
I managed to get out some words, “You better be, or I’ll kill you otherwise, I swear to God. Please.”
He was taken in immediately for an operation, then I collapsed, spent and haunted by the ordeal of a lifetime, in the corridor of the hospital. Not until he was somewhat stabilized did I eventually come to my senses.
45
Yuri
I Ran Out Of That Grave
I was awake a few hours after my operation.
I opened my eyes to see the face of an angel. My angel, seated beside me, her head lying on the bed, and one hand holding mine. She seemed to be asleep, and I didn’t want to wake her, but the moment I tried to move my hand even just a little, she came awake.
At first, she seemed disoriented, but then she registered that I was conscious, and her eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. “Yuri,” she gasped and came closer to me, her hands touching my face gently to feel for my temperature. “Are you okay? How do you feel?”
“I’m fine. It’s not the first time I’ve been shot.
I could see that those words brought absolutely no comfort whatsoever to her, so I quickly apologized. “I’m sorry,” I said and brushed her hair away from her face.
April lowered her head to my chest and tried to hold back her tears.
“Thank you for believing me,” I said quietly to her. “I’ve been aware of Ivan’s hand in the murder of Yulia’s parents for quite a while. I had left the room after the argument, and returned at the sound of shots to see both of them lying on the floor, dead. The video was most probably edited for Yulia to make it seem like I was the one who returned and killed the both of them. And the corpse you saw at the construction yard was the one who drove the killers away that night.”