They shoot Pavel in the head, and Vittoria’s screams rip through me even now.
The men get closer, looking like monsters in the shadows. But in the moonlight, I meet the face of a man with a mean-looking knife scar running from his left eye to the edge of his jaw.
The man I would come to know as my father—Uther Sidorov.
He shoots Vittoria, and she falls to the ground holding me. Then, in rage, he pulls out a knife and stabs her in her neck again and again and again.
Blood splashes everywhere, like it’s pouring from the sky. When Elmier tries to help, Uther shoots him in his heart.
“Bury the bodies here where no one will ever find them and take the girl to the car.”Is all I hear. It’s Dad talking, but it’s like his lips aren’t moving.
I remember screaming and crying when someone picked me up.
Men come with shovels, and they start digging the earth.
I scream harder when they make me watch them throw the bodies of my family into the earth. All three of them. My mother, my father, my brother.
As the dirt is being thrown on their bodies in the shallow grave, I manage to kick the man holding me and bite his hands. When he loosens his grip on me, I wiggle out of his grasp and run just like I’ve always been told to do in danger.
The man chases me, calling after me by name. But I don’t stop. I run for the road, and just as I step onto it, a car hits me.
I scream and fall to the ground, falling back to the present.
Warm hands pull me deeper to the here and now, but I’m still crying.
“Anastasia.” Desmier says my name, but he sounds so far away.
“Shovel. I need a shovel,” I mutter through my tears.
Leif and Lucca have now come to join us.
“I need a shovel!” Desmier shouts.
Moments later, Lucca returns with a shovel and hands it to Desmier.
“Where, Anastasia? Where do we need to go?”
Summoning my last ounce of strength, I get up and follow the path that will lead me to what I know will be one last nightmare.
But I’ll be awake for this one.
My mind takes me right to the spot by the giant sequoias where I was nearly ten years ago.
It looks the same, except the clearing of earth has a thin layer of grass covering it.
“It’s here. They’re here.”
Desmier stares back at me for a moment, hesitation in his eyes, before he starts digging.
Lucca and Leif join him with more shovels. The three of them dig and dig and dig until they unearth the first sighting of bones.
And I see what remains of my family.
Another scream pours out of my lungs, and I faint.
ChapterForty-Four
Desmier