Chapter Forty-Four - KATYA
Victoria is sitting in the back of the coffee shop when I arrive, her young son Ethan enjoying a pastry and cup of hot chocolate as he swings his feet and smiles at the Christmas cartoons on the flatscreen just above his head.
“Hey,” I say to Victoria, sitting down in the chair next to her.
“I can’t get a hold of Ariel, or Cindy, or Pax, or Oliver. But I did get a hold of Ellie, and they are on their way to Denver—”
“Wait,” I say. “What are you talking about?”
“The sh—” Victoria looks at Ethan and stops her curse word. “They left town.”
“Who?” I ask.
“Nolan, Ivy, Ellie, and Mac. They left town and they’re creating a credit-card trail as they travel down I-25.”
“Why would they do that?” I’m so confused. “What’s happening?”
Victoria eyes Ethan. “Ethan, sweetie?” she says in a mom voice I haven’t had the pleasure of hearing from her before. “Why don’t you go to the little craft table over there and make West a Christmas card?”
Ethan gives her a sharp look. “Are you sure he’s—”
“He’s fine, sweetie. I promise. Now go.”
Ethan scrapes his chair across the floor as he pushes it back, and then he shoots her one more dubious look over his shoulder before walking across the shop to settle into a crafting table filled with crayons and paper.
“He saw the news last night,” Victoria explains.
“Oh, shit.”
“Luckily, he’s a cynic, like me.” She gives me perhaps the most real smile I’ve yet to see from her. “And he said, ‘That looks fake.’”
“What’d you say?” I ask, smiling with her.
“I told him West was working at the haunted house and someone made a mistake and called the reporters.” She shrugs. “It’s the truth, right?”
“I… guess. I really don’t know what happened with that, to be honest.”
“So,” she says.
“So,” I say back.
“Don’t bullshit me, Katya Kalashova. Give me the bad news. Where is he?”
I consider asking her who she’s referring to. And then I consider lying, but Victoria just shakes her head.
“Don’t bother. I know why you’re here and I know you’re here for me. I remember you, Kat. I was given to Gori Junior and you were given to Gori Senior. So I know he’s here to either kill me, take me, kidnap my kid, torture me—you name it, he’s capable. And he’s here, so don’t lie.”
“He’s here,” I say, feeling a little defeated. “And he knows we’re both in here, because he’s watching everything I do.”
She swallows hard. I get it, I really do. I don’t know what kind of horrible things happened to her while she was involved with the Gori family, but it doesn’t take much to imagine it. I lived it as well. “And now what?” Tori asks.
I shrug. “We wait.”
“For what?” she snaps. “What exactly is the plan.
“I don’t have the plan. I was sent here to—”
“I sent her here.”
Tori and I both look up at the sound of Mariel’s voice. She gives us both a warm smile as she takes a seat in the empty chair next to me.
“Why didn’t you tell us the plan yesterday, Mariel?” Tori asks.
“Because I didn’t know if it would work.” Mariel looks at me. “But it did, right, Katya?”
I nod. “Yeah, it definitely seems to be working all right. But she’s not the only one who sent me here, Victoria. I’m working for all of them. Liam, Gori Senior, and Mariel.”
I take a deep breath as I wait for Tori to catch up to what I just said. “Why?” she finally asks after several seconds of silence. “Why did you bring them here?”
“She didn’t bring them, Victoria. She’s just the bait. You understand that, right? You understand when you love someone so much—perhaps a father who saved you, or a sister, who you desperately want to save”—she looks at me for that last part—“you will go to extreme lengths to make things right.”
Victoria has a pained expression on her face. Probably thinking about her father. “I was there that night your father died,” I say. “I wanted to be saved by the Misters too. I saw Oliver—just this one little glimpse while all that shit was going down—and I wanted more than anything to walk up to him and beg for help.”
“Why didn’t you?” Tori asks. “He would’ve, you know. He would’ve taken care of things. We’d have known more if you did. Instead you come here, dragging bombs behind you, hoping that it will all turn out right. It’s bullshit, Katya. It’s selfish and you know it.”
“They have her sister, Victoria.”
“What?” I say, turning quickly to Mariel. “Since when? I just saw her yesterday. She—”
“They got to her years ago, Katya. Think,” Mariel says, tapping me on the head with one finger. “Put the pieces together, darling. They have had her since before you came here. Before you ran. She is the one who ratted out your parents.”
“What are you talking about?” I stand up so fast, my chair falls backwards. “That’s a lie.”
“Sit down.” Mariel snaps, looking warily around the coffee shop. “Now.”
I do as I’m told. I sit down, but my mind is racing with all the mistakes I might’ve made and my heart is galloping with fear. They cannot have Lily. It can’t be—
“Katya,” Mariel says, taking my hand. Her palm is warm. It feels very soothing on my icy fingers. “We can still save her if”—she stares hard into my eyes, holding my gaze until she’s sure she has my attention—“if we do this right. She’s away right now. Those Antimony girls have left that house. She’s with them.”
“Where did they take her?” I ask.
“It’s not important. What is important is that she’s not at the house right now. And a letter with her name on it was delivered to her dorm yesterday. The letter states she was not accepted as an initiate into the Antimony Association.”
“She wasn’t?” I’m so confused. “But they seemed to love her—”
“Katya,” Mariel says. “Stick with me here, sweetie. We’re laying traps, right? If she was accepted she might be implicated in what’s about to happen.”
I take a deep, deep breath. “What’s about to happen?” I ask, my words barely a whisper.
Victoria’s phone buzzes on the table, just as mine buzzes in my pocket.
We both have the same panicked look on our faces.
“Read them,” Mariel says.
We pick up our phones and read our texts.
“‘Come to the Antimony House,’” I say. “It’s from Lily.”
“It’s not from Lily,” Mariel says, looking at Victoria. “I already told you, they took her out of the city. What does yours say?”
Victoria lets out a deep sigh of relief. “It’s West. He says to stay right where I am and he’ll be here in thirty minutes.” Her happiness fades quickly as she realizes what Mariel just said about the sender of my text. “It’s not West either?”
“It’s West,” Mariel says. “You stay here and do what you’re told for once. Do you understand me, Victoria? If you want your son to be safe, then you will stay here. Katya, on the other hand, is leaving.”
Outside there is an explosion.
People start screaming, hysterical. Frantic to get out of the coffee shop at first, then they realize it might be safer in here and begin to push towards the back.
“What’s happening?” I ask.
Tori is already across the room, grabbing up Ethan from the Christmas card table and hugging him to her chest.
Seconds later, like they knew it was coming, police sirens are everywhere. The screaming of fire trucks follow shortly after.
“What the fuck was that?” Tori asks, making her way back to Mariel and I, who are both still sitting at the table, staring at each other. I guess Tori isn’t so concerned about her language at this point, since she is clutching little Ethan to her chest when she says it.
“That,” Mariel says, “means it’s time to go.” She passes me a bulging yellow envelope one might use for inter-office mail at work, and then stands up, adjusts her coat, and says, “I’ll see you shortly, Katya,” before turning away and walking out the back door.
Phase four, I think, tucking the yellow envelope into my coat.
Phase four starts now.