KATYA

 

AFTER A COUPLE of days of sleeping in the waiting room, I'm worn out and on edge.  Jackson has barely slept, and I know that for a fact since every time I wake up, he's awake.  His eyes are bloodshot, and he looks like he hasn't slept for over a week.  Although, I'm sure we all look like that at this point.

"I'm going for coffee," I announce to the room since Jackson has barely spoken to me in the past forty-eight hours…or maybe it's been even longer than that at this point.

All he's concerned with right now is Adeline, and I can't help but be jealous of that fact.  Even though he assured me that Lucien and Adeline are together and getting engaged, something is…off.  It's hard to believe he cares that much for a girl who is just a friend.

I walk out of the waiting room without so much as a single word from Jackson.  And by the time I reach the small kitchen at the end of the hall, I am seething to the point that my entire body is shaking.  I'm sure it's lack of sleep…and food…and everything else that has me so on edge, but I'm ready to walk out of this hospital and never look back.

"Katya?" someone calls.

I grip my empty Styrofoam coffee cup in my hand and turn to the voice.  A petite, blonde girl stands several feet away, and it's almost like looking in a mirror…except from a few years ago.

She's the girl from the pictures Wraith showed me.

The cup falls out of my hand and bounces to the tile floor with a hollow sound.  My fingers tremble as I bring them up to my lips, covering my mouth to silence the sob threatening to escape.

"Katya, it's really you, isn't it?" the girl asks me.

I nod, unable to believe my eyes.  "Senga?" I gasp.

When the young girl nods, I can't hold back anymore.  I run towards her, throwing my arms around her and hugging her so tightly that I'm probably scaring the poor girl.  "Sestra," I whisper in her ear.  Sister.

I pull back and hold her out at arm's reach, my eyes scanning her.  She looks healthy, glowing, in fact, like the angel she always was.  She looks the same as when I left her but completely different all at the same time.  It's so hard to explain.

"I can't believe it," I cry.  It's as if the years that we were apart have completely vanished, and I finally have a piece of my soul back.  "I've missed you.  So much," I choke out, allowing my emotions to overcome me.

My little sister reaches up and wipes away my tears with her thumbs.  She's being strong.  For me.  I've been so damn strong for so damn long that it's nice for someone else to take the burden for once.

"I've missed you too.  You have no idea."

Taking a step back, I quickly compose myself, drying my tears.  My eyes never leave my sister.  I'm afraid that, if I blink too hard, she'll disappear from this room.

"How did you…how did you find me?" I ask the most obvious question.

She points to the camera in the corner of the ceiling.  "Facial recognition software.  I got word that the Bratva was coming for you.  But since I was already here in the States, I knew I could get to you first, warn you and take you somewhere you'll be safe.  With me," she says with a big smile.

I knew it was stupid for me to be in such a public place with a huge bounty on my head, but I figured I'd be safe as long as I was with Jackson.  Lot of good that did me, I tell myself.

"If we leave now, we can disappear, get you underground before they come looking for you," Senga says, grasping my hand in hers.  "But we have to leave right this minute," she adds.

I nod at her in understanding.  I only have a certain window to escape.  Now that the Bratva know where I am, they'll have no trouble tracking my every move.  It's only a matter of time before they find me…and kill me.

She pulls me towards her, and I follow.  But then I stop in my tracks.  "My…my friend," I stammer, not even knowing what to refer to Jackson as anymore.

"There's no time, Katya.  They could be here any minute."

"But —."

Senga stops and stares at me with a stern look on her face.  "Do you really want your friends to be involved and get hurt?" she asks with a raised, blonde brow.

Shaking my head, she nods in satisfaction.  Then she says, "Let's go," with so much authority that I have to wonder if this really is the little sister I left behind in Russia all those years ago.

On the way through the hospital and out a side door exit, three men that I didn't even know were there begin to follow us.  Nervously, I tighten my grip on my sister's hand, but she simply says, "They're with me."

I can't help the small tug in the corner of my lips.  My little sister turned into a little bad ass while I was gone, and I couldn't be prouder.

All those years I had worried that she was under my papa's rule or maybe that she had run away and was living…or dying…on the streets.

But I obviously had no reason to worry.  Senga appears to be just fine.  She looks healthy and doesn't have a haunted look in her gaze that I've seen more times than I can count in my own reflection.  She turned out all right after all, and I couldn't have asked for anything more than that.

We escape into a dark sedan with two men climbing in the front and the other man in the back with Senga and me.  The man narrows his eyes suspiciously at me, but then quickly averts his gaze when Senga clears her throat.

I glance around the back of the fancy car and at the large muscle occupying most of the car.  An uneasy feeling starts to fill my stomach, and no matter what I do, I can't tamp it down.

"So…these are your hired men?" I ask my sister.

"Yes," she states simply.

But how did she get the money for…all of this?  And why has she been living in the United States?  When did she leave our mother and father behind?

The questions swirl around in my mind, but I have a feeling I'm not going to like the answers I receive.  And I know now that I should have asked them before I got in the car.

"Is there any way I could borrow your phone?" I ask, trying to keep my voice calm.  I could call the hospital and ask them to page Jax.  Just letting him know where I am and who I'm with would make me feel a hell of a lot better.  "I would like to tell my friend why I left the hospital so suddenly," I explain to her.

Senga gives me a sweet smile.  "I left my phone back at the safe house, but I'll let you use it as soon as we get there."

I nod, accepting her response, but not fully trusting her…yet.

And as I stare out the window as the city passes us by, I have a sinking feeling that I somehow made a mistake in trusting her at all.