Sofia, page 8
I broke off when a strangled gasp sounded behind Yulia. Feeling as if my life were flashing before my eyes, I shifted my gaze to find Sofia standing on the bottom step. Dressed in black sweats and a matching top, her dark hair pulled back in a sleek ponytail, she looked absolutely beautiful.
And completely shattered.
Her blue eyes haunting.
Heartbreak etched into her lovely face.
“Dragotsennyy,” I choked out, taking a step toward her.
But with a cry that broke something deep inside me, she turned on her heel and started running.
Right into oncoming traffic.
I heard a scream, but I couldn’t differentiate if it came from Sofia or Yulia—or even myself. In horror, I watched as one car after another slammed on their brakes. Horns blared angrily as tires squealed and left skid marks from the sudden stops. One taxi rear-ended another, sending others bumping into one another.
My heart stopped, the air leaving my lungs, and I fell to my knees, unable to control the strength in my legs from my fear. Every muscle in my body shouted to chase after her, but my brain had shut down and wouldn’t cooperate to make any of my limbs mobile.
Then, as if by some miracle, I saw Sofia on the other side of the street, running. Over the continued curses and honking car horns, I thought I heard her sobs.
Beside me, Yulia dropped onto her ass, no longer able to hold herself upright either, and vomited.
Unable to think past getting to Sofia, so I could make sure she was unharmed, I stumbled to my feet. A raindrop hit my bare back, making me realize I was still in only a pair of sleep pants. Leaving Yulia on the front steps, I ran into the house and up to the bedroom to throw on the first clothes I came across.
Picking up my phone, I tried to call Sofia as I ran back downstairs, but her phone was off. With unsteady fingers, I called for my car, fighting the sting of tears.
She was okay. She had to be.
I just needed to get to her and explain everything.
My future—my fucking life—depended on it.
Sofia
Nothing made sense. There was too much new information in my brain to know what was what. Question after question popped into my head, but none of them had the power to distract me from the gut-wrenching, bone-crushing pain of realizing the man I loved was only with me because it would give him political power in a country I’d never even visited.
I’d been born and given up for adoption in Russia. My parents had taken me from the orphanage in Saint Petersburg. Other than that, there was no record of who my biological family was. As I grew up, Mom and Dad had offered to find out who they were if I ever wanted, but I’d never even given it a second thought. Whoever had abandoned me wasn’t worth my time. I had my forever home and family with Adrian, Victoria, and my brother, Theo. Nothing else but knowing they loved me mattered.
The last few months with Zak had been magical, but somewhere in the back of my mind, I’d questioned if any of it was real. It had seemed too much like a fairy tale. A scripted movie that played on one of those cheesy happily-ever-after channels, where it was the same story with different character names repeated over and over again. In the past, those movies had been my secret guilty pleasure. The safety of knowing, no matter what, the girl got the life she’d always dreamed of in the end. That the guy she was supposed to be with would move heaven and earth just to be with her and make her happy—it took all the anxiety out of the equation so I could enjoy the rest of the movie.
But this wasn’t some stupid, cheesy-ass movie. This was real life—my fucking life, damn it.
And Zak had been playing with it from the moment we met.
How quickly he’d gotten me to fall in love with him and into his bed. Knocking me up. Asking me to marry him because he couldn’t imagine his life without our baby and me in it. That had only made me love him more, trust him with everything I had.
Then there was what Yulia had said, and trying to make sense of that only made my head throb. Zak’s and her home country bordered Russia, but the two countries were as different as night and day. They still had a royal line, and while that family—a family that Zak was one of the last remaining descendants of—didn’t rule, they had a hell of a lot of political power.
It couldn’t mean what I thought it meant. I refused to even give that a moment’s consideration… But her angry words thrown at Zak played on repeat, meshing with Zak’s confession until it all became a mashed-up, confusing remix of words that made me hurt not just emotionally, but physically.
Blindly, I ran, unsure of where I was going. Nothing looked familiar through my tears, but fear was the last thing I felt as I ran one block after another. I didn’t feel the exertion or the cramps in my muscles from what had to be miles of running like my life depended on it. And maybe it did. I’d left my shattered heart on the bottom step of what I’d called my home for months. How was I even able to breathe without it?
Suddenly, a black SUV drove up onto the curb, and I barely had enough sense to put my hands out to stop my body from colliding with it. I was still crying, but I would recognize the man who angrily stepped out of the back anywhere.
As I saw him, everything hit me all at once. Zak and Yulia’s argument. Nearly being hit by multiple cars as I’d crossed the street in my rush to run away. I was gasping for air, both from running for so long and hard, as well as the panic attack that was beginning to set in. Every muscle in my body ached now that I wasn’t moving, just standing there, looking up at my brother as he shouted something at me.
But even though I saw his lips moving, the anger crossing his handsome face, I couldn’t hear a single word he said. My body began to shiver, and it was only then that I realized I was soaked, yet it wasn’t sweat. It was pouring rain. My hair and clothes were plastered to me, water dripping from both. Each rapid breath that left my body looked like dense fog, and my eyes nearly crossed as I watched it in a weird out-of-body kind of fascination.
Then Theo grasped me by the shoulders, shaking me gently. “Sofia!” he yelled my name, his anger replaced by concern. “What happened to you? Are you hurt? Where is Morozov? Is that where you’ve been? This isn’t even close to his house.”
“E-e-everything h-h-h-hurts, Th-Th-Th-Theo.” My teeth were chattering so hard, I could barely get the words out, ignoring his question about where Zak was.
My brother placed a hand at the small of my back, his touch gentle as he urged me toward his SUV. “Come on, little one. Let’s get you home. Mom saw you weren’t in bed and sent me out to look for you. I never imagined I would find you like…this.”
We took two steps before my legs gave out. With a savage curse, Theo scooped me up before I could fall and carried me to where the back door of the SUV was still open. His men were outside of the vehicle, watching. Through the rain and the tears that continued to flow, I met their gazes and quickly looked away, ashamed for them to see me so weak.
Once I was in the back of the vehicle, Theo pulled off his jacket and then his T-shirt. Offering me the dry top, he lifted his jacket to give me some privacy while I changed my wet shirt. But getting rid of my soaked clothes did nothing to warm me. Not even when I kicked off my shoes and sweats. The shirt fell all the way to my knees, and with the heat cranked up to the highest temperature it would go, blasting down on me and trying to dry my hair while my brother used something to rub tenderly at the dripping strands, the warmth refused to penetrate.
The chill had gone bone-deep, because it had started from the inside and moved outward. The place where my heart had once been was nothing but a block of ice. By the time Theo carried me into our childhood home sometime later, I was shivering so hard it looked like my entire body was spasming. My jaws hurt from how much my teeth had been and still were chattering.
Tavia and Mom, dressed in pajamas, met us at the door. As soon as Dad came out of the family room and saw me, he ran over and took me from my brother. “Sofia, what happened?”
In his arms, I knew there was no place safer, and the tears that had slowed down on the drive home began to flow faster once again. “D-d-d-daddy,” I sobbed, burying my face in his chest.
“Sofia.” Mom’s voice was gentle yet oddly full of steel as her hands touched my back and then began to rub in soothing circles. “Please, sweetheart, tell us what happened. Where have you been? Does Zak know you’re out?”
I turned my face away, burying it against my dad’s chest, too ashamed of how gullible I’d been to face her. “I-I-I’m so c-c-c-cold,” I stuttered, closing my heart to the pain of hearing Zak’s name.
“We need to get her into a hot shower,” Tavia urged my parents. “As blue as her lips are, I think she’s got some hypothermia going on. We don’t want her to go into shock.”
Dad carried me up to my room and sat me on the toilet before leaving me with Mom and Tavia. My sister-in-law rushed to get the water as hot as possible without scalding me while Mom pulled Theo’s shirt off me and then started on my bra and panties. Thankfully, I’d started wearing them when I’d found out I was pregnant. Mostly to keep Zak from having a meltdown every time I left the house in a dress.
When Mom pulled down my white bikini briefs, it was hard to miss the thick, dark smears of blood there. “No!” I cried, my hands covering my lower abdomen protectively. “No, please, no.”
“It’s just your period, Sofia,” Mom tried to soothe. “Many women have theirs triggered from the stress of planning a wedding and end up having a cycle on their honeymoon. Don’t worry about it, sweetheart.”
“No!” I shouted at her, causing her to jump at how loud my voice was. I wasn’t ready to tell her there wasn’t going to be a wedding, let alone a honeymoon, but there were pressing matters I needed to explain. “Mom…I-I’m pregnant.”
Her face paled, and she looked back down at the blood on my underwear. “Pregnant?”
“I-I wanted t-t-t-o tell you.” The heat of the room started to ease my shivers, and I began to realize that some of the pain in my body wasn’t just from what had happened with Zak. I was cramping and not just a little. “S-s-s-surprise y-y-y-you.”
“Tavia.” Mom’s voice was full of strength, but her face betrayed her concern and fear. “We need to hurry. As soon as she’s warm enough, we need to get her to the hospital.”
“M-m-my baby?” I whispered brokenly, looking up at her hopefully, pleading with my eyes for her to tell me everything was going to be all right.
“We need to hurry,” was all she said as tears filled her brown eyes.
* * *
There was an IV in the back of my hand, pushing warmed fluids into me along with pain medication and some type of light sedative to keep me calm. But no matter how many doses they administered through the little tube, it couldn’t stop my tears.
Across the room, two doctors were both speaking in hushed tones with my parents, but I could hear every word they spoke.
“She didn’t miscarry, but with the fragile condition she’s in right now, I want to observe her for at least the next twenty-four hours. The baby appears to be doing well. It’s Sofia herself that I’m concerned about. Are you sure you don’t know what put her in this state?” The obstetrician glanced back and forth between Mom and Dad, but they both shook their heads.
“Her brother said he found her running like she was being chased. Her wedding is today, so when I found her bed empty, I assumed she snuck out to see her fiancé. They’ve been practically inseparable since the day they met.” Mom sniffled, and I clenched my eyes shut, hating that she was crying for me. My idiocy should not have caused anyone pain but me. “But Theo said she was miles from Zak’s house.”
“The running could have contributed to the broken capillaries that caused her bleeding, and the extreme muscle exertion would explain her cramps. But as I said, it’s not the baby I’m concerned about at the moment. Your daughter is close to a complete mental breakdown. She’s already shutting down. The only thing that gets a reaction from her is talking about the baby.”
“Where is her fiancé now?” the psychologist asked, having let the OB-GYN take point for most of the conversation, while he stood there observing not just my parents, but me from a distance. There was no way he’d missed how I’d flinched when Mom spoke Zak’s name or when he’d just said “fiancé.”
“His phone is off,” Dad told him. “And when we sent someone to his house, the staff said he wasn’t there. They were questioned, but they said they hadn’t seen Sofia since yesterday morning. We have people looking for him.”
I averted my eyes from the doctors and looked down at myself. I’d been put in one of those thin hospital gowns. Tavia had blow-dried my hair after I’d gotten out of the shower earlier, and Mom had put it into a simple ponytail to keep it out of my face. The IV was necessary, and while I felt as if a light wind would finish shattering me before blowing me away like dust, I refused to be as fragile as the psychologist feared I was.
“Mom. Dad,” I called as loudly as my hoarse voice would allow. “I’m ready to tell you what happened now.”
They moved in tandem, coming to stand on the side of the bed to hold my hand that wasn’t hooked up to an IV. Mom’s fingers shook as she tucked a few stray strands of hair behind my ear. “Honey, you don’t have to tell us anything if you aren’t up for it.”
I lowered my lashes for a moment, unsure if I would ever be up for this discussion, but I couldn’t be a coward. I had to face reality, even if it hurt like a bitch. Opening my eyes, I looked right at the two doctors still standing across the room. “You can go now,” I told them with more strength in my voice than I actually felt. “I’ve got the call button should I need anything.”
The two men in scrubs hesitated for a moment, but my gaze never wavered from them, and they finally excused themselves. I watched them go and waited until the door was closed completely behind them before turning my focus back on my parents.
“I’m not going to tell you what’s going on between me and Z-Zak. That’s our business,” I told them point-blank, leaving no room in my tone for them to question my determination. “But I want you to know that I’m not going to marry him.”
“Did he hurt you?” Dad gritted out.
I swallowed hard, but I lifted my chin, trying to show him a strength I doubted I would ever truly have again. If I told him just how badly Zak had hurt me—not physically, but emotionally—I knew the father of my unborn child would be dead before the sunset that evening. “No, I lied. He didn’t hurt me. I just no longer trust him.”
“Sweetheart.” Mom sat on the edge of my bed and pulled my hand onto her lap. “Tell us what happened to bring you to make this decision.”
“It’s hard to talk about, Mom,” I whispered, fighting the lump that filled my throat once again.
“Did you go to his house?” I nodded, and she patted the back of my hand. “The staff said they didn’t see you. Does that mean you didn’t go inside?”
“I-I barely made it past the bottom step.” I gulped as everything I’d overheard replayed in my head. “Zak was standing in the doorway, talking to Yulia.”
“She was acting off at dinner,” Mom murmured. “I thought she liked you when she and her mother came to the final dress fitting. But it was like she was a completely different person last night.”
“I heard them talking.” I lifted my gaze to Dad. He stood there, as still as the predator his enemies claimed he was. His eyes assessing me like the wolf they all called him. “Yulia was yelling at Z-Zak.” Fuck, it was hard to even say his name.
The room suddenly felt so thick with tension it pressed down on me, making it harder to draw in oxygen. Or maybe I was just fighting another panic attack.
Gulping in a deep breath, I continued. “Yulia said…” I struggled to draw in my next breath, and the heart monitor attached to my chest started to beep unhappily. “She said something that made me believe she is the woman who gave birth to me.”
Mom gasped and covered her mouth with both her hands. “Oh my God,” she cried. “Are you saying… Is she… Yulia is your biological mother?”
“Maybe?” I whispered, tears blurring my vision once again as Zak’s words that had followed Yulia’s replayed in my head.
By marrying her, and producing a child with both our bloodlines, he would have it all. Just like he wanted when he married you off to Leonid. I set it all up so she would fall for me.
There was no way I could repeat any of those words, especially not to my parents. Not only did they make me feel ashamed and gullible, but my dad would kill Zak for sure. As much as I hated and distrusted the man who had made me fall for him, I couldn’t allow our baby to grow up without his or her father in their life.
I told myself it wasn’t about protecting Zak. This was about making sure that my baby had both parents in their life. Taking my child’s father away from them would be self-serving, and while I wanted to be the most selfish I’d ever been in my entire life, I simply couldn’t do that to an innocent baby.
“Danger isn’t the only thing you need to be prepared for. And if you pay attention, then maybe you’ll be lucky enough to be prepared for all the true ugliness that is out there.”
Quinn Hannigan’s voice floated through my head, haunting me. She’d been right. The world was dangerous, and I’d been too blind to see the ugly deception playing out right in front of my eyes by the man I’d fallen in love with.
Zak
The first place I thought to look was the Volkov compound. But the guards at the gate told me they hadn’t seen Sofia. The majority of the lights in the mansion were off when I glanced at the house, and I had to make the hard decision of calling the man’s bluff and demanding to be allowed in to see for myself, or risk waking Adrian and Victoria if their daughter wasn’t inside.
If she was in there, then at least I knew she was safe with her parents. But if she wasn’t, then I would be wasting valuable time searching for her.
