He kicks the knife out of my hand. Then he crouches, tilting my chin up with a gloved hand. “Don’t worry, my friend. I’ll take care of you, just like you took care of my niece.”
I make a vow as I run. Not the vow I thought I was going to make tonight, but a vow nonetheless.
I will leave Sasha Ozerov behind me.
Every step is an underscore on that promise. I’m gonna leave him behind me. All of him. Every kiss, every touch, every murmur he ever whispered in my ear when the lights were off and it was just the two of us pressed skin-to-skin beneath the sheets. It all stays in the past.
The snow stabs at my throat as I run. My breath comes in ragged clouds. I don’t slow down until the library’s silhouette fades behind me, swallowed by the iron-gray sky.
My right hand throbs. I glance down t
