The Deep End

Chapter 27

•Polina•

Sofka gives a stretch and a yawn as her eyes slowly open. She blinks for a few seconds before glancing over at me, a frown tugging at her lips. "Did you even sleep?"

"I wasn't tired." I muttered and slid out from beneath the cover, eager to get the day started. I'm on an unknown timeframe so the sooner I get everything done, the better. I don't know how long it will take Enzo to search all of Luís Juarez's properties but hopefully it takes him longer due to his current issues with Giovanni. If they find my father first, what I'm about to do will all have been for nothing.

I grab my duffle bag and shut myself in the bathroom before she can say anything else. I love my sisters but they'll never understand the way I feel about our captors no matter how much I try to explain it and I know when I tell them what my plans are they'll try to talk me out of it. Nothing they could say would change my plans. I have to go back and at least confront Enzo and Luca. They thought they could just discard me and move on with life as if I didn't exist. I refuse to go quietly.

I dig through the duffle bag for clothes to wear but freeze when my fingers brush against the smooth handle of something I've held many times. It can't be. I toss the clothes aside, revealing my knives tucked into my leather sheaths. The same ones I had strapped to my thighs when I distracted the Italians so Alexei could take Nolani. My chest aches, fury burning hot in my stomach as the sight of them only solidified this obviously being planned well before the standoff with Giovanni. Angry tears prick my eyes but I refuse to shed another over them. No, all they'll get is my fury, my wrath. I need to push any thoughts of them out of my head, go back to the controlled, trained version of myself I once knew.

I get dressed in a pair of jeans, a sage green top and black combat boots. The outfit feels familiar, something I've worn more than a thousand times before I became a captive which is why I'd chosen it when we shopped and it helps me in my attempt to slip back into the old me, the one before I became a captive. I need my old logical mindset that wasn't blinded by two men. I shove all the clothes back in the bag, hiding my knives beneath the fabric. They aren't needed for the first part of my plan but as soon as they are I'll wear them again and maybe when I see them again I'll be the one leaving marks on their skin.

I quickly brush my teeth and fix my hair before leaving the bathroom to face my sisters. Both Sofka and Aleksandra are sitting up in their beds as I toss my duffle bag onto the floor.

"Are you going somewhere?" Sofka asks, eyeing my outfit.

"Not without us she isn't." Aleksandra demands, tossing the blankets aside and rising to her feet. Her hair is a tangled mess, her pajamas sleep rumpled and there's an imprint from her pillow on her cheek.

"You two should stay here, that's the safest option for you. What I'm going to do is really ignorant but it's the only way." I state, mentally urging them to listen.

"The only way to do what?" Sofka inquires.

"To find our father." I answer simply.

"Well you aren't doing it without us so you might as well tell us your plan." Aleksandra argues.

I sigh, knowing there's no getting around her stubborn nature and reluctantly tell them my plan. Even after I'm done I try my best to convince them to stay in the hotel room but they refuse to let me do this alone. Aleksandra is still upset with me over the part of my plan that involves our father but she'll have to get over it, it's non negotiable. They get dressed and we leave the safety of the hotel room. I feel uneasy out in the open in Moscow without any weapons even within the walls of the hotel. It's a nice hotel but the prettiest faces often hide the ugliest souls so I don't dare let my guard down as we go downstairs.