03| A Birthday To Remember

My eyes grow wide as fear forbids me to move. 

With fear-stricken eyes, I watch as Dmitri rushes to the bedroom window, pulling a ribbed black top over his shoulders.

He stands in the shadows where the sun doesn't kiss the room, and he gazes out the window. 

Whatever is happening on the other side of the window, causes his hands to curl into tight balls of fury at his sides. 

The instant he looks back at me, I know it's bad. I immediately turn around, attempting to unlock the door so I can rush down the stairs and find my parents. 

"Net... [No...]" Dmitri growls in a hushed tone, yanking me away from the door, and he pulls me to the far corner of the room. "Get down, and don't let anyone see you through the window." He states sternly, leaving no room for me to disregard his orders. 

He moves along the wall, opens the closet door, and pulls out his duffle bag. He extracts two guns, twists the silencers on the barrels, and removes two clips; stuffing the clips into the back pockets of his jeans. 

Tears stain my cheeks with terror as I clamp my hands over my ears, wishing that the thunderous shooting would cease. 

A large shadow casts upon my quivering body, it compels me to look up and meet Dmitris' hard gaze.

He offers me his hand, "It's time to go, printsessa." 

I shake my head, "I can't..." A cold chill runs up my spine. "My parents... our parents, they're downstairs and-"

"They are gone, Zee." His voice croaks. "Everybody that is downstairs is gone."

"No!" I shake my head erratically, "I refuse to believe that." 

Only moments ago my parents were standing with me in my room, and I saw Aunt Ana and Uncle Viktor last night as they joined us for dinner.

 How can he remain so cool, calm and collected?

This has to be a bad dream, it's not real and any moment now I am going to jolt awake. 

"Can you not hear that?!" He snaps impatiently. "The thunderous cries of the countless guns discharging through the air? No one is going to survive that."

"You don't know, our parents-"

"Are fucking dead and so are we if we don't get moving, now."

I place my hand in his, and he drags me up to my feet and slips his backpack that he takes out of his closet over his shoulders.

 He takes three steps forward before he stops and looks down at my feet. 

"Take them off, they will slow you down and give away our location with their endless clicking. 

I kick my stilettos off, curling my toes into the soft carpet as I wait for him to quietly unlock the door. 

As he gently pulls it open, he reaches out for me, and I link my fingers with his. He looks over his shoulder at our joined hands then he raises his gaze to meet mine.

"On my move, we are going to run right, take the service stairs to the back entrance of the Villa and pray like blyad [fuck] that it's clear." He states firmly with his eyes boring into mine.

Too afraid to verbally answer him, I nod my head and he winks at me as he raises his gun; keeping it drawn as we take the route he just mentioned. 

We reach the bottom of the service stairwell and he pushes me flush against the wall when a door opens.

A man wearing a black ski mask steps out from behind the door, and Dmitri puts two bullets in him. 

One in the head and one in his heart. 

Dmitri lunges forward, releasing my hand and he catches the intruder before his limp, lifeless body collapses to the ground.

He drags the intruder to the bottom of the stairs, sitting him upright. He removes the gun from the dead man's grasp and shoves it into the large pot plant that stands erect by the backdoor we intend to exit. 

As Dmitri reaches my side, he searches my eyes while checking his gun. "You good?" He asks with a sigh.

I nod my head, desperately swallowing the sob that coaxes the back of my throat. "When I open the door, I want you to run as you have never run in your life before, Zee."

"Wh.. what about you?" I ask him as my limbs begin to tremble.

He cups my face with his large hands that feel warm and rough. 

"I'll be right behind you, and if for some unforeseen reason I'm not, go to the spot at the lake that we use to hang out at when we were kids. I will find you." 

"I'm afraid, D," I whisper, calling him by the name I use to call him as we were kids. 

"Don't be. You're a Volkov, and you are your parent's daughter." He utters with his eyes shimmering with wrath.

I inhale sharply, nodding my head. "You promise to find me?" I ask him, needing to hear him say it.

"There is nowhere that you can go where I will never be able to find you." He says with a promise lacing his thick accented voice. 

I nod my head, "I'm ready,"

The words come out in a shaky tone, mirroring the trembling in my bones. 

I lied... 

I'm not ready!

But, I can't let him know that.

Dmitri slowly pries the door open, he steps outside and the soft sound of his gun popping floats in the air. "Now!" He bellows.

And on his command, I push my feet off the ground, and I fucking run as I have never run before with tears streaming down my grief-stricken face. 

I don't bother to look back over my shoulder when I hear his thunderous voice urging me to run faster. 

I'm too afraid to look back on my past. 

Too afraid to see him get hurt.

But most of all, I am too afraid that the old wounds that have not fully healed, will sting with Dmitri coming back into my life like a chaotic hurricane, tearing shit apart, and rubbing salt onto my wounds.