Free The Jersey Vignettes by Bethany-Kris

room,” he shouted.
    Ana blinked, holding a crying Sasha tighter.
    “Go, Ana!”
    Koldan’s hand hit Ana’s back hard, lurching her forward. Rapid pops, one after the other, sounded downstairs. Her heart pounded out of control, threatening to leap right out of her chest. She hit the hallway running with Koldan right on her heels. Ana yanked open the doorway to Daniil’s room just as Koldan turned the doorknob on Adrik’s.
    “Ma?” Ana heard little Daniil cry.
    The noise downstairs got louder.
    “Come here, baby,” Ana whispered, trying to keep calm for her son.
    What was happening downstairs?
    Who would do that?
    Ana grabbed Daniil’s little hand in hers, trying to pretend like her own wasn’t shaking. Koldan had a sleepy, confused Adrik in his arms as he jerked his head toward the back of the hallway. Ana followed his lead. Quickly, Ana found herself inside a room in their house she had never needed to use. It was a small, eight by six box surrounded by ten inch thick steel. It had an air ventilation system and food stocked. It also had two little cots. Once closed completely, the door couldn’t be reopened from the outside. A monitor was set up for the people inside the safe room so they could hear what was going on outside, and there were several camera shots showing the house on three separate screens.
    Koldan sat Adrik to the floor and turned, hitting the red button on the wall.
    Ana watched in silence and terror as the door to the room began to close and her husband didn’t come inside. She held onto Sasha as the baby girl cried for her father. She didn’t let go of little Daniil’s hand when he reached out for Koldan, asking for him to stay.
    “Koldan,” Ana whispered.
    Koldan touched two fingers to his lips and then turned away.

Chapter Eighteen
     
    Ana stayed still and quiet behind the steering wheel of her Benz as her mother helped Daniil and Adrik out of the backseat. Viviana unbuckled little Sasha from her car seat and cooed at the child.
    “Ana?” Viviana asked softly.
    “Yeah, Ma?”
    “I’ll take the kids in and get them something to eat. Sound good?”
    “Sure. Thanks, Ma.”
    Ana said nothing when her father slid into the passenger seat. Anton waited until Viviana and the kids were inside the house before he turned to his daughter.
    “Talk to me, dushka ,” Anton said.
    Ana shuddered, her fingers clenching tight around the steering wheel until her knuckles turned white. “I just … had to leave. I can’t even go inside my house because of the fucking cops. My kids were in that house. I can’t …”
    “You’re okay,” Anton said gently. “The boys and Sasha are fine. Koldan did well, Ana. He made sure you were protected and safe. What more could he have done?”
    “Not brought it into my home at all!” Ana shouted.
    Anton flinched. “Oh, my dushka … you just don’t get it. Do you honestly believe that man wanted a bunch of gang members to storm your house and shoot it up? Do you truly think he would put you and his children in that position, Ana?”
    “It happened,” Ana argued. “If it wasn’t for the goddamn men he had watching the house—”
    “Ana, stop it.”
    Ana sucked in a deep breath, choking on a sob. “That was too real.”
    Anton frowned. “Ana, this life is not a game.”
    “I know that!”
    “Then you know that Koldan did his best. He did everything he should have. And you cannot run away from your marriage and your choices every time something happens that you don’t like, dushka . How is that love, Ana? How is that showing him that you understand and that you forgive his mistakes and accept him for who he is?”
    Ana cringed. “I didn’t run away.”
    “You did or you wouldn’t be in Little Odessa right now,” Anton argued.
    “Stop it,” Ana whispered, willing the tears away.
    She couldn’t stop the damned things. They were like a constant flood of her emotions and hurt streaking down her face. How she made the two and a half hour