My mama cried out, my baby brother and sister beside her started screaming, too.
“Levan! What the fuck is going on!” my papa shouted. But Levan flicked his finger to his guards.
The guards rushed toward our table, and I froze. Zoya started crying against my neck. I held her close with one arm as Anri kept tight hold of my other hand.
The guards rushed to my mama and my grandmama and hauled them to their feet. Two guards took my baby brother and sister. They were screaming for Mama as they were dragged behind.
Anri jumped to his feet, as did I. I held Zoya in my arms. We tried to back away. Guards came for us. I gripped Zoya tighter, her arms locked around my neck. I fought for air as fear stole my breath. Then, out of nowhere, a guard rushed forward and wrapped his arms around Zoya.
Zoya screamed against my neck. Everyone was screaming, the sound deafening my ears. Dropping Anri’s hand, I reached for my little sister. But the guard was stronger.
Her terrified dark eyes met mine and tears fell down her face. “Zaal!” she screamed. Her hand reached out for me to save her.
“Zoya!” I screamed back, but a guard grabbed me from behind.
The place was in chaos, my family screaming, guards shouting, and my papa fighting to get free. My head whipped around searching for my brother as my feet left the floor, the guard holding me in the air.
He was beside me, fighting to get free. “Anri!” I called. His brown eyes found mine.
“Zaal!” he called back, gripping on to his necklace. “Dzlier. Be strong. Keep strong.” Tears fell down my cheeks, but I forced myself to keep strong.
“Zaal!” Zoya called, her little arms trying to reach me from across the yard.
Jakhua stepped forward, stared at me and Anri, then clicked his hand to the wall against our house.
The guards holding my grandmama, Papa, Mama, Zoya, Dmitry, and Lena, dragged them to the long wall that stretched around the back of the house.
Anri and I were kept back. Jakhua walked toward us. I watched my papa’s face pale. “No!” he shouted. “Get off my boys!”
Jakhua stood beside us and gripped our faces in his hands. He forced us to look forward and he hissed, “Watch, boys. Don’t you dare move your eyes.”Mama and Grandmama held our brothers and sisters against their legs, trying to protect them. But Zoya, kept her head facing us, all the time watching me.
Her pretty face was scrunched up and she called out, “Zaal!”
I roared and fought to get free. I wanted to be with my family. I could hear Anri doing the same. Trying to get to our family.
“You fucked us all when you murdered the Tolstoi, Iakob. And I don’t plan on being stuck here in Georgia forever. The Volkovs have banned us from every good trade route, and it’s all your fault. I should never have backed you in killing Matvei. I’ve made new connections with the Arzianis. They have enterprises in the U.S. and in Moscow. You, the Kostavas … you’re done.”
My papa shook his head. My eyes focused on my family’s terrified faces, my gaze lingering on Zoya’s crying eyes. Then Jakhua lifted his arm, and a second later, dropped it. The guns began to fire.
The sound of my family screaming hit my ears first. Anri and my screams added to the chaos. Then the blood started to pour. Red liquid pooled on the pavement and ran down the back wall of the house.
My heart pumped too fast. My whole body shook as my family, one by one, slumped to the ground. Dead. All dead.
When the gunfire stopped, silence reigned. I could hear Anri breathing heavily. I was panting, too. I stared straight ahead. When the guards moved aside, my knees grew weak and I fell to the ground.
Blood. My family dead, drowned in their own blood.
My hands shook. A rage built up my throat. Then, with tears in my eyes, I screamed. My heart broke as I looked at my family on the ground … my little brother and sisters … Zoya’s body trapped underneath my grandmama’s, her hand reaching for me, now still and lifeless.
Anri screamed beside me as I vomited on the floor.
Blood. All I could see was blood.
Jakhua then moved before me and Anri. He spoke to the guards. “Knock them out. Get them in the van. We’re done here. Leave the bodies. They can rot in the sun.”
I held my stare at my dead family. Then I felt a hand grip on to mine. I looked to the side, my eyes blurred with tears. Anri’s devastated face stared back at me.
I wanted to speak, I tried, but no words came. I was racked with pain, so much I didn’t think I would breathe ever again.
I was staring into Anri’s eyes when everything went black.