“Married?” Something inside me told me this was wrong. I had to fight. I had to stop it. But my muscles refused to move, and that crippling apathy washed over me.
What was the point? I could run, but where? I didn’t know where I was or where to go. I had no numbers or even names of friends in my head.
I’d never been more alone.
He led me through the empty church, past the deserted pews to the altar, which was positioned under a gigantic wooden cross.
The priest turned to us and nodded meaningfully.
My apparent fiancé passed him a thick envelope of cash.
“Dearly beloved, we are here today to join Ivan Markovic and, um...”
The priest looked at me, and I stared blankly at him.
“Katarina Dmitrova,” Ivan supplied.
“ . . . Katarina Dmitrova together in holy matrimony.”
I felt sick. I could barely stand up. I was hot and cold, like I had a fever coming on. I clutched at Ivan’s arm to stay standing. Something burned against my chest, and I dug around for it in the neckline of the lacy dress.
I pulled it free as the priest went through his lines.
It was a chain. The kind someone in the military might wear. It had a name on it. I peered closely at it, Ivan and the priest not even noticing that I wasn’t listening. I’d seen it before. I was sure. It felt familiar.
“Then, in the power vested in me by?—”
Boom. Boom. Boom.
Something hard knocked on the heavy old wood door of the chapel, the sound echoing throughout the room.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
The sound seemed to shake the entire place. It felt for a moment like it was coming from underneath the stone floor. Like someone was knocking from the very underworld itself.
Then, someone cleared their throat.
“I think you’ve missed a section, Father.” The voice was deep and rich, arrogant, and something else—furious. Yes, there was fury in the tone.
It weakened my knees.
The priest stared into the darkness beyond the nave. “Who dares to interrupt a wedding?”
Footsteps sounded. Someone walked across the stone floor somewhere, but there were too many shadowy corners to see where he was coming from. The acoustics of the church made the voice echo around.
“You missed the section where you ask if anyone objects to this marriage.”
“Who the fuck is there?” Ivan demanded, and drew something from behind his jacket.
A gun.
The sight of it was like a punch to the gut. I tried to step back, but he kept me close.
“Go ahead and do the ceremony properly, Father. We’ll all wait,” the voice continued.
Ivan peered into the murkiness and took a step in that direction, apparently going to investigate who was speaking.
Then there was a strange sound, like a zipper being drawn quickly closed, and a chunk of stone flew out of the pillar beside Ivan’s head, gouged out by a bullet.