Prologue

October 1921

"I'm coming to get you!" The girl giggled. She ran around the wooden coffee table with a stuffed bear between her fragile fingers. Her padded feet hit the soft carpet with a thud.

"No, you're not!" Laughed the younger one, running in the opposite direction.

Imitating the bear's voice, the girl shouted, "You know you want to hug me, Peggy!"

"No, no, no!" Peggy yelled. She giggled darlingly, her supple cheeks quickly becoming a rosy pink.

Amanda, Peggy's mother, peered her head out from the kitchen with a damp towel in hand. "Please don't run around the table, girls. I'm sure you remember what happened last time."

"Yes Mum," Peggy groaned. "C'mon, Vera. Let's play something else."

"Okay," Vera giggled once again. Just as the girls began to run around the table again, a knock was heard and it seemed to come from the front door. Amanda quickly walked out of the kitchen and into the living room.

"Now, who on earth could that be? Don't they know what time it is?" Wiping her wet hands on the cloth, she opened the front door, revealing an interesting-looking couple. A man, who stood about six feet tall in a grey three-piece suit, and a woman, who wore black pants and a black blazer around her shoulders.

"Oh, goodness," said Amanda in disbelief. "We weren't expecting you back so soon. Please, come in."

"Yes," the woman smiled. "Important business. You understand."

"Of course."

Peggy and Vera stood still, watching the interaction between the couple and Amanda. "Who is that?"

Even though Peggy had been talking to her, Vera hadn't been paying a bit of attention. Her focus was on the strangely-familiar man and woman. She hadn't seen them for so long, she could hardly recognize who they were. "I think those are my parents."

"Huh?"

Amanda quickly turned her body around to face the girls. "Vera, dear, your parents are here to collect you."

Vera's mother, Yuri stepped inside first with her arms wide open. "Come to Mother, Vera."

Vera's eyes were held wide open and bloodshot. Her small, pink lips quivered and her hands shook. Quietly, she took three steps back to stand next to Peggy. "No."

"No?" her mother questioned. She bent down to Vera's level, meeting her eye to eye. "I'm afraid I don't understand what you mean, dear."

A tear fell on Vera's cheek as she faced the woman. "I'm not going."

As she spoke her final thoughts, Yuri stood up fully and looked back at her husband. She must have said something to him as he nodded and made a beeline toward the girls.

Amanda, who stood by the front door and watched, ran quickly to where he was headed. Rudolf stopped in his tracks as she stood protectively before the girls.

"Can't she stay for a few more weeks?" Amanda asked, clasping her hands together. "I've just put them in a very nice school; they have lovely friends here."

Yuri stepped up, putting a hand on her husband's shoulder. "You should not meddle in our business, Amanda."

"Yes, I understand, but if you would just consider–"

"It has already been decided," Rudolf said, reaching for something on his belt. Without warning, he pointed the gun at Amanda's temple and held it there.

Amanda's body went stiff as her eyes widened. She'd known that Rudolf and Yuri's business was extremely private and dangerous, but she had no clue it would have come to this extent.

"Mommy, no!" Peggy screamed as salty tears fell on her blushed face. She ran to hug her mother's legs until Rudolf reached his leg bag and kicked her out of the way.

"Leave her alone!" Vera screamed. She ran towards her father and attempted to land a blow to his body, but her weak figure wasn't enough to hold him back.

As everything unfolded, Yuri grabbed her arm tightly and dragged her outside. She kicked and screamed, trying to get her mother to let go.

"It's no use, child," Yuri said. "You're fate was decided the day you were born."

As she slung Vera's frail body into the backseat of the car, she pulled out a small needle. She held the squirming girl down and injected the needle into one of her blue veins.

Slowly, Vera's eyes fluttered shut. She didn't fight anymore.

•─────•⧗•─────•

As Vera's eyes whisked open, she quickly realized she wasn't where she was supposed to be. She lay on a cold and hard surface. Lifting herself off the cold cement, her muscles ached while her head throbbed in pain.

She looked around the room, attempting to remember where she was or how she got there. The room was dark and the walls were sloppily painted a dark gray. There was a small window to the room's right with metal bars in between.

She blinked to adjust her eyes to the light as white specks filled her vision. Looking around, she noticed dozens of eyes staring back at her. Little girls were lined around the walls, sitting with their knees against their chests. Most of them were crying or shaking.

Vera was smushed between two girls. Turning to her right, she asked, "What is this place?"

The girl that sat beside her had a dark complexion. Her black hair was messy and tangled and she wore dark circles under her eyes. The girl only shrugged her shoulders, not making eye contact with Vera. Eventually, her eyes began to water too.

Suddenly, the big, metal door in the corner of the room burst open, revealing multiple soldiers dressed in black and a young man with a mustache. He chuckled as he set his eyes on them.

"Girls, welcome to your new home."