He found me.
No. He foundus.
He knows her name. Her face. Her autism. He has a file on her. One on Leon too.
A sharp sob slips out before I can stop it, and I press my palm to the cold surface beneath me. My fingers tremble as they close into fists, nails biting into my palms. I thought I was done paying the price. I thought if I stayed small, quiet, hidden, the past would stop chasingme. I was stupid. So damn stupid. And now? Now I don’t know what to do.
Suddenly, everything feels like too much. The lights. The hum of the AC. I can’t stop seeing that unnerving smile on his face. Calm. Composed. Sinister…
His words echo in my mind. Clawing down my spine again and again as nausea rises in my throat.
They never stopped watching. They were biding their time.
Waiting.
Until they could make the most use of a failed pawn.
Until they could take Sofia from me.
I squeeze my eyes shut.
My baby. My little girl with her anxious hands that find comfort in softness and hugs. My daughter who can’t stand loud noises or flashing lights. Who panics if her socks don’t sit the right way. She won’t be able to handle a crowd cheering, let alone the brutal regime of Russian training camps.
It almost broke me.
And I know that it’d break her for sure.
They’d chew her up and spit her out.
And if I fight back—if I run—they’ll kill us.
Me. Her. Leon. And Viktor probably too.
I press both hands to my mouth, biting back another sob and the choke of bile. My chest aches. I want Viktor’s strong arms around me. I want his deep voice steady in my ears, telling me it’s going to be okay—even if it’s a lie. I want to tell him everything. Let him help me carry the weight.
But even he isn’t safe.
If I tell him, if I bring him into this, Viktor will go to war for a woman he barely even knows. He’ll burn the world down trying to protect us. But they’d take him down first.
He may be Bratva, but nobody is stronger or more powerful than the Russian government.
I curl into myself, right in the middle of the rink, like I’m a young girl again, hiding in the supply closet during training. I thought I’d leftthat girl behind in Russia. But she’s still there. Shaking in the cold, wanting someone to save her.
No one saved her back then.
And I’ll be damned if I let Sofia be that girl.
I have to save her.
Even if it costs me everything.
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
VIKTOR
When I arrive home tonight, the sunny smile Avelina usually has for me isn’t there. It’s replaced by something else I don’t even know how to describe. It twists my gut. “Avelina?”
As she walks across the bedroom, she blinks like she’s waking from a daze.
