We reached the rented black Mercedes.
I threw us inside, slammed the doors, and hit the locks so hard the car shook.
My hands fumbled on the gear shift.
Then—
SCREEEEEECH—
We shot out of the gravel drive, tires spitting stones, engines roaring, leaving a trail of dust, gasps, and scandal behind us.
Twenty minutes later, we were inside the hotel suite.
Door triple-locked. Curtains drawn. Shoes kicked off.
My lungs finally cooperating again.
I collapsed face-first onto the bed, chest heaving, adrenaline draining out so fast I felt boneless.
“Vanya,” I rasped, rolling over onto my back, “why in God’s name did you run to him?”
He stood at the edge of the bed, his cheeks flushed, fists still balled like he was ready to fight the entire mafia for me.
“He’s my dad,” Vanya said fiercely. “Isn’t he?”
I pressed my hands over my face. “He doesn’t know that, Vanya. And you do not—you do not—just march up to a man like Dmitri Volkov. Things could have gone so much worse.”
“He’s not a stranger.”
Vanya’s voice softened, but the stubborn line of his mouth didn’t move.
Then his little body straightened, like he’d just remembered why he wasn’t afraid.
He dug both hands into his pockets—rummaging, determined, lips pressed tight the way he did when solving a puzzle.
“Vanya,” I whispered, warning and plea tangled together.
But he ignored me.
A second later, he yanked his hand free and held something up with small, triumphant fingers.
A phone.
Matte black. Titanium case. The faint scratch on the corner—so familiar it made my chest seize.
My lips parted, breath catching. “Where... where did you get that?” I whispered, barely
Vanya lifted his chin, eyes blazing with small, fierce pride, the triumph of a child who had just outwitted a giant. “I took it when I tugged at his trousers. I wanted proof.”
The words hit me harder than any blow.
My body froze, time stretching, the world narrowing to the tiny, perfect figure in front of me and the phone burning like a secret in his hand.
For a moment, I couldn’t move.
Then I snatched the phone, hands shaking so violently I nearly dropped it. The screen flared to life the moment my thumb brushed it.
I went still. Completely, utterly still.
