Then I pull out slowly and step back.
She doesn’t move at first, just stays bent over the desk with her eyes closed and her whole body trembling. When she finally straightens up and turns around, her expression is shuttered, closed off, the walls already going back up.
I reach for her.
She steps away.
“Don’t.” Her voice is flat. “Don’t touch me like this, is something it isn’t.”
The rejection stings more than the slap did, but I don’t let it show.
“Anya—”
“We had sex. Angry, fucked up sex.” She’s already retrieving her ruined bra from the floor, her torn panties, gathering the pieces of herself back together. “That doesn’t mean I forgiveyou. That doesn’t mean I trust you. That doesn’t mean anything except we’re both terrible at dealing with our emotions like adults.”
She steps back into her dress, trying to hold the back closed where I destroyed the zipper.
My phone buzzes on the floor somewhere, probably knocked off the desk when we were—
I find it under a pile of scattered papers.
Luka’s text appears.Interpol filed a sanctions petition. Senate hearing in ten days.
Shit.
I text back. If anything happens to me, you get her and the brother out. Belgium first, then wherever she wants.
His response comes immediately.Understood.
“Interpol filed a sanctions petition. Senate hearing in ten days.”
She pauses.
“What does it mean?”
“I have ten days to either bring down Vadim’s empire or watch it bury us both.”
She’s quiet for a long moment, processing.
“I’ll help you. I don’t know how, but I will.” Her voice is steady now, all the cracks sealed over with ice. “Not because I trust you. Not because I forgive you. Because I refuse to add more bodies to my conscience.”
“And after?”
“After, we’ll see.” She meets my eyes, and there’s nothing soft in her gaze. “Maybe I’ll stay. Maybe I’ll take Mishka and disappear somewhere you’ll never find us. Maybe I’ll testify against you at that Senate hearing and watch you burn.”
“You wouldn’t.”
“Try me.” She walks toward the door, still holding her dress together. “You wanted a weapon, Roman. Congratulations. You got one. But weapons tend to go off when you least expect them.”
She opens the door.
“Anya.”
She pauses but doesn’t turn around.
“I wasn’t lying about all of it.” The words come out rough. “The way I feel about you. That part was real.”
She’s been quiet for so long, I think she’s not going to respond at all.
