Alexei swears violently in Russian. Luk exhales a long, heavy breath. Lev is rigid beside me.
The room tilts. Ice runs through my veins, then fire.
Spalding isn’t just dirty FBI. He’s working with De la Rosa. It was never just about bribery, shells, and offshore funds—it was about revenge. A counterattack for what we did to the cartel, for burning his empire to the ground.
And now he has Astrid and our unborn children.
“How the hell did this happen?” Alexei snaps, pacing again, tension etched into every line of his body.
“They kept their partnership quiet,” Elena says. “Shells, proxies, digital shadows. Astrid and I were just getting close?—”
“Astrid found the connection,” I say, barely recognizing the sound of my own voice. “She messaged me earlier. We were supposed to talk about it tonight. She found their first transaction.”
Lev curses. “They got to her first.”
Luk turns, his presence filling the room, his voice low and steady. “We need to move quickly. We don’t have long. They’ll use her for leverage.”
He doesn’t have to explain. If Spalding brings the FBI down on us using Astrid as a weapon, they’ll rip everything apart—our operations, our accounts, our family. Decades of work, power, influence, all swept away in federal raids and courtroom theater.
Lev steps closer. “We don’t know what Spalding’s endgame is yet.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Alexei says fiercely. “We find them. We end it.”
Elena swivels in her chair, eyes locking onto mine. There’s steel in her gaze, an iron resolve beneath the anger and worry. “Yuri?”
I exhale sharply, every muscle tense, adrenaline coursing through my veins. “We mobilize everyone,” I say. “No mistakes, no second chances. Find Spalding, find De la Rosa, and bring Astrid home.”
Lev nods sharply. “Done.”
I stare at Astrid’s frozen image on the screen—head slumped, helpless, at their mercy. My chest tightens, anger and fear intertwining like poison.
Spalding and De la Rosa think they’ve pulled the rug from under us. But what they don’t understand, what they’ve never understood, is that the Ivanovs thrive in chaos.
For a moment, the room is deathly quiet as if everyone’s waiting for a match to strike, a spark that will ignite everything. Elena’s eyes hold mine, searching for guidance, strength, and answers I can’t quite give yet.
Luk breaks the silence. “Yuri, what aren’t you telling us?”
I exhale slowly. I’d planned on waiting for the perfect moment, something private and quiet, a gift to share with Astrid by my side. But now, there’s no more waiting. Not with Astrid’s life hanging by a thread.
“She’s pregnant,” I say, voice steady despite the tightness gripping my throat. “Astrid is carrying my twins.”
Luk’s expression shifts, something warm and unguarded flashing behind the anger. Lev’s brows lift sharply, a rare softness washing briefly across his features. Alexei lets out a stunned, whispered curse.
Elena’s hands fly to her mouth, her eyes wide. “Oh my God. Yuri, are you serious?”
“Wait,” Luk says. “Twins?”
“Twins,” I confirm quietly. “Astrid’s pregnant with my children.”
The reaction is immediate. Elena rushes forward, pulling me into an embrace fierce enough to leave bruises. “Twins,” she whispers, her voice full of awe.
Lev grips my shoulder firmly, his silent nod conveying all the support and pride he can’t quite say aloud. Alexei is grinning—stunned, delighted, utterly disbelieving. Even Luk’s stoicism cracks, his eyes glistening with pride and something softer, infinitely more human than I’m used to seeing.
“Congratulations, brother,” he says quietly.
“Thanks,” I say, emotion tangling in my chest, my throat tight. “But now you understand why we have no choice. The stakes have never been higher.”
Elena nods sharply, her expression sobering fast. “Spalding couldn’t have known about this.” She turns back to the monitors, fingers flying across the keyboard again. “He’s made a mistake. And we’ll use it to destroy him.”
