The air felt thinner.
“I assumed you wanted freedom.” His jaw flexed slightly. “Freedom from me.”
He reached for the papers.
“So I decided I will give it to you. I will sign the divorce agreement — if that makes you feel uncaged. If it makes you believe I no longer have control over you.”
His voice hardened — not cruel, just certain.
“But once I do... I cannot protect you from the war that will follow. From your father. From Harris.”
The words landed heavy. Final.
“Think, Elena.”
His jaw tightened.
“Think about our daughter. About Yannis.”
His eyes shifted to the baby.
“Think about us.”
Rage exploded inside me.
“There is no ‘us’!”
My voice echoed through the room. “Not anymore.”
I turned sharply toward Harris and Vasquez.
“And you two?”
I pointed at Harris and Vasquez. “Can go straight to hell.”
My grip on the baby tightened protectively.
“I am not your pawn.”
Ruslan’s expression hardened slightly at my words — not in anger, but in quiet acknowledgment of the boundaries I was drawing.
The air in the room shifted instantly.
It felt heavier.
Like oxygen had been replaced with something poisonous.
My daughter’s soft, rhythmic breathing against my chest became the only steady sound grounding me in reality.
In contrast — the men around me radiated threat.
Power. Control. And ego.
I lifted my chin.
“No one makes me do anything I’m not willing to do.” I said, forcing steel into my tone
My eyes swept across them deliberately.
