Dad takes the folder flipping it open to scan the first page of text before his eyes move to the photo. And then he freezes. The cane slips from his grip and clatters loudly against the hardwood floor. "What the..." Kirill moves toward him instinctively, but dad looks like the air has been sucked out of the room. "How..." he whispers while staring at the photo as if he is seeing a ghost. "How is this possible?"
"Dad?" I ask as a sick feeling uncoils in my stomach. "What is going on? Who is she?"
Dad's hand shakes violently as he points at the photo. "This... this is Elizaveta?" Andrei nods slowly. "Yes, sir. That is her mother. According to the records, she passed away two years ago. The girl is currently twenty-seven."
Dad's eyes fill with tears, which is a sight so alien and impossible that I take a step back. His voice cracks, sounding raw and broken. "I need to see her. I need to see her right now." Kirill and I exchange confused looks. "Dad," Kirill says carefully. "Who is she?"
He looks up at us with a pale face, and tears stream unashamedly down his cheeks. "She is my daughter." The words hit like a sledgehammer to the chest. "What?" I choke out. "Your... daughter?" Kirill repeats with a hollow voice.
He nods as a sob catches in his throat. "Yes. She is my daughter. Elizaveta used to come to the house because she was a gardener. She tended to the flowers and the roses, and I fell in love with her." He wipes his eyes roughly with trembling hands. "We had an affair, and were together for years despite the circumstances, but my father… He was still alive then. He would not allow me to be with her, so he forced me to marry your mother instead for political reasons and for the business."
Kirill's face goes white. "So... all this time..."
"I tried to find her," dad says, his voice desperate as he pleads with ghosts we cannot see. "After my father died, I tried to find her, but she was gone. She left without telling me anything. I didn't know... I swear to God, I didn't know she was pregnant."
He looks at us with terrifying agony in his eyes. "You have a sister. A half-sister. And I just found out she exists." I feel like the ground has dropped out from under me. A sister. The girl in the cell is the girl we drugged and terrified. Kirill looks just as stunned, and his usual composure is shattered.
"Where is she?" he asks, franticly. "Where is my daughter? I need to see her. Please, take me to her." I swallow hard as acid rises in my throat. "She is in the interrogation room."
"Then take me there," he demands as he moves toward the door. "Now."
We rush down the corridor, but as we approach the interrogation wing, something feels wrong. I slow down because the hallway is too quiet. The guards that should have been posted at the door are gone.
"Where the hell are the guards?" I mutter. Kirill frowns, and his hand drifts to his waistband. "They were just here." But dad is already moving faster, ignoring the pain in his leg as his recovered cane taps urgently against the floor.
We reach the one-way mirror.
The second I look inside, my blood turns to ice.
There are five men in the room. One of them has iris pinned against the wall with his hands mauling her, while another has Tessa on the floor with her pants torn and her shirt ripped open at the collar. Both of them are fighting, sobbing, bruised, and terrified.
One of the men is unbuckling his belt. The room spins, and red clouds my vision.
Dad sees it too. His face twists in pure, unfiltered rage like a demon unleashed. "NO!" he roars, and the sound shakes the walls. I do not wait. I draw my gun and kick the door open, shattering the lock under my boot.
"GET THE FUCK OFF HER!" I fire a single round. The bullet tears through the neck of the man standing over Tessa, and he drops instantly, gurgling blood as he hits the floor. Kirill is right behind me. The second man reaches for his weapon, but Radimir's shot rings out from behind us. It is precise and lethal, hitting him right between the eyes.
He drops dead before he hits the ground. The last two freeze, stunned by the sudden violence. Kirill shoots one in the leg, making him scream and collapse. I shoot another in the shoulder, and he drops to his knees while trembling. The last one does not even try to run. He just falls to his knees with his hands raised, begging.
But dad is not done. He storms into the room with his cane raised high like a judgment gavel, and he brings it down hard across the face of the man kneeling nearest to Iris.
The crack echoes through the room like a gunshot, and blood sprays across the white walls. The man's skull splits open, and he collapses while twitching. Dad hits him again and again. His face is twisted in fury, and tears stream down his cheeks as he pummels the man.
"You DARE touch my daughter?!" he roars, his voice breaking. "YOU DARE?!"
"Dad," Kirill says as he steps forward, though he keeps his gun trained on the others. "Dad, stop. He is done." But dad does not stop until the man's face is unrecognizable meat and bone.
Finally, he drops the cane with his chest heaving, his hands covered in the blood of the man who touched his child. I ignore the carnage and rush to Tessa. She is slumped on the ground, shaking violently, and her face is a mess of bruises with blood trickling from the corner of her mouth. Her shirt is torn, exposing her skin.
My heart stops. "Tessa." I drop to my knees and strip off my jacket, wrapping it around her trembling shoulders. "I am here. You are safe. I've got you." She looks up at me for a split second, her eyes glassy with shock and unable to focus. Then her body goes limp.
She faints in my arms. "Fuck, no, no, no," I mutter as I hold her tighter and check her pulse. Across the room, dad is kneeling beside Iris, his hands shaking as he pulls off his own coat and wraps it around her.
"My baby girl," he whispers, his voice breaking into a sob. "I am so sorry. I didn't know... I never wanted this." But she is already unconscious, and her head lolls to the side. Kirill stands over the remaining men with his gun still raised and his expression murderous. "What do we do with them?"
"Keep them alive," I say, coldly. "I'll deal with them later." Dad stands, cradling Iris in his arms like she is made of glass. His face is pale and his eyes are wet, but his jaw is set in stone.
"Get the doctor," he says quietly. "Now." I carry Tessa out of that room with my heart pounding a frantic rhythm against my ribs and rage boiling in my chest. Whoever let this happen is going to pay.
