“Everyone breaks. You’re just not trying hard enough.”
“We’ve been at this for three hours. She’s stubborn.”
Viktor crosses to where I’m tied to the chair. Grabs my chin and forces my head up so I’m looking at him. “You’re protecting Cassian Rourke,” he says in English. “We know he pulled the trigger. We just need you to confirm it.”
I spit blood at his feet.
He releases my chin. Wipes his hand on his pants like touching me contaminated him. “Your sons,” he says. “Finn and Liam.Five years old. They live at the Vance estate with tight security. But security can be breached. Children can disappear.”
Ice floods my veins despite the pain. “You won’t touch them.”
“Won’t I? You think your family can protect them forever? One mistake, one gap in coverage, and they’re gone. Just like you.”
“Julian will kill you if you go near them.”
“Perhaps. But you’ll never know because you’ll be dead long before we make our move.”
He’s bluffing. Has to be. Going after the boys would start a war the Petrovs can’t win.
But the fear still claws at my chest.
“Tell me who killed Dmitri and this ends. You go home to your sons. We get our justice. Everyone walks away.”
“I don’t know who killed him.”
“You’re lying.”
“Multiple people were shooting that night. It was chaos. I couldn’t tell who fired what.”
Viktor studies my face. Looking for cracks in the lie. Finding none. “Continue,” he tells his men. Then he leaves.
The torture starts again.
This time they use fists. Hitting areas that are already bruised. Building on damage they’ve already done. My face swells. Blood runs from my nose, my mouth, a cut above my eye that won’t stop bleeding.
Between hits, they ask the question.
Who killed Dmitri Petrov?
I think about Finn. The way he laughs when Cassian pretends to drop him during their roughhousing. The way he runs to his father without hesitation, trusting completely that he’ll be caught.
I think about Liam. The serious way he watches Cassian build things, asking careful questions, absorbing every detail like he’s memorizing it for later.
They need their father. I won’t take that from them.
The men stop hitting me. One of them cuts the ropes on my wrists and ankles. I collapse forward, can’t hold myself upright anymore.
They leave me on the concrete floor. My ribs scream with every breath. My shoulder won’t move right. Blood pools under my cheek.
The door closes. Lock turns.
I’m alone.
The silence is almost worse than the pain. Gives me too much time to think about how long this has been going on. How long I can hold out. Whether Cassian is even looking for me or if the Petrovs made sure no one knows where I am.
I close my eyes and see the park. Last weekend. All of us together. Cassian pushing Liam on the swings while Finn climbed the jungle gym. The boys laughing. Happy. Safe.
That’s what I’m protecting.
