“Neither am I,” Lila replies. “We’re not a threat.”
“She’s leverage.” He says it without raising his voice.
I keep my breathing even.
“She’s pregnant,” Lila says.
The air in the warehouse changes. Ivan’s gaze moves to me, then to my abdomen, then back to my face. His expression doesn’t change, but his eyes sharpen.
“How far along?” he demands.
“Far enough,” Lila answers before I can.
I meet his eyes. “You don’t get to ask that.”
He studies my face for a moment, then steps back. The concrete sounds hollow beneath his boots.
“This changes the timeline,” he says.
“For whom?” Lila asks.
He doesn’t answer. Instead, he reaches down and pulls a knife from inside his coat.
My shoulders tighten instinctively when he steps behind Lila. The blade flashes once under the light before he lowers it to the rope at her wrists. The fibers snap apart and she rubs at her wrists where the rope has left raised, red marks. The blood returns to her fingers in visible pulses.
He doesn’t move toward me.
“Untie her,” Lila demands.
“No.” The word is quiet.
“She’s pregnant.”
“I’m aware.”
The rope presses harder against my skin when I straighten.
“She’s not going anywhere,” he continues.
“She doesn’t need to be tied up,” Lila says, stepping closer to him. “Untie her. Now.”
“No.”
He holds her gaze without raising his voice.
Lila’s jaw clenches as she steps past him and drops to her knees behind me.
“I’ll do it myself.”
Ivan doesn’t try to stop her. Her fingers fumble at first, cold and stiff, then find the knot. The rope scrapes against my skin as she works it loose. My arms fall forward when the final loop releases, my shoulders burning as the circulation returns in heavy waves.
Lila grips my forearm to steady me.
“We’re not staying like this,” she says, her voice low and firm.
Ivan watches us both without intervening. The distance between control and defiance narrows to a few feet of concrete. And neither of them looks willing to give ground.
The industrial light hums once and then cuts out without warning. Darkness floods the warehouse. I hear his boots crossthe floor. The door opens and closes again with a solid metal click.
