“You always bring trouble,” she says. “You also bring love. Come.”
She bends to Nadia.
“My little bird,” she says with a tender smile. “You’ll be safe here.”
Nadia drops the bear long enough to throw her arms around my aunt’s neck.
“Tyotya,” she says. “Can I stay with you?”
“You can stay as long as you need,” my aunt says. “I have soup. I have cartoons. I have the angry cat.”
Nadia smiles. “She scratches boots,” she says.
“Yes,” my aunt says. “She hates leather. We accept her as she is.”
Anastasia steps into view.
“Hello, Aunt Tanya,” she says. “I’m Anastasia.”
“I know your face,” my aunt says. “You watch my great-niece. You do a good job. She talks about you. Come in.”
We move into the small apartment. The living room holds a worn sofa, a table, and a low cabinet with an old TV. Plants sit on the window ledge. The air is warm.
Nadia runs to the window to look for the cat. The animal stays hidden for now.
I pull my aunt aside.
“She will stay here for some days,” I say quietly. “Vlad has men outside. You lock the door. You do not open it for anyone except the guards you know or me. If something feels wrong, you call this number.” I hand her a phone with one number saved.
She takes it and nods.
“This is about that woman,” she says. “The one who holds your heart in both hands.”
“Yes,” I say. “It is about her. And about enemies who do not fight cleanly.”
She looks at my face for a long second.
“You always walked on the edge,” she says. “Now you carry a child there too. Bring her mother back,Seryozha. This girl’s eyes already look too old.”
“I know,” I say.
Nadia runs back and grabs my leg.
“Papa,” she says. “You will come back.”
“I will,” I say.
She reaches up. I pick her up and hold her tightly. Her arms wrap around my neck.
She pulls back a little and presses something into my hand.
“You take him,” she says. It is the bear.
“He is your guard,” I say. “He should stay with you.”
She shakes her head. “I haveTyotyaand the cat,” she says. “You have no one on the road. Take him. He will remind you to hurry.”
My throat tightens.
