I flinch, shrinking back into my chair.
Konstantin stands.
He buttons his jacket, his presence suddenly expanding to fill the room. He turns to the agent. "There’s no suspect, Miller.”
Miller stops, catching sight of the ring glittering on my finger. Instantly, the pretense falls away. The aggression vanishes from his face. The righteous lawman facade crumbles, replaced by a nervous, almost servile hesitation. He lowers the handcuffs.
What the hell?
"She signed it?" His voice has lost all its gravel. It’s respectful.
"She did," Konstantin says. "The warrant is void. Make it disappear, as we discussed."
"Consider it done, Mr. Morozov," Miller says, bowing his head slightly. "I'll handle the digital logs personally. The Director won't look twice. You know he owes you for the election matter."
"Good," Konstantin says. "Your debt is cleared."
I stare at them.
"You..." I whisper. "You know him."
Miller doesn't look at me. He focuses on the floor, unable to meet my eyes.
"You work for him," I say, raising my voice. "You aren't arresting me. You're on his payroll!"
Konstantin turns to me. "Everyone has a price, Helena," he says coldly. "Agent Miller’s price bought us the privacy we needed to finalize our union."
I examine Agent Miller, a man with a federal badge, bowing to a mob boss.
The realization crashes over me, colder than the interrogation room. Konstantin doesn't need to own the entire police force. He doesn't need an army. He just needs one.
One agent in Homeland Security. One clerk in the courthouse. One judge with a gambling debt.
He has hands everywhere. He’s a spider sitting in the center of a web that stretches across the entire city. No matter where I run, no matter which door I knock on for help, the person on the other side could be his.
I thought I was signing a marriage license to escape a system that failed me. But the system didn't fail. It worked exactly how he designed it to.
"You monster," I lunge at him, forgetting the ring. "It was all a lie! You terrified me. You put me in a cage to?—"
He catches my wrists easily and pulls me into his chest.
"I did what was necessary," he growls, his face inches from mine. "I secured my asset, and I secured my wife."
He looks at Miller.
"Leave."
"Yes, Sir," Miller says. The federal agent turns and walks out, closing the door behind him.
And just like that, we’re alone again.
"We’re leaving," Konstantin says. He holds out his hand to me. "Come,wife."
I stare at his hand. The hand that orchestrated my terror. The hand that paid men to hunt me down just so he could be the one to save me.
I stand. My legs are weak, but I force them to move. I place my hand in his. His fingers close over mine tightly.
We walk out of the interrogation room, past the empty front desk. There are no other agents, no clerks. Just an empty building he probably rented for the afternoon.
