Me: Well? What did she say?
Radovan: She took the package and shut the door.
Me: And?
Radovan: She came out of her room a short while later and went to the kitchen.
He had delivered the test. She had sent me the picture—a single image of the positive result, nothing else. No message. No words. Just the photograph, sent and left to sit there.
Me: What is she doing right now?
Radovan: She asked for Spartak. Said something about stabbing me.
I rubbed my jaw.
How bad were these hormones going to get. And for how long.
“Bogdan,” I called.
The door opened immediately.
“Who’s in the office that has children?”
His expression was blank in the specific way of a man who had not been briefed for this specific question.
“Go and find someone with a child. A man. Preferably one with several.” I considered the timeline. Nine months was a significant operational period to navigate blind.“Send him up.”
I couldn’t ask my father. He was worse than me in every respect that mattered here.
Olya would handle her nutrition—she already monitored what came out of that kitchen with the focused attention of a woman who took her domain seriously. Radovan could take night duty. Iskra had no issues with Spartak, and Tau was always discreet.
He had never mentioned what he saw on the balcony that evening.
Not to me. Not to anyone, as far as I could determine.
My thoughts were interrupted by the door bursting open. Bogdan stood behind a man I didn’t recognise—middle-aged, pale, the specific expression of someone who had been collected from wherever they were and brought here without adequate explanation.
“Who is he?”
“He works in the bakery,” Bogdan said, with a shrug that suggested he had done his best with the brief he’d been given.
“You,” I said, pointing at the man.“Sit down.”
“Sir, I didn’t do anything wrong—”
“How many children do you have?”
“Please, Pakhan.” His eyes moved between Bogdan and me with increasing desperation.
“Leave us,” I told Bogdan.
I waited.
“Get away from the door,” I said.
A pause. Retreating footsteps.
“Now.” I pointed to the chair opposite me.“Sit. I have a few questions. That’s all.”
