I swallow hard. Sudden flashes of finding Ivy stumbling on the streets hit me.
She’d been without our son, and at the time I’d believed what I wanted to believe—that she had escaped, fought her way out just to find me in order for us to come together and get our son back. That she was brave for overcoming everything she went through and still survived at the end of it.
Now, questions fill my mind. One I never bothered to ask until now.
Howdidshe get out?
Why did she leave Leo behind?
Why didn’t she bring him with her if she’d had the chance?
None of it makes sense, unless… she wasn’t allowed to take him with her. Unless Mikhail had promised to return him in exchange for a favor if she cooperated. Could it be that this entire time, she hasn’t been free at all?
She’s been leveraged. Used. Held captive on a leash with a monster holding onto the other side of it.
My jaw clenches, hard enough that I feel my knuckles crack. “She’s being forced, Matvey. Blackmailed.”
He doesn’t react. Not visibly, anyway. While he doesn’t agree, he doesn’t argue either. He simply sits there with the light from the monitors washing over his face in shifting shadesof blue and gray. “Blackmailed to do what? She’s barely left that room since she got here.”
I can hear the unspoken questions in his voice. If she’s being blackmailed, what’s the objective? Why the avoidance? Why hasn’t she made any moves yet?
My teeth grit. “Is there a transcript of what was said during the call?”
He shakes his head.
I close my eyes for a moment. Behind my lids, I force myself to picture Ivy the way she looked just a few hours ago curled up beside me in our bed. That’s the woman I’ve held, the woman who’s whispered our son’s name in her sleep. She’s given me no reason not to trust her.
No reason but Matvey’s screen and the hard, ugly facts glowing back at me.
If what he’s found is true, if she’s indeed communicating with Mikhail, then everything I thought I knew about the last few days becomes a minefield. She may not want to be doing it, she may have no choice, but if she’s reporting back to him about what we’re planning, then every step we take is already compromised. Every move we make brings us ten steps behind.
I let out a slow breath through my nose. Moving forward, we’ll have to be smarter than we’ve ever been. I’ll have to plan with one eye on our enemy and one on the person lying next to me at night. We’ll have to keep Ivy ignorant, not because I want to, but because it’s the only way to see who’s pulling which strings.
“Update the others when they’re up. I’ll keep Ivy occupied for the time being. We’re going to treat this like an infiltration. Since we know where the facility is now where he’s staying, we’ll send soldiers to stake it out and report back.”
Matvey nods once, fingers already twitching toward his keyboard. “I’ll see what I can do about getting eyes inside.”
“Thank you.” I rise from the chair, my knees stiff, my body already moving on autopilot. But as I turn to leave, his voice cuts through the hum of the monitors, halting me mid-stride.
“You’re still going to trust her?”
I stop as the question hangs in the air. It’s a valid one, the kind I’d be asking my other generals if we were in another timeline and they were the one in my shoes. Unfortunately, in a situation like this, there are no real right answers. None that will satisfy the both of us. My heart can’t simply erase the feelings it has for the woman only a few yards down the hallway. Yet at the same time, my brain cannot erase the facts staring me down on Matvey’s screen.
In the end, I draw in a slow breath and say, “I don’t believe she’s betraying us. She’s protecting our son. There’s no other reason for her to do something like this. She’d do anything to protect him.”
His brow furrows, the faintest crack in his mask bleeding through. “You just said it yourself… she will do anything to protect him. That includes betraying you,Pakhan. That includeskillingyou if she believes it’s the only way to keep him breathing.”
A breath leaves me, almost a laugh, but it’s far too hollow sounding to be called one. I let my mouth curve into a smile, though, small and humorless. Something in it makes Matvey blink. “If it comes to that, I would rather die by her hands than anyone else’s.”
His eyes blow wide, surprise flickering across his features. For once, Matvey is speechless. In all the years I’ve known him, he’s never once looked so… fearful. He’s seen more horrific things than most people and yet now he’s staring at me like this is the worst one yet.
Perhaps it is. APakhanwillingly accepting death driven by the hands of their significant other. To anyone else on the outside, it would look horrific, but on the inside, it’s rather poetic.
I leave him with that, the silence between us louder than any argument he could start up to try and get me to change my mind.
14
IVY
