I'm hoping he's talking about the pregnancy, but I have a sinking feeling he's not.
“Remember what I said this morning? This is not the direction you're supposed to be going in. I told you?—"
“You have no idea how much danger you're in,” he grinds out, his eyes flickering with anger and concern. “And now you’re having twins. Twins can mean complications, high blood pressure, the babies arriving too early?—"
“How do you know all of this?” I cut him off.
“My grandmother told me. My father was a twin, but his sibling died before birth.”
“Great, thanks for the encouraging words,” I mutter.
“Sonya, you have to understand. This is no joke.” Matvei's eyes are piercing, pleading.
“No one is taking this as a joke, Matvei. Least of all me. I'm the one who has to carry them and deal with the consequences.”
“If you'd only try to understand how much danger?—”
“Yes, that's all you've been telling me about—danger, danger, danger. But you're not listening to me. I'm not going to become someone I don't recognize because I slept with the wrong guy and got pregnant with his twins.”
He stares at me as I stand up and pull my sweater over my slight baby bump.
“You know what? I'm tired of this. I'm going back to my apartment. Send whoever you want after me, but that's where I'm staying. And if you want me to stay where you can find me, you'd better respect that.”
I leave before he can say anything else, pushing past the nurse with the pamphlets about twins in her hand, so furious I can barely see straight.
22
SONYA
Two weeks later
The dim late afternoon light slants through the blinds, painting Kelly's kitchen in stripes of gold and shadow. I sit at her small table, my hands wrapped around a mug of tea that's gone cold.
Outside is the dull hum of traffic, but inside, it's quiet, Kelly’s steady presence pressing down the chaos that's taken root inside me. I feel hollow and raw, like everything I thought I had figured out has been stripped away. I keep glancing at my phone, half-hoping, half-dreading that Matvei will call.
He won't. Not right now.
Kelly steps away from the counter, sits across from me, and sets her own mug down with a deliberateclink. Her brows knit together as she studies me, and I know she's searching for the right words to say, or at least ones sharp enough to cut through the mess I'm in.
“You look like you haven't slept in days.” Her voice is oddly quiet for my outspoken sister. Her touch is gentle when she puts her hand over mine, but her gaze is piercing. “Sonya, you need a plan. Hiding out isn't going to change anything.”
I manage a weak laugh. “I’m not hiding. I'm staying at my own apartment. How is that hiding?”
Kelly leans forward. “You have options, you know. You don't have to do this alone.” She hesitates, searching my face, then continues, “Have you thought about talking to Organized Crime? They could get you protection. You could be a witness for the prosecution. They'd take down Samson, Matvei, all of them.”
I shake my head and stare down at my trembling hands. “I know, Kelly. I just?—”
“You just what? You know it’s the right thing to do and I know precisely what Matvei is—I've seen it with my own eyes.”
But wasn't that to save my life? I haven't seen his books or his accounts. I don't know anything about his illegal dealings or what his shipments contain. Arms? Drugs? Not people, I know that much down to my bones. Never people.
“I don't have that kind of information on him.” My voice is barely a whisper. I know that's not the only reason I can't be a witness against the biggest Russian crime lord in Chicago, the one whose bed I've shared, the one whose children I carry. “I know it might be wrong, Kelly, but I just can't do that to him.”
My sister's green eyes flash, and I know I'm putting her in a bad situation as an officer of the law. But I’m one too, and if I don't know anything, she doesn't, either. Nothing we're doing is illegal.
“Maybe I’m being selfish, but there is no way I can go back and pretend to have feelings for him just to get dirt on him. Hell, I do have feelings for him. It’s… complicated.”
Kelly sighs, her expression softening. “It's not selfish to want to protect someone you care about. But you have to decide what you're willing to risk. Staying silent isn't going to make this go away.”
