"Lils!" Nadia snaps, sharp and immediate.
I blink up at her with a watery smile. "It's fine. I just… can King come with me?"
My voice cracks, but I'm serious. If I'm going into exile or being neutralized or whatever polite word they use for erased, I'm not leaving my dog behind.
Nik lets out a short laugh and shakes his head, taking a sip from Gwen's coffee like this isn't a spiraling existential crisis.
"We're not going to kill you."
"Or disappear you," Nadia adds dryly, leaning against the counter as the kettle starts to whistle. She raises a brow at me like I've insulted her by even suggesting it.
"That is never an option," Aleksandr says, removing the kettle from the stove with practiced ease. He pours the steaming water into his mug. "You're not a loose end. You're… a witness."
"That doesn't sound better," I mutter.
Aleksandr pulls out a cinnamon tea bag and places it into his mug.
"What can we do to not make her a viable witness?"
"She could lie, but if there's a loose end we do not know about then she would be committing perjury." Gwen assures me gently from across the counter.
King lets out a soft chuff beneath me, pressing his head against my leg.
"Is perjury our best option, because I don't know if I am good with that." I whisper, taking a sip of my overly sugary coffee that has cooled to room temp.
"You were just going to die, or disappear for us, but you won't commit perjury?" Aleksandr smirks, looking at me from over his cup of tea.
"I will not do good in jail," I inform him, leaning down to run my hand over King's head. "I would go alone on a remote island, and I am assuming heaven is like smooth sailing."
"So, other options?" Nadia announces to the room, raising her mug and gesturing like this is a brainstorming session and not my entire future on the line.
Gwen, calm as ever, leans her hip against the counter. "The only way someone cannot be forced to testify in this situation is either due to the Fifth Amendment or spousal privilege."
I choke on my coffee. Not a little cough. A full-body sputter. I wipe my mouth with the sleeve of my hoodie, blinking hard.
Spousal privilege? Like marriage? Like Aleksandr and I... together?
My brain does an instant nosedive into chaos. Images flash too quickly—white dresses, a bouquet, signing some horrifying prenup in blood. Aleksandr standing at an altar in that impossible black henley, looking like sin and secrecy. Me havinga panic attack in the bathroom trying to figure out what wine pairs with a Bratva wedding.
"Wait, back up," Nadia says, brow arching as she looks at Gwen. "The Fifth Amendment?"
Gwen shakes her head. "It doesn't really apply here. Lily's not the one being charged, and pleading the Fifth only protects you from incriminating yourself. If the DA wants to build a case around Aleksandr, they can still subpoena her."
"So…" Nadia eyes her over the rim of her mug. "That leaves spousal privilege."
"But Alek and Lily aren't married," she adds, deadpan.
Gwen's lips curve into a smirk. "Exactly. But if they were, Lily couldn't be compelled to testify against him. Not about anything that happened after the marriage."
"So they get married tomorrow," Nadia says, already grinning, "and we mess with the paperwork to backdate it a week. Easy."
"Our brains work perfectly together," Gwen praises, bumping her hip gently into Nadia's.
Nik groans into his coffee. "This is not how the law works."
"Tell that to my fake marriage license template folder," Gwen mutters under her breath.
I blink. Then blink again.
