Page 246 of Sexting His Assistant

Alina appears first.

She’s not dressed like a woman wandering around by accident. She has a coat pulled tight around her, a scarf over her hair, and one hand pressed protectively against the small bag at her side. She looks over her shoulder before stepping into the stairwell.

Then Misha appears behind her.

Nina stops breathing.

I watch her face instead of the screen because I’ve already watched the footage too many times.

Misha reaches for Alina’s arm, not roughly, but firmly enough that she does not move until he does. He checks the landing below, then guides her down the stairs. Alina stumbles once. Misha catches her immediately, says something the camera cannot hear, and keeps her moving.

They disappear from the frame.

The video jumps to another camera angle on the lower floor.

Misha and Alina appear again, moving faster now. She looks frightened. He looks focused. There is no visible struggle, but there is no question that he is leading her out. He knows where the cameras are. He keeps his head low, turns his face at the right moments, and uses the service stairwell instead of the elevator.

Pavel says nothing.

Nina leans one hand on the edge of my desk. Her fingers are trembling.

I say, “We found this footage from her apartment.”

Nina’s face is blank now. Not calm. Blank. Shock has wiped everything else away.

I say the rest because there is no kind way to deliver it. “He took her.”

Nina stares at the screen.

The footage loops back to the first frame, and Misha appears again behind Alina, same coat, same posture, same controlled urgency.

Nina whispers, “No.”

I don’t answer.

She shakes her head once, slowly, as if the movement might change what she is seeing. “No. That’s not—” Her voice breaks before she can finish.

I move around the desk, but she lifts a hand without looking at me.

“Don’t,” Nina says.

I stop.

Her eyes are wet, but furious. “You make it sound like kidnapping.”

“I’m saying what the footage shows.”

“No,” Nina says. “You’re saying what you already think.”

Pavel says, “The rear entrance camera shows them entering a gray car registered under a false company.”

“How convenient,” she says.

Pavel keeps his voice level. “I’m reporting the evidence.”

“You keep saying that,” Nina says.

Pavel says, “Because that’s what I’m doing.”