Page 174 of Cruel Demands

Mikhail looks at her steadily. “You may try.”

“Mikhail,” I say. He looks down at me. The contraction tightens harder. I squeeze his hand. “Do not antagonize the woman currently deciding whether you go to prison while I am in labor.”

Olga’s attention returns to Mikhail. “If I delay this, you are finished in politics.”

Mikhail almost laughs. “I am reasonably certain that part has already been decided for me.”

“I mean permanently.”

“Fine.”

His answer is so easy that Olga looks annoyed by it. “No office. No appointed position. No political proxy standing in for you.”

“Fine.”

“You give me every account connected to Orlov.”

“Yes.”

“Every contractor.”

“Yes.”

“Every police officer, judge, ministry official, financier, and intermediary you know.”

“Yes.”

“You do not warn them.”

“No.”

“You do not destroy evidence connecting them to you.” Mikhail pauses. “That was not optional,” Olga says.

“I understand.”

“And the reform continues. The money goes where it was promised.”

“It will.”

“You do not threaten my officers, witnesses, or staff.”

“Provided they do not threaten Taylor, fine.”

Somewhere beyond the corridor, another wave of shouting rises as more people flood the hospital. Olga closes her eyes briefly. Then she points toward the doctor. “Take her upstairs.”

Behind us, government officers begin filling the unfinished treatment wing. Ahead of us, Nikita is already disappearing toward the service elevators with Mikhail’s men and Orlov’s body. Olga remains in the middle of it all, shouting orders, trying to hold together a hospital, an investigation, a reform package, and whatever remains of Mikhail’s political career.

Another contraction grips me before we reach the end of the corridor. Mikhail picks me up like I weigh nothing. “I can walk,” I protest.

“You are bleeding.”

“I’m not bleeding.”

“You are leaking. It is not better.” I choose not to argue as we get into the elevator and just let myself relax against his chest. “My career is over, I think,” he says, and I feel the rumble of his words against my cheek.

“What now then?”

“We are about to find out, kotik.”