Page 125 of The Enforcer’s Pawn

“Useful how?” I ask, wiping under one eye.

Kathryn looks toward Mikhail. “Evan still has loose threads Patrick may have missed. I know his life. His friends, password habits, and dumb little lies. If Boston has answers, I can help from there.”

Fear crawls up my spine. “Kathryn.”

She shakes her head. “Don’t do that. Don’t make my choices smaller because you’re scared.”

I close my mouth.

Kathryn studies me for a long second. “And you need to hear something else.”

I brace.

Her gaze softens, but her voice stays firm. “You love Dmitri.”

My breath leaves me.

Across the rug, Mikhail makes engine noises and sends the blue car into disaster.

“I hate how complicated that makes everything,” I say, barely above a whisper.

Kathryn reaches for my hand and squeezes once. “Loving him isn’t the problem.”

I look at her.

She squeezes harder. “Forgetting yourself inside him would be.”

Last night, for a few burning hours, I did forget myself. My anger, my borders. The woman who survived without Dmitri because she had no choice.

Kathryn releases my hand and bends for the bag. My stomach twists. She unzips it, pulls out one shirt, and folds it over the chair.

“I’m staying for Mikhail first,” she says, looking at me.

I stand in the archway and watch her unpack one piece of her life, not all of it, and understand that love can stay while trust asks for receipts.

30

DMITRI

Twenty minutes earlier, in the security annex, Oleg is back at his logistics desk pretending he has a normal workday ahead of him.

The internal camera catches him reaching for his coffee and missing the cup the first time. His eyes keep jumping to the corridor. A clerk says something beside him, and Oleg smiles half a second late.

Fear does that. It shows up in the small things.

My first answer waits in my mouth. Bring him down. Close the door. Keep him talking until Patrick falls out.

Cara says patience is the key.

She is near the monitors, pale from no sleep, hair loose around her face, standing on tension and fury. I cross to her.

She notices me coming and lifts her chin. “If you’re about to order me upstairs, save your voice.”

My hand stays at my side. “Mikhail will wake soon. Kathryn will need you. You have been awake all night.”

Cara’s mouth tightens. “Oleg knows Patrick’s channel.”

“For the next few hours, Oleg is mine,” I say, keeping my voice low.