Page 164 of The Enforcer’s Pawn

Dmitri’s fingers close around it. “Thank you.”

Mikhail turns to me and pats his other pocket. “Blue is with Mama.”

My fingers find the blue car in the small pocket Lidiya sewed inside my wedding skirt.

The priest begins in Russian, and I understand almost none of it, but Dmitri’s hand finds mine. He translates under his breath when it matters. Marriage. Choice. Faithfulness. Protection. Home. When the priest blesses the rings, Dmitri slides the plain band onto my finger beside the platinum one. My hands shake when I place his on him, but he holds still for me.

Leonid clears his throat from the side table when the prayers end. “Before registration, one status remains.”

The chapel goes still.

Dmitri’s hand tightens around mine.

Leonid opens a thin black folder. “Cara O’Connell’s Blacklist entry remains marked as active under the emergency classification.”

My stomach drops. Kathryn pales beside me, and Mikhail feels the change in her hand. His little fingers tighten around hers.

The chapel doors open before anyone speaks.

Maksim steps inside. Elena turns first, and something in her face eases.

Maksim walks down the aisle, his expression unreadable. Every guard in the chapel straightens. He stops beside Leonid and takes the pen from the table.

“The status is annulled,” Maksim says, signing once. “With my consent.”

Leonid checks the line, then passes the folder to the state representative. The representative stamps the page. The small sound changes everything.

Maksim looks at me. “No debt, no claim, no mark.”

My throat closes. Dmitri’s thumb moves once over mine.

Maksim turns to him. “Marry her because she chooses you, not because my house says she’s yours.”

Dmitri looks at me, and his voice drops. “Cara.”

I turn toward him.

His hand opens around the red car, then closes again. “I left once because I thought leaving would protect you. I was wrong. I won’t make a life by deciding for you again. If you take my name, you take it because you want it. If you’re angry, I’ll stay and hear it.”

My eyes burn.

“I don't know how to stop being afraid yet,” I say, holding his hand. “But I’m tired of surviving alone. I choose you. I choose our son having both of us. I choose to stay while we learn how to do this without lying to each other.”

Dmitri bends his head just as the priest says the last words. Leonid guides us to the registration book. Dmitri signs first, and I follow suit. The state representative stamps the page. “Registered,” he says.

Mikhail looks up at Kathryn. “Now kissing?”

This time, everyone hears Yuri laugh.

Dmitri touches my cheek. When he kisses me in the estate chapel, the staff clap softly. Mikhail cheers the loudest. “Red and blue win,” he says, throwing both arms up.

Dmitri rests his forehead against mine.

“Yes,” he says, his voice rough. “They do.”

The chapel empties slowly. Staff bow their heads as we pass. Maksim takes Elena's arm, and Lidiya carries the baby out through the side door. Kathryn hugs me once, hard, then steers Mikhail toward the nursery corridor with Sergei trailing behind like a shadow with a conscience.

Mikhail waves goodnight. Dmitri and I watch him walk down the corridor with Kathryn and Sergei, safe inside our family.