Page 55 of The Enforcer’s Pawn

We take her to Women’s Wing, away from the screens and files.

Elena built that part of the house after she married Maksim. Guards stay outside, and business stops at the door unless Elena allows it. Just warm rooms, locked doors, clean sheets, and space where women are treated like people instead of problems to solve.

Lidiya guides her onto the green settee near the fireplace. Mrs. Wentworth settles a blanket over Cara’s knees. Lidiya places sweet tea on the small table, then withdraws with one backward glance.

Cara stares at the cup. “Is this medical tea or obedience tea?”

“Drink,” Yelena says.

Cara drinks.

The door opens before anyone knocks.

Elena Volkov steps in. No one announces her. Abramov straightens. Mrs. Wentworth steps aside near the tea table. Even Yelena turns her head.

Her dark hair is pinned back and a pale sweater sits loose at one shoulder. Her wedding ring is visible when she reaches for the doorframe.

Elena looks at Cara first, not at the file in Leonid’s hand, not at me.

“You must be Cara,” she says.

Cara pulls the blanket closer. “I’m starting to think everyone here gets a briefing.”

Elena’s mouth softens. “This house does love paperwork when it doesn’t know what to do with a person.”

Then her gaze moves to me, and I feel the old discipline snap into place.

“This house also likes to call locked doors protection,” Elena says, then looks back at Cara. “Sometimes, it even means it.”

Cara’s eyes fix on Elena. Her mouth moves once, then closes. Instead of arguing, she settles back against the settee and mutters, “Thank you.” The blanket slips looser around her, and her breathing eases. Elena did what none of us managed. She made Cara stop bracing.

I stand beside the settee and understand the warning. Cara is no longer only Patrick’s sister, or a name in a file, or a woman under guard. Elena has decided Cara matters. That changes how every man in this house is allowed to treat her, including me.

Elena looks over the room once, then starts removing people from it.

“Yelena, leave the instructions with Mrs. Wentworth. Lidiya, bring broth and more water, then let her rest. Abramov, post guards outside, not inside. Leonid, take the files back to legal.”

She doesn’t raise her voice, and still, the sitting room empties in clean pieces.

Yelena writes on a small prescription pad and hands the sheet to Mrs. Wentworth. “Sugar in tea today. Broth within the hour. Proper food after that, nothing heavy. I’ll check her again in two days unless she decides to collapse for sport.”

Cara’s mouth twitches. “I’ll check my schedule.”

Yelena gives her a look. “Cancel it.”

Lidiya sets broth, tea, and water on the table before she slips out. Mrs. Wentworth follows with the prescription in hand, already turning instructions into someone else’s problem. Leonid closes the door behind him.

Elena remains beside the fireplace.

Her gaze moves from Cara to me. “Stay with her.”

Cara stiffens against the pillows. “I don’t need a guard dog.”

“No,” Elena says. “You need one face in this house you have seen before today.”

Elena knows enough about Boston, and she doesn’t make me say it. I left Cara after one night, my parents were dead by morning, and Cara woke up alone. After that, I left five years of empty space between us.

Cara looks away.