Page 90 of Bratva Baby

Then, in a voice that makes Niko take a step back, he says, “What package?”

“One Maks believes in.”

“Sofiya.”

“I had to move him.”

“You lied.”

He understands fast. I hear it in the way his breathing changes, in the sudden lack of words. He sees the move, the risk, the trap, and probably the part where I plan to put myself inside the space I just opened.

“No,” he says.

“Yes.”

“You’re not coming here.”

“Anton.”

“No.” His voice turns rougher, and I hear movement behind him, then Kolya saying something I can’t catch. “You listen to me. You don’t leave that penthouse and go near Maks. You don’t trade yourself and our child for me.”

My heart skips a beat. Anton’s fear doesn’t sound like anyone else’s. It sounds like command because command is the shape he gives to things he can’t bear.

“I’m not trading myself,” I say. “I’m buying time.”

“With your body in his reach.”

“With the only bait he’ll chase.”

He swears, and pain cuts the word short.

My voice softens before I can stop it. “How bad is it?”

“Not bad enough.”

“Don’t lie to me.”

“Then don’t go.”

For a second, neither of us speaks. The whole room seems to hold around the call, Pavel near the door, the papers on the desk, the city beyond the windows, my hand over the small life inside me. Anton is bleeding because I was right, and now I have to be right again.

“I love you,” I say.

His breath stops.

“Sofiya.”

“I need you alive enough to be furious with me.”

“Don’t you dare hang up.”

“I’ll see you soon.”

“Sofiya.”

I end the call before his voice breaks something useful inside me.

Niko stares at the phone in my hand. “That was either very brave or very stupid.”