Page 95

“Gurin sold Marina’s complaint to Belov’s aide.” He keeps his hands on the desk and leans forward. “Belov’s men knew your building, Misha’s school, and which hospital systems to copy. You were alone because you chose to be, not because they couldn’t reach you.”

“How dare you turn my years with him into a failure.”

“I’m not turning them into anything.” He pushes away from the desk and comes closer. My eyes drop to the scraped skin across his knuckles. “I’m looking at what happened.”

“What happened is that I kept him fed, healthy, loved, and out of your world for three years.”

One corner of his mouth lifts in a thin, bitter curve. “And tonight he hid in a linen closet because my world found him anyway.”

I slap him. The sound snaps through the office.

Alexei’s face turns with the blow, but he keeps his hands at his sides.

My palm burns.

“You think I didn’t see that closet with my son inside it?” I ask, fighting to keep my voice down. “You think I didn’t hear him call you Papa?”

His gaze returns to mine, his pale gray eyes darkening. “Then stop pretending I’m only a threat to him.”

“I never said you were only a threat to him.”

“Did you ever give me a chance to be anything else?”

“I found your name after the gala. I found shootings, disappearances, debts, and women attached to contracts.” I grab his wrist and wrap the gauze around his hand before he can pull away. “Then I found out I was pregnant. What choice did that leave me?”

“The choice to tell me.”

“And trust you?”

“Yes.”

I laugh without humor. “You bought my Blacklist claim before you remembered sleeping with me.”

“To keep you alive.”

“Owning me on paper doesn’t make me yours.”

“No, but men like Belov understand ownership better than protection.”

“That’s why I kept Misha away from this world.”

He looks toward the monitor wall. One screen shows Dmitri entering the lower holding area. Another shows Abramov’s team opening the medical-bay wall around the transmitter. On the central feed, Maksim stands at the lower command table with Petrov, directing the gate sweeps while Yuri studies the Blacklist transfer order with Misha’s name beneath mine.

Every screen holds another unfinished threat. The captain’s daughter. Gurin walking free under surveillance. The insider who planted the device. The men who opened the route. The captains waiting to choose between Belov and Maksim.

Alexei lowers his voice. “You had reasons. I have losses.”

I tighten the final knot around his hand. “So do I.”

“You had him.”

“I had every fever alone. Every night he cried for a father he couldn’t name. Every time I cut my work short and wondered whether I was ruining my career or failing him at home.” I release his wrist. “I had the fear, Alexei. Don’t dismiss the cost because you wanted the years.”

His face softens, but the anger stays.

“I hate that you did it without me,” he says after a while.

The office falls still except for radio traffic from the monitor wall.