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“You told me the kid was the problem.”

“I told you what had to happen. I gave you an opportunity,” she snaps. “And you ruined it.”

Evan laughs again, then winces.

Galina turns back to Nikolai, and whatever fear she showed a few minutes ago is gone. “He was supposed to kill the child and the girl. You would have believed it was him. He was obsessed with Elara. He had every reason to come after her. You would have mourned, you would have raged, and eventually you would have understood that I protected what was left of this family.”

The words make my legs weak.

She had planned for Anya to die. She had planned for me to die with her. She had arranged it carefully enough to make it look like Evan’s violence, knowing exactly how easily everyone would believe it.

Nikolai’s hand finds mine behind his back. He doesn’t turn around, but his fingers close around mine.

Galina sees it. “You will regret this,” she says. “You think she loves you, but she will take what she wants and leave you with another child that’s not yours.”

Nikolai’s grip tightens.

“I am not Sofia,” I say.

Galina’s mouth opens.

“And you don’t get to decide who belongs in this family.”

For a moment, she looks almost offended. Then the guards pull her toward the house.

She twists once to look back at Nikolai. “I did everything for you.”

He doesn’t answer her.

For a few seconds, he stands with his hand around mine, watching Galina as the men hold her between them. Then he turns his head toward Sergei.

“Take them out of my sight,” he says.

Galina goes pale. “Nikolai.”

“Kill them.”

The words are quiet. There’s no anger in his voice now; he’s made his judgment.

Galina jerks against the men holding her. “No. Nikolai, listen to me. I raised you. I was there when your mother⁠—”

“Take them,” he says again.

Evan starts talking at the same time, his voice breaking over itself. “Wait. I can tell you everything. I can give you names. I didn’t know she was going to⁠—”

Nikolai doesn’t even look at him.

Sergei gives a short nod. The men begin moving them toward the far side of the garden.

Galina’s composure is gone. She’s crying now, calling Nikolai’s name, insisting she did it for him, for the family, for Anya. Evan swears and struggles until one of the men forces him forward by the back of his neck.

I cannot watch them go.

Nikolai notices before I say anything. He turns toward me and takes my face in both hands.

“Look at me,” he says.

My eyes find his.