Mikhail says, “Don’t do this like him.”
That stops me for half a second. But it’s not enough.
I look at him and say, “I have to go.”
He stares at me. Angry now. “You don’t have to walk into his hands alone.”
“If the children are there, yes, I do.”
“And if they’re not?”
I put the phone in my pocket. “Then I still do.”
For one second, I think he’s going to argue again. Then he sees something in my face and lets the argument die because he knows me well enough to understand the line between persuasion and delay.
“Fine,” he says. “So then you’re not going without support.”
“I’m going in first,” I say. “Stay here, with Katerina. Protect her.”
“But—” he starts to protest.
“Just listen to me,” I say. He nods reluctantly.
Just as I’m about to leave, Katerina appears outside my study. She must have read it in my face before I even say a word.
“What happened? Where are you going?”
I stop. For one stupid second, I wish I could lie to her. Then I say, “He sent an address.”
She goes white. “Andrei?”
I nod, shamefully. It’s all because of me. She doesn’t have to say it, I know it.
“He has the children?” she asks.
“I don’t know,” I say.
Her mouth opens, but nothing comes out at first. “You think it’s him.”
“Yes.”
She takes one step toward me. “Then I’m coming.”
“No.”
“I’m not asking.”
I cross the space between us before she can say anything else and catch both her shoulders. “No,” I say again, lower now, because shouting won’t help. “If they’re there, I’ll bring them back to you. If it goes wrong, I need you alive and out of his reach. I will not walk into my father with you in the room.”
She stares at me, furious and terrified and close enough to breaking that I can feel it in the way she’s holding herself upright.
For one second, I think she’s going to fight me anyway.
Then she says, “Bring them back.”
The words almost undo me.
I lean down and press my forehead to hers, just for a breath. “I will.”
