Page 105 of The Enforcer’s Pawn

“What does that mean?” A shiver moves through her.

“It means Patrick ran, and I became the thing men came to collect.”

Kathryn’s fingers tighten around mine. “And Mikhail?”

“They found a way to reach him through you,” I say. “He became valuable.”

For a while, neither of us speaks.

Then Kathryn folds over my hands and starts crying. I sit with her on the rug because the chair suddenly feels ridiculous, and we hold on like we’re back in Boston after a bad date, except this time, the bad date brought armed men and an international crime family.

Kathryn wipes her cheek with her sleeve. “Dmitri.”

I look at the window.

“That’s him, isn’t it?” she asks. “Mikhail’s father.”

“Yes.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because I thought knowing less kept you safer.”

Kathryn shakes her head, hurt all over her face.

“I was wrong,” I say.

Her eyes fill again. “Now it all makes sense.”

The door opens before I can answer.

Dmitri stands there with one hand on the frame, and his gaze moves from Kathryn’s face to mine.

Kathryn gets up so fast, the chair scrapes back. “Good. You. I have words.”

Dmitri steps inside. “Say them.”

Kathryn points at him. “Cara is not a bad mother because she hid Mikhail from you.”

My throat closes.

Dmitri looks at me once, then back at her. “You’re right.”

That stops her for half a second.

Recovering fast, Kathryn steps closer. “I’m not done.”

Dmitri nods. “Continue.”

“Four years don’t disappear because you have guards, pancakes, and a toy car kit,” she says. “If you hurt either of them, I’ll become a problem.”

Something close to respect enters his face. “You already are.”

Kathryn narrows her eyes. “Was that a threat?”

“No,” Dmitri says. “A fact.”

I don’t stop them.