Page 29 of Broken Embers

“It was a noble thing Sabrina did,” she continues. “For Gavriil. For my sister. And for Tara.”

Nikolas frowns, asking before I can, “What do you mean?”

Nadia looks between us, then hesitates. “Do you know the truth about Elena?”

I nod slowly. “I do.”

“So do I,” Nikolas says. “Galina, Carla, Mark… we all know. We know that Tara and Gavriil are Elena’s real parents.”

“Well, damn,” I say. “You could’ve told me you all knew about that!”

“We didn’t know how much you knew,” Nikolas mutters.

“And Sabrina doesn’t know that you all know?” I ask him.

“No,” he says, shaking his head.

I feel I’m getting a bit tongue-tied with all this we know, you know, she knows, when Nadia clears her throat, getting our attention, stopping our who knows what scene that was turning into a bad slapstick skit.

“You’re both wrong,” Nadia tells us.

We both look at her.

“Elena’s not Tara’s daughter,” Nadia says, her voice steady. “She’s Irina and Gavriil’s. Tara carried her as a surrogate.”

The silence that follows is deafening.

10

OLEKSI

We hit the rendezvous point just after midnight. Having landed a good distance away from the site, we were met by waiting vehicles. My nerves are on edge, and my impatience to get Sabrina out is growing by the second. Eventually, the SUV’s tires crunch into the gravel with a sound that somehow manages to feel louder than a gunshot, making me cringe. I know I’m not being realistic, they can’t hear us in the compound from where we are, but I can’t afford anything to go wrong tonight. If it does, I know they’ll move Sabrina somewhere we’ll never find her after an escape attempt.

I glance around as I climb out of the vehicle. Clyde and Ivan are already there, crouched behind the wreck of an old grain silo, eyes sharp, guns ready. Syd is perched a few feet away like she’s born from the shadows—lean, wired tight, and hungry for a fight. Behind them, I count four of Timofey’s top men. No uniforms, no insignia—just the cold, heavy quiet of people who know how to kill.

Nadia steps out behind me, leather jacket pulled tight over what looks suspiciously like tactical gear. Her boots thud in the frost-hardened dirt, she doesn’t say a word, just scans the treeline, then pulls something from her inner pocket.

A rolled-up map.

“I’ve marked four possible escape routes,” she says. “Valeska sent them to me. Each one depends on what’s clear when they start to leave in...” She glances at her wristwatch. “Ten minutes.”

I nod, then split the team fast and clean—two for each exit, and leave one group keeping eyes on the perimeter.

I pair Syd up with Nadia, turning to scan the compound looming in front of us. My heart is thudding like this is my first operation, but I know it’s because of what’s at stake.

I don’t like the fact that Sabrina is going to have to clear the inside of the compound on her own, guided by someone I don’t know. I’m just having to put my blind trust in Nadia Voronina-Dragunov and hope she’s a person of honor like her grandfather was.

I notice the phone in Nadia’s hand light up. There’s no buzz or ring, just the light.

She turns and walks off. That’s when I see the glint of something metal hooked into Nadia’s waistband under her jacket—it's a gun.

My brow furrows as my eyes travel over the outfit she quickly changed into when the helicopter touched ground. The jacket, the boots, the layered dark gear—she’s dressed like a hunter about to go on a night hunt. My eyes narrow with respect. Nadia is an enigma. One born from the necessity to hide her true identity from the people she loved, the family who were supposed to love her unconditionally.

My thoughts are interrupted when Nadia spins and marches toward me

“Here, Valeska needs your help,” she says softly. “Make it fast, as we don’t have a lot of time.”

She steps back, giving me a bit of space.

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