Page 58 of Broken Embers

I nod. “I know.”

She closes her eyes for a second. “I warned them. I begged them to shut it all down. The former head of the division was going to, but then Ergorov took over, and everything changed. That man has no conscience, Sabrina. He’ll sacrifice anyone, even his own people, for what he thinks is progress.”

“Well, I’m done playing defense,” I say, my voice sharper than I intend. “I backed everything up to Marco’s server. If anything happens to me, it goes wide.”

Her eyes widen. “You... you did that?”

I nod. “Leigh’s outlet will be the first to run it.”

For a moment, my mother just stares at me. Then she shakes her head slowly, a sad smile creeping across her face. “You are so much like your father.”

I swallow hard at that. “Thanks, I think.”

She glances at the laptop again. “But it won’t be enough.”

“What?”

“This kind of leverage might get them to flinch. But it won’t stop them. Yelena will bury it, bribe the right people, kill the rest.”

“I have a lot more than just the documents,” I tell her. “I have video of the facility, experiments, and even your sister and Ergorvo fucking all over the science labs.”

“What?” My mother splutters, her eyes widening. I find the footage and show it to my mother. “Jesus. Turn it off.”

“I did. I read their internal policies at the RMSAD,” I say, my brow furrowing. “Although, considering what it is, I was shocked they had any policies at all. But one of them was very clear—strictly no unsanctioned interpersonal relationships.” I snort. “And I’d say that was a big no, no.”

“Do you think that would faze them?” my mother says. “Like the rest of it, Yelena will just get it buried. She’s fucking the boss, and she established herself as one of the most important people in the scientific research division a long time ago.”

“Yes…” I say, pulling up another document—compliments of Valeska. “But General Ergorov has a very strict prenuptial contract, and I found out he’s married to the big boss’s daughter.” I pull a face and shake my head. “I thought he was the big boss.”

“No, he reports to a board and a chairman,” my mother explains.

“Then he’s not going to be happy to see his son-in-law having an affair,” I say, showing my mother the contract. “And then there is this.” I look at my mother. “Be prepared, it is brutal.”

She nods and turns toward the monitor. I switch it on, and she sucks in a breath.

The video starts in a dimly lit medical room. Cold, sterile. Bleach white walls. Cameras in the corners. But the focal point is the woman strapped to the gurney.

She’s not screaming. That would almost be better.

My mother leans forward to get a better look at the woman. “Oh my God, that’s Evelina,” my mother whispers in horror. “She is Ergorov’s wife.” She puts a hand to her mouth. “What the fuck are they doing to her?”

The woman, my mother has identified as Evelina, is murmuring. Slurring. Her head lolls to the side like she’s too weak to lift it. Her face is puffy, her pupils so dilated they’re practically eclipsing her irises. Saliva glistens on her lower lip.

“She’s completely sedated,” my mother murmurs, horror dawning in her voice. “This isn’t treatment. This is suppression.”

On-screen, a nurse enters the room and injects something into the IV line. Evelina’s red hair is matted to her face, skin pale and clammy, and she moans softly. Her fingers twitch.

“She doesn’t even look like she knows where she is,” I whisper. “They say she’s an alcoholic. That this treatment is for her own good.”

My mother squints, then leans closer. “That’s not a detox protocol. That’s too much benzodiazepine... and I think—God, is that droperidol?”

Before I can ask what that means, the door in the corner of the video opens, and General Ergorov steps inside. Yelena follows a second later, clipboard in hand, dressed like she just walked off the set of a Cold War thriller.

“Sedation holding?” Yelena asks the nurse, her tone as casual as if she were ordering lunch.

“She’s stable. We increased the midazolam drip this morning as instructed.”

The camera shifts slightly, as if someone had adjusted its zoom. It catches Ergorov’s face as he walks to the bedside and peers down at the woman with disdain.

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