Page 59 of Broken Embers

“She’s barely responsive,” he grunts. “We can’t up her dose anymore. Not without risking respiratory collapse.”

Yelena clicks her pen. “We don’t need to increase it. Not yet.”

“Her father doesn’t retire until the end of the year,” Ergorov mutters. “We need her alive until then. After that—” He makes a slicing gesture with his hand. “—we increase the cocktail, make it look like she got drunk, took pills. An accident.” He looks at the woman in disgust. “I personally can’t wait to be rid of her.”

“Tragic,” Yelena says flatly. “Unsurprising, considering her history.”

“Stupid bitch ruined her own image with all that ‘mood disorder’ talk anyway. No one will question it.” He fobs it off icily. “She should never have tried to go to her father with those lies about Mikhail. That was the final straw.”

The nurse in the room doesn’t flinch. He’s heard this before.

Yelena walks up to the gurney and gently, almost lovingly, pats the woman’s cheek. “Don’t worry, darling,” she says, voice dripping with venom. “You’ll be a national tragedy soon enough.”

I slam my finger on the keyboard and stop the footage.

My mother’s knuckles are white. She doesn’t speak for a long moment, just stares at the black screen like it’s still playing.

“Is she…” she finally croaks. “Is that?—?”

“I believe she’s still alive,” I confirm. “Do you know her?”

My mother nods. “We started at the RMSAD together.”

“Valeska told me that her mother became an alcoholic because Mikhail was abusing her,” I explain to my mother.

“How long have they been doing this to her?” My mother’s eyes are wide with shock.

“Years, if Valeska’s story about her mother’s alcohol problem is correct,” I answer.

“We need to get her out of there,” My mother whispers. “That woman has been through enough hell.”

“I wonder why her father doesn’t wonder where she is?” I say.

“Ergorov has probably spun some lies about her being sick,” my mother says in disgust, “We need to find her and get her out of there. She’s being chemically imprisoned.” My mother’s eyes narrow with fury. “This… this is what Yelena is part of. This is what she’s enabling.”

I nod. “And this is what we’re going to use to end her.”

“This can still all be covered up.” Her eyes narrow angrily. “We need to catch them red-handed and have all the people who matter witness it.”

“I could help with that,” the deep, heavily accented Russian voice makes me jump, and my head shoots around to see Timofey standing, watching us. “Sorry, I couldn’t sleep, and when I saw you two sitting here…” His voice lowers. “It was so nice to watch my little girl with her little girl.”

My heart squeezes. “Would you like to join us?”

“If you do not mind?” He is speaking English.

“Russian, Dad,” my mother tells him and looks at me. “Sabrina needs the practice now that she’s with a Russian man.”

“I’m glad he is Russian,” Timofey says, sitting on the other side of my mother. “But… I’m still not sure about the family.”

“Dad!” My mother hisses and rolls her eyes. “Galina has helped us a lot.”

“I know.” Timofey holds up his hands. “I just…” He looks at me. “This life has been hell for all of us. I want peace for my children and grandchildren.”

“We won’t have peace at all if we cannot get Yelena’s head out of her ass,” my mother says.

“I don’t know what went wrong with my eldest,” Timofey says with a sigh. “She was always so competitive and had to try to outsmart her mother all the time.”

“Jealous,” my mother says. “She was always jealous of anyone she thought a threat to her or more intelligent than her.”

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