Page 28 of Broken Embers

A pulse kicks behind my eyes. My hands clench the edge of the seat. “That bastard better not lay a hand on her.”

“Mikhail’s been known to play with anyone he wants at his father’s compounds,” Nadia warns us. “He shows some restraint with Valeska. But there are rumors. Women who’ve disappeared after he’s done with them. His father buries the mess, and their legal team takes care of the rest. They have an enforcer who makes sure Mikhail’s ‘mistakes’ stay buried.” Her eyes narrow, and her lips spread into a thin line.

Nadia leans forward, her voice changes to one of urgency. “But that’s not the only reason we have to get there before noon tomorrow.”

My eyes cut to hers. “What else is happening at noon?”

She holds my gaze. “Tomorrow is the day they’ll take blood and other genetic samples from Sabrina.”

The breath punches out of me.Nadia knows.

“You know?” I ask.

She nods once.

“Know what?” Nikolas looks between us, his eyes narrowing, then widening. “Sabrina’s pregnant?”

“Yes,” I answer quietly. “But you can’t tell anyone. No one else knows. Not even Carla.”

“Fuck,” Nikolas swears. “I won’t tell a soul. Jesus, Oleksi. If the General finds out—and there’s no denying who the father is…”

“I know,” I say, my voice like gravel. “That’s why we need to move now. I’ll call Clyde. Find out if that lead panned out.”

“You don’t have to,” Nadia says softly. “It did.”

I turn to look at her.

“I was the one who sent him the lead.”

I blink. For a moment, all I can do is stare. Then I let out a breath. “Shit, you’re more strategic than you let on.”

“I’ve had to be,” she says simply.

I reach for my phone. “I’ll get the helicopter back. Or did you take care of that too?”

She smiles. “No. That one’s all yours.”

Before I can make the call, my phone buzzes. Clyde.

I pick up. “I was just about to?—”

“She’s here,” he cuts me off. “We’ve seen her.”

A rush of relief floods my chest. “Send the helicopter. We’ll be ready the second we get back to the farm.”

“Already done,” Clyde confirms. “Are you sure you don’t want us to move in?”

“No. Don’t engage until I’m there. We’ve got someone on the inside.”

“Copy that.”

I hang up and stare out the window. Everything’s about to go to hell if we don’t get this right.

Forty minutes later, we’re in the air. Nadia sits between Nikolas and me, silent until she turns and says, “Thank you for taking me to see Elena.”

When we got back to the Morozov farmhouse, Nadia asked to see Elena. I didn’t have time to overthink things at the time, and took her to the nursery where Elena was sleeping. I did notice her eyes fill with tears and the way she’d gently traced the little angel’s cheek, whispering something in Russian I couldn’t quite hear.

Now that I think about it, I find the whole thing unsettling, and I have a bad feeling that Nadia knows all about Elena. I want to know how she does and why it was so important for her to see my little niece.

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