Page 47 of Blazing Embers

“Did you call Clyde and give our location away?” Ruslan says through gritted teeth, snatching the phone from my hands.

“Rude,” I sneer. “ I was too busy watching some surveillance footage to even think of contacting anyone. Then I got a messageon it for you. Something about congratulations for passing the first test.” I frown. “Well, it said barely passing the first test, and they hope you do better in the next one?” My brow is knitted so tightly together now that I can feel an ache. “What test are you taking?”

“It’s nothing,” Ruslan snaps and goes through the phone.

I watch his face pale and disbelief shine in his eyes for a few seconds before they darken with fury.

Konstantin sits still, not moving but watching Ruslan as he goes through each video and voice recording.

By the time the final voice note plays, Ruslan’s jaw is rigid. His hands tremble.

“That fucking bitch…” His voice is low and raw, his eyes filled with anguish.

“If that was your wife, may she rest in peace, she was fucking Boris Mirochin,” I whisper. “She was setting you up. Planning to kill you and your entire family. Her daughter would be the only living Dragunov heir, and all your murders would be pinned on Konstantin.” I glance at Konstantin and realize he already knows all this. “Konstantin was going to die in jail. Boris was going to have him murdered.”

Ruslan stares at me, eyes unreadable.

“She murdered Konstantin’s pregnant wife, who found out the truth of who your late wife was and was going to tell Konstantin and your grandfather. She had to be silenced.” I feel the sting of tears burn the back of my eyes. I’d seen the horrific picture of Konstantin’s wife’s crime scene. It was in with the video clips that came with my new phone. “She stabbed Anna seven timesin her pregnant belly.” My voice drops, and the tears fall. I can’t stop them. I couldn’t imagine that—my God, what poor Anna must’ve felt while that was happening to her. My voice cracks, but I no longer care. “Your wife stabbed your father the day of the massacre with the same knife she used to kill Konstantin’s wife and baby.”

“I’m sorry I hurt you, Ruslan,” Konstantin speaks for the first time since Ruslan started watching the clips and I started talking. “I was given a choice to do nothing and walk away or avenge my wife and baby’s death and save you and your family from Boris Mirochin.”

“Is that how you justify killing my wife and one-year-old daughter?” Ruslan’s voice is filled with raw pain and betrayal.

“She wasn’t your wife…” Konstantin’s words seem to echo off the walls as he drops another blow. “She wasn’t just fucking Boris Mirochin. Alisa was his wife.” His jaw clenches. “And there should be some documents attached to that email that prove that Eva wasn’t your child, she was Boris’s, they were going to use her to pass as the only remaining Dragunov heir.”

I see Ruslan’s shoulders stiffen, his eyes blazing. “You had no right to kill her and when the fuck do you assassinate babies?” His eyes bore into Konstantin. “You get your blood for blood. How do I get mine?”

Konstantin takes a deep breath. “Are you ready for your second trial by fire?”

“What? I get to kill you how I see fit?” Ruslan snarls. “What about my vengeance on that bitch who passed herself off as my wife to try and slaughter my family?” He gave Konstantin ascathing look. “Killing you wouldn’t bring me any satisfaction or retribution.”

“Killing me is not your second test, Ruslan,” Konstantin tells him in a flat, resigned voice. “Facing Alisa is.”

“Are we going to have a fucking seance?”

“The day of the village massacre, I was given the sniper rifle already loaded. Ready for three shots.” Konstantin admits. “The first was for Alisa, the second for Eva, and the third for you.”

“You tried to fucking kill me?” Ruslan looks like he’s ready to murder Konstantin.

“No.” Konstantin shakes his head. “There weren’t bullets in the rifle. They were tranquilizer darts.” He pauses. “Alisa is alive and detained in some underground Dragunov detention center.”

“And Eva?” Ruslan’s voice is low.

“She went to her maternal grandmother, where she has led a happy normal life and is a brilliant fourteen-year-old who loves her grandmother to death,” Konstantin tells him.

“I want to see her,” Ruslan rasps.

“I don’t know who her grandmother is,” Konstantin admits. “I was just told what I was allowed to know.”

My heart jolts against my ribs. “I think I know who Eva’s grandmother is.” Now that story makes sense to me, and I wonder if the woman known as Mother saved all children in need, not just the lab rat ones. “I think her grandmother was one of my nurses at the hospital.”

16

RUSLAN

The silence in the car presses against me like a second skin. Four weeks. That’s how long it’s been since Tara collapsed in my arms, since the world tilted and forced me to look at everything I thought I knew and see it for what it was—lies wrapped in loyalty, truth buried in silence.

Tara's healing. She’s restless now, pacing the walls of the safehouse like a caged flame. I've kept my distance this last week. Not because I want to. Fuck, it’s the last thing I want. However, the ceremonial wedding will now only take place in three days, coinciding with her physical recovery. To give her time. To give me time to complete the trial by fire test two.

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