Chapter 12 - The Safe House by the LakeMikhail’s safe house did not look like a safe house.
It looked like a rich man’s apology.
A glass-walled estate on the edge of Lake Michigan, hidden behind iron gates and winter-bare trees. The lake beyond was black under the storm, swallowing the moon.
Inside, everything was silent and expensive.
Misha refused to sleep unless I sat beside him.
Mikhail did not argue.
That alone told me how desperate he was.
I sat in a guest room larger than my entire apartment while Misha curled beneath a gray blanket, his small hand wrapped around two of my fingers.
“Do you hate Papa?” he whispered.
I looked at the door, where Mikhail stood just outside, pretending not to listen.
“No.”
“You slapped him.”
“He deserved it.”
A tiny smile flickered over his face.
“Papa says people who slap him usually disappear.”
“Then I guess I’m special.”
Misha’s smile vanished. “People around us disappear a lot.”
My chest tightened.
“Not tonight.”
He studied me. “Promise?”
I had learned long ago that promises were dangerous. My mother promised she would beat the cancer. My father promised the diner would survive. My ex-husband promised forever, then left with the waitress from the lunch shift and the last decent car.
But Misha was eight.
So I lied beautifully.
“Promise.”
He fell asleep holding my hand.
When I stepped into the hall, Mikhail was waiting.
“You should rest.”
“I should be angry.”
“You are.”
“More angry.”
He looked almost tired. “I had men watching every known enemy. I did not expect my brother to use my son.”
“That’s the problem with monsters,” I said. “They know exactly where other monsters stop looking.”
He absorbed that without defense.
In the study, Lena sat wrapped in a blanket while Mikhail’s tech man loaded Anya’s flash drive.
The first video file opened.
Anya appeared on screen.
Beautiful. Pale. Afraid.
“If this is being watched,” she said, “then Roman has finally reached for Misha.”
Mikhail went still.
Onscreen, Anya continued.
“Roman is not working alone. Irina is not the mastermind. The person behind them is someone you have allowed into every room because you believed loyalty could be inherited.”
The video glitched.
Then Anya said the name.
The room fell silent.
Mikhail’s oldest advisor.
May you like
Viktor Sokolov.
The man standing directly behind Mikhail.
