The window stood open, curtains whipping in the winter wind.
Galina lay near the bed, blood spreading across her dress.
Roman knelt beside her.
Nikolai crossed the room in three strides.
He reached for Sofia.
I recoiled.
“Don’t touch her.”
His hands stopped.
“Elena.”
“You knew.”
“We don’t have time.”
“My son is alive.”
“Maybe.”
“Don’t say maybe.”
A gunshot sounded from the grounds below.
Nikolai looked toward the broken window.
Then back at me.
“You need to come with me now.”
“No.”
“Viktor will return.”
“Then I’ll go with him.”
His face darkened.
“You believe him?”
“I believe you lied.”
“He helped kill your husband.”
“And you let me bury my child.”
His control snapped.
“I kept silent because every person who searched for that boy ended up dead.”
The room fell silent.
Even Sofia’s cries weakened.
Nikolai leaned close enough that only I could hear him.
“Daniel found evidence of a program moving infants through private clinics and forged adoptions. He believed your son had been taken because of who his biological father was.”
I stared at him.
“What are you talking about?”
He looked at Sofia.
Then at me.
The answer was in his face before he spoke.
“Daniel Carter was not the father of your twins.”
I slapped him.
The sound cracked through the room.
Roman looked up.
Nikolai did not move.
A red mark appeared across his cheek.
