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“Lev offered me what Damien never would,” Roman says. “A seat at the table. Not behind it.”
“So you sold Damien out.”
He shrugs. “Loyalty means nothing when it’s only one-sided.”
I wipe my cheek with the sleeve of my sweater. “And me? The baby?”
Roman’s face hardens again. “I don’t care about the kid, Sasha. This was never about you. But you’re his weak spot. So yeah…you’re a pawn. One he’ll move heaven and earth for. And when he does, Lev will be waiting.”
He pushes off the wall and heads for the door.
I call out to him. “Roman.”
He pauses.
“You really think Lev will share power with you?”
Roman doesn’t turn around. “He will…until he doesn’t. But by then, I’ll be too powerful to matter.”
And then he’s gone.
And I’m left in the silence, realizing just how deep this betrayal goes.
The second the door clicks shut behind Roman, I crumble.
Not outwardly. Not the full sobbing mess I was tempted to become hours ago. But inside—my chest caves in around the silence.
Everything feels heavier now. The air. My limbs. The sheer weight of knowing what they’re planning. What I’ve become in this game between monsters.
A pawn. A lure. A crack in Damien’s armor.
I press both hands over my belly and let my forehead rest against the wall behind the cot, blinking up at the beams above like I’m waiting for some divine intervention to drop through the ceiling and pull me out of here.
But I know better.
No one’s coming.
And the worst part?
I hope Damien doesn’t come.
I hope he’s far, far away from wherever this place is. I hope he’s with his mother. With Oleg. I hope he’s safe and raging at the world and tearing apart every lead without getting too close.
Because if he walks into this?—
If he comes for me?—
If he fights for me?—
They’ll hurt him.
They’ll kill him.
I’d rather die than let that happen.
I never got to say it. Never told him what was growing inside me. Never told him that I started falling for him long before he pinned me to that elevator wall. I was already lost the moment his text messages turned low and dangerous and sweet. The moment I realized the man I was falling in love with was the same man I thought I hated.
And now…now it’s too late.