Page 122 of Unbroken

“We believe she’s okay,” he interrupts, his voice low, but there’s no certainty there. “That call she made to me? She made it to all of us—all her brothers. We all showed up expecting… devastation. But all we found was silence.”

“What? Why?” I whisper.

“That’s the question, isn’t it?” he murmurs. “Why. And the short answer is… we don’t know.”

None of us does.

“We need to find her,” I say, my heart thudding. “Rafail must be losing his fucking mind.”

“He is,” Vadka replies, almost too quietly.

“I’m not even one of you guys, and I would be too,” I admit.

“For now,” he says, pulling back just enough to start stripping out of his clothes, “we need sleep. There’s nothing more we can do tonight.” He presses a kiss to my temple, soft, sorrowful.

Will it always be like this? Walking the edge between life and death, grief and survival, love and devastation. Fear. Hope. Loss. Life. The edges blur.

I fall into a deep, dreamless sleep.

But I wake again. And again. Each time with that same weight pressing down. Finally, I can’t take it anymore—I push myself out of bed. Vadka’s still asleep, fully clothed, softly snoring. He looks exhausted. My heart aches for him. I want to curl back beside him, but nausea wins.

I use the bathroom, splash water on my face, and check my phone. Google says I need protein. Fine. I quietly head downstairs. The house is quiet and somber. Still.

In the kitchen, I find a wedge of cheese and some crackers. The salty crackers settle my stomach. I’m just starting to feel human again when I hear footsteps behind me. I tense. Guards are stationed at the doors, and cameras monitor every angle—so I don’t know who to expect.

But I definitely don’t expect Zoya.

“Ruthie,” she says softly, her voice raw, her eyes troubled.

“Are you all right?”

I nod, but her voice wobbles when she responds, “I will be.”

“Sit,” she says. “Did you take that test?”

I can’t help the small smile tugging at my lips. Despite everything between us, despite the storm we’re all wading through, her being here feels like a breath of something good.

“I did…”

She reaches for me. “And?”

I nod, this time grinning. I don’t know how you’re supposedto tell people news like this. There’s no guidebook for what we are, for how we live. But yeah.

“Don’t tell the guys yet,” I say quickly. “They’ll go nuclear or something. But yeah… I’m having a baby. Vadka’s, obviously,” I add sheepishly.

Her gasp is immediate. “Oh my god,” she whispers, throwing her arms around me so tightly I can barely breathe. “Oh my god, I’m so happy for you!” Her eyes shimmer with tears. “Another baby. Ruthie, your sister left us—she left this gaping hole in our lives. But now… now you’re bringing new life into the world. This is amazing.”

She kisses one cheek, then the other, and then hugs me again. “How are you feeling about all this?”

I pour myself some tea, still unsure. “I don’t know. I mean… I’m happy. Scared. It’s a lot.”

“Sit down, sit down,” she says, taking the tea from me and guiding me to the table. “But keep your voice down. If my brothers hear we’re down here, it’s going to turn into the third degree, and I am not ready for that.”

I laugh softly. “You do owe them some kind of explanation.”

“I know,” she says, a hard edge to her tone. “And now I know for sure I did the right thing.”

“What happened last night?” I ask, watching as she bites her lip and lowers herself into the seat beside me.