41. Lacey
41
LACEY
I fidget with my wedding ring while waiting for Caroline at the coffee shop near Nathan's old office. My belly feels like it's filled with lead rather than my daughter. Every time the door chimes, my heart skips.
I still remember walking into Nathan's office after hours, hoping to surprise him only to find Caroline's legs wrapped around his waist, her red lipstick smeared across his neck.
I still remember the way she smirked at me as I yelled at them both.
Now my husband's freedom depends on her.
The same woman who helped destroy my engagement.
The irony isn't lost on me.
The door chimes again. Caroline walks in, perfectly put together in a modest white blouse and pencil skirt. Her head is raised high as she approaches. Her mouth is drawn in a line, but at this angle, it looks like a condescending little smile.
"Lacey." She slides into the seat across from me. Her eyes drift to my swollen belly before meeting mine. "I know exactly what you're doing here."
My fingers tighten around my cup. I take a steadying breath, recalling Vadim's words: I'm a Stravinsky now. I'll either find a way or make one.
"And what exactly." I fight to keep my voice neutral. "Am I doing, Caroline?"
"You're trying to get me to retract my accusation about your criminal husband murdering Nathan."
My heart pounds against my ribs. The raw hatred in her voice catches me off guard. I expected anger, even bitterness. But this? There's real pain in her voice.
"I know there's no love between us," I say carefully. "But I want to clear the air."
"Clear the air?" She laughs, high and brittle. "Nathan was the love of my life. And your husband murdered him."
The conviction in her voice sends a chill down my spine. I recognize that look in her eyes—the same desperation that I once felt. That terrifying certainty that can only take shape when grief twists into a desire for vengeance.
"You think Nathan loved you?" The words slip out before I can stop them.
"He did." Her voice cracks. "Everything we did—the late nights, the business trips—it wasn't just sex. We were building a future together."
Then, as if she wants to twist the knife, she adds. "For months."
Months.
The word slices through me like a knife. Even after everything—finding my true love in Vadim, carrying our daughter, building a life together—that single word still has the power to hurt me.
My hands unconsciously drift to my belly, seeking comfort from Larina's familiar kicks.
I shouldn't care. I know I shouldn't care. But some traitorous part of me still does. That na?ve girl who once believed in Nathan's promises, who dreamed of a future together, who trusted him completely.
She's still there, buried deep inside. And she's screaming in pain at Caroline's revelation.
But I refuse to let that pain control me.
The past is written in stone—Nathan's betrayal, the months of lies, the way he made me feel worthless—none of that can be changed. What matters now is what lies ahead. My future with Vadim. Our daughter growing inside me. The life we're building together.
The life that I'm fighting to save right now.
My fingers brush over my wedding ring, and I draw strength from its familiar weight. This isn't about Nathan anymore. This isn't about Caroline or their affair or my broken engagement. This is about protecting my husband—a man who has shown me what real love looks like.
A man who would do everything to keep me safe.
Now, it's my turn to do for him what he's always done for me.
I take a deep breath, steadying myself.
"Caroline—" I start, but she cuts me off.
"Don't." Her voice is ice. "Don't you dare pity me. Your husband took everything from me, and I'm going to make him pay."
"I understand how you feel," I say softly. "After I caught you both that night, all I could think about was revenge. It consumed me. Every time I closed my eyes, I imagined different ways to make him hurt like he hurt me."
Caroline's eyes flash dangerously. "So you admit it." Her voice rises with each word. "You wanted revenge. You and your Russian mobster husband plotted to kill Nathan!"
"No." I shake my head firmly. "That's not what happened."
"Then what did happen?" Tears start rolling down her cheeks, smearing her mascara. "One day he's alive, the next his mutilated body washes up on the shore with—" Her voice breaks. "With his fingers cut off and his teeth pulled out."
My heart aches at the raw pain in her voice. Without thinking, I reach across the table for her hand.
She yanks it away as if my touch burns. "Don't touch me!" she hisses through her tears. "You don't get to comfort me."
"There was a time I would've said the same thing to you," I say, watching her tears fall. "When I caught you both that night, I wanted to claw your eyes out. I wanted to make Nathan feel the same betrayal that was tearing me apart."
"You don't know what—" Caroline starts, but I raise my hand.
"Let me finish." My voice carries an edge of steel that surprises even me. "Because what I'm about to tell you is more important than either of our feelings about Nathan."
She falls silent, jaw clenched.
"Nathan wasn't just cheating on me with you, Caroline. He was involved with dangerous people. The kind who trades in human lives like they're commodities."
"What are you talking about?" Her mascara-stained face contorts in confusion.
"Human trafficking. With the same people that Vadim’s company is rescuing girls from.” The words taste bitter on my tongue. "Nathan helped move money for those monsters. He helped them buy and sell women and children."
Caroline's face drains of color. "You're lying."
"I'm not." I meet her gaze steadily. "Think about all those late-night calls he'd take. Those mysterious meetings that he couldn't tell you about. The deals that seemed too good to be true."
"That doesn't mean..." Her lips tremble. "Are you saying he deserved to die?"
The question hangs between us like a loaded gun. I think about everything I've learned since that night—about the trafficking victims, about Kirsan's operation, about the countless lives destroyed. I think about what Vadim would say.
"Yes." The word comes out stronger than I expected. "He did."
Caroline's hands shake as she grips her coffee cup. "Why?"
"Some things are unforgivable, Caroline." My voice stays steady despite the storm of emotions inside me. "What Nathan did—what he was planning to do—crosses a line that can never be uncrossed."
"You keep saying that." Caroline's fingers drum against her coffee cup. "But you haven't explained what he supposedly was planning that was so terrible."
I take a deep breath, steeling myself. "Nathan was going to sell me to them."
"What?" Caroline's face twists in disbelief. "That's ridiculous. Nathan would never?—"
“Wouldn’t he?” My hands tighten around hers.
Caroline shakes her head violently. “This isn’t true.”
"I've seen them, Caroline." My voice remains steady. "I've seen what they do to women." My voice cracks. "I've seen the shipping containers they stuff women into. I've heard the screams. I’ve watched them murder a girl just to make a point.”
Caroline's face has gone pale, but there's still that stubborn denial in her eyes.
"These aren't stories I'm making up." I lean forward. "I was there. I survived it. And Nathan?" I swallow hard. "He knew exactly what kind of monsters they were when he planned to hand me over to them."
"You're lying." Caroline's voice breaks. "Nathan wasn't like that. He promised me—" She chokes back a sob. "He promised to help me start my own business. Said he'd invest in my dreams."
My heart stops. Those words. Those exact words.
"Let me guess." The bitterness rises in my throat. "He told you that the timing wasn't quite right yet. That you just needed to be patient a little longer."
Caroline's eyes widen. "How did you?—"
"Because he told me the same thing." My eyes drill into hers. "For two years, he dangled my dream of having my own fashion start-up in front of me. Always promising that the next deal would be the one to give me his all. That soon I'd have everything I wanted. Everything I deserved.”
"That's different." Caroline shakes her head. "What we had was real. He was going to help me open my own accounting firm. We had plans ."
"Plans." The word tastes like ash in my mouth. "Did he tell you that you were special? That you understood him in ways no one else could?"
Caroline's silence is all the answer I need.
"Did he say that once everything falls in place, you two could finally be together properly?" My voice grows softer. "That all the sneaking around was just temporary?"
Tears stream down Caroline's face. "You don't know what we had."
"I do." My heart aches for her—for both of us. "Because before you, he used those same promises to keep me hoping. To keep me believing. To keep me compliant ."
"No." Caroline's hands ball into fists. "What we had was different. He loved me."
"The way he loved me?" I ask gently. "The way he probably loved whoever came before me? And the way he would've loved whoever comes after you?"
"Prove it." She yanks her hands from mine, anger flashing in her eyes. "Prove to me that you're not lying."
My fingers are steady as I reach into my purse.
I'd spent hours searching through Vadim's office in Pankration for his list—the same one I'd first discovered in his suit jacket at Mrs. Klossner's. The memory of finding it feels like a lifetime ago, back when I thought Vadim was just another wealthy businessman trying to buy out small businesses.
I'd finally found it tucked away in his desk drawer, right next to the bible that held all the evidence of Nathan and Kirsan's crimes.
Now, I slide the paper across the table to Caroline.
"Look at these boutiques." My voice stays steady. "The SKU numbers, the prices. Do any of them seem familiar?"
Caroline's eyes scan the page, her brow furrowing. "I…" Her fingers trace over the numbers. "Yes..."
Her hands start shaking as she continues reading. I see the moment recognition hits—her face drains of color as she spots names and numbers she must have typed herself, working late nights at Nathan's behest.
"I processed these invoices." Her voice comes out barely above a whisper. "Nathan said they were high-end fashion acquisitions. Private collections." She looks up at me, horror dawning in her eyes. "I remember that the prices were insane for some of the items. Nathan told me that they were just exclusive pieces, and told me to not ask too many questions. I mean, almost eight hundred thousand for a dress?"
"Because these aren't prices for clothes." My stomach churns. "They're prices for people. Each SKU is a woman or girl being sold through these boutiques. Nathan helped set up the financial arrangements. And there are far more than what’s on this list."
Caroline's eyes start blinking fiercely as she stares at the numbers. Her breath comes in short, sharp gasps.
"Oh God." She presses her hand to her mouth. "I helped him process all of these." Her eyes dart wildly around the coffee shop. "I helped him do this. All those women..."
I watch her carefully as the full weight of her unwitting complicity crashes down on her. Her perfectly composed facade crumbles completely, shock and horror etching deep lines across her face. Her indignation and confidence are gone, replaced by the haunted look of someone as broken as I felt that night when I caught them together.
Her mascara runs in black rivulets down her cheeks as she looks up at me with desperate eyes.
"Tell me..." She swallows hard. "Did your husband kill him?"
The question hangs between us. I think about Vadim, sitting in a cell right now and waiting for me to fix this. I think about all the times he's protected me, all the monsters he's slain to keep me safe.
"I can tell you what you think you want to hear,” I say slowly, reaching for Vadim’s words with my voice. "But it won't change anything. It won't undo what he did. It won't erase your part in it, however unknowing. And it certainly won't bring him back."
"But—"
"Caroline, listen to me." I lean forward, my voice dropping lower. "Of all the people in this world, only Vadim has been fighting these monsters for years. He's saved thousands."
As I speak, I think of Polina. Of the horrors she endured at Pyotr's hands. Of being forced to watch her little brother be murdered in front of her. Of the decades of trauma that she carried as a result of it.
The same evil that stole her life nearly claimed mine through Nathan.
"I understand your need for vengeance. Trust me, I do." My hands cradle my belly protectively. "But if you pursue this, you'll be condemning thousands of girls to a fate worse than death."
Caroline's lips quiver as she stares at the list. "Your husband killed Nathan," she mutters, but her voice lacks conviction. "I have to do the right thing."
"The right thing?" I ask softly. "I could also do the right thing and tell Captain Rutledge everything you just told me. About how you helped Nathan process these transactions. About how you were complicit in his involvement with human trafficking. I can put you away forever with a few words, just like how you can put away Vadim forever with the same.”
Her head snaps up, her eyes widening. "Are you blackmailing me?"
"No." I meet her gaze steadily. "I'm doing exactly what you're doing—choosing what truth to tell." I reach across the table and take her trembling hands in mine. "Nathan doesn't deserve your grief, your pity, or your loyalty. Don't follow him into the grave he dug for himself."
Her shoulders slump. The fight drains from her completely.
As I watch her crumble, I can practically hear Vadim's voice in my head.
Like a true pakhan's wife , he would say with that proud look on his face. You know how to wield power and influence without being corrupted by them.
The thought steadies me. Gives me strength.
"Here's what's going to happen." I lean forward, keeping my voice low but firm. "You're going to go to Captain Rutledge right now and tell him you were mistaken. You're going to admit to him that grief clouded your judgment and made you see conspiracies where there were none."
My hand tightens around hers across the table—not in comfort this time, but in warning.
"And then you're going to disappear from our lives completely." I squeeze her fingers. “If you don't, then you will learn that there are consequences for aiding and abetting human trafficking. Consequences that both of us know you are not willing or able to face."
The words roll off my tongue with surprising ease. Not because I enjoy saying them, but because I have to say them.
"Do we understand each other?"
Caroline nods weakly, tears still streaming down her face.
“Good.” I release her hand and stand up, gathering my things. As I do, I catch my reflection in the window. For a moment, I barely recognize myself.
But then I feel Larina kick, and I remember exactly who I am: Vadim's wife, a future mother, and someone who will do whatever it takes to keep her family whole.