Chapter 27 Sophia
SOPHIA
I worry my bottom lip as I watch Mikhail from the doorway of his study.
He sits hunched over his desk, surrounded by maps and photographs, his green eyes bloodshot from lack of sleep. Empty whiskey glasses litter the surface, and they smell the alcohol heavy even from here.
Three days.
Three days since he tortured that man in front of me, and he hasn’t slept, hasn’t eaten anything substantial, hasn’t looked at me with anything but hollow determination.
“Mikhail.” My voice sounds small in the cavernous room.
He doesn’t look up. His finger traces a route on one of the maps, his jaw clenched so tight I’m afraid his teeth will crack. “I’m busy.”
“You’re destroying yourself.” I step into the room, my bare feet silent on the hardwood floor. If I don’t stop him, he’ll stay a man I don’t want to be with. “Please. Come to bed. You need rest.”
“I need Lorenzo dead.” His voice is flat, emotionless. “Everything else can wait.”
I move closer, hesitating before placing my hand on his shoulder. His muscles are rigid beneath my touch, coiled like a spring ready to snap. “Tony is recovering. We’re safe here. You don’t have to—”
“Safe?” He finally looks at me, and the emptiness in his eyes steals my breath. “We’ll never be safe while Lorenzo lives. He won’t stop until he’s taken everything.”
“So you’re going to let him take you too?” The words come out sharp. “Because that’s what’s happened, Mikhail. You’ve disappeared into this rage, and I’m losing you.”
He stands abruptly, his chair scraping against the floor. “Then maybe you should leave. Go somewhere safe. Take Tony and disappear. I’ll give you money, new identities, whatever you need.”
I tense, my eyes narrowing. “You want me to leave?”
“I want you alive.” He turns away, his hands gripping the edge of the desk. “I can’t protect you and hunt Lorenzo at the same time. Every moment I spend worrying about your safety is a moment he uses to plan his next move.”
“I’m not leaving you.” I move around the desk to face him, squaring my shoulders and lifting my chin. “We’re supposed to be in this together, remember? You and me against the world.”
“Look at what I’ve become.” His voice cracks, the first real emotion I’ve heard from him in days, and a sliver of tension finally releases from my shoulders. “You said it yourself. You don’t recognize me anymore.”
I cup his face in my hands, forcing him to meet my eyes. “Then come back to me. The man I fell for is still in there. I know he is.”
For a moment, I see a flicker of the Mikhail I know.
The one who held me after nightmares, who made love to me with unexpected tenderness, who looked at me like I was his salvation.
But then his expression hardens again, and he pulls away.
“That man is a liability. He gets people killed.” He moves to the window, staring out at the grounds. “I need to be what I was before you. Cold. Calculating. Ruthless.”
“You mean alone.” I wrap my arms around myself, a chill running through me despite the warm room. “You want to push everyone away so you don’t have to feel anything when they die.”
He doesn’t answer, which is answer enough.
I leave him there, my vision blurred with tears I refuse to let fall until I’m back in our bedroom.
The bed is cold, the sheets untouched on his side.
How many nights has it been since he slept beside me?
Since he held me?
Since he was anything more than a ghost haunting these halls?
Far more than three days.
A soft knock interrupts my spiral. “Come in.”
Elena enters, carrying a tray with tea and toast. “You need to eat, Mrs. Artyomov.”
“I’m not hungry.” But my stomach betrays me with a growl.
She sets the tray on the nightstand and sits beside me on the bed. “He’s not himself right now.”
“I know.” I pick at the toast, forcing myself to take a bite. “But I don’t know how to reach him. Every time I try, he pushes me further away.”
“Give him time. He’ll come back to you.”
“What if he doesn’t?” The question I’ve been afraid to ask hangs between us.
Elena’s expression is sad but understanding. “Then you’ll have to decide if you can live with the man he’s become, or if you need to save yourself.”
After she leaves, I lie back on the bed, staring at the ceiling. My hand drifts to my stomach, a gesture that’s become almost unconscious lately.
The nausea that’s plagued me for weeks, the exhaustion, the way certain smells make me want to vomit.
I’ve been attributing it to stress, to the constant fear and violence that’s become our daily life.
But deep down, I know.
The pregnancy test sits in the back of my bathroom drawer, unopened and hidden. I bought it days ago, before everything fell apart, but I haven’t had the courage to use it.
Because once I know for sure, everything changes.
A baby means I can’t just think about myself and Mikhail anymore.
It means I have to consider the life we’d be bringing into this world of blood and vengeance.
A commotion downstairs pulls me from my thoughts.
I hear raised voices, footsteps running.
My heart leaps into my throat as I grab the gun Mikhail insisted I keep on the nightstand and move toward the door.
Tony’s voice cuts through the chaos. “Where’s Sophia? I need to talk to her.”
I rush down the hallway, relief flooding through me at the sound of his voice.
He’s been recovering in the guest room, barely strong enough to sit up, let alone walk.
Seeing him on his feet, even if he’s leaning heavily on the wall, makes my eyes burn with tears.
“Tony.” I holster the gun in the back of my jeans and move to support him. “You shouldn’t be up. You need to rest.”
“No time.” His face is pale, his green eyes urgent. “I remembered something. About Lorenzo’s plan.”
Mikhail appears from his study, suddenly alert. “What plan?”
Tony looks between us, his expression grim. “When I was with Lorenzo, before everything went to hell, I overheard him talking to one of his men. He said the final phase was about to begin. That he was going to destroy everything you care about, starting with Sophia.”
Ice floods my veins. “What do you mean, starting with me?”
“He has someone on the inside. Someone close to you.” Tony’s grip on my arm tightens. “They’re going to make it look like an accident, but Lorenzo wants you dead, Sophia. He wants Mikhail to watch you die.”
Mikhail’s face goes white, then red with rage. “Who? Who’s the traitor?”
“I don’t know. He never said the name.” Tony sways, and I help him to a nearby chair. “But it’s happening soon. Maybe days. Maybe hours.”
The room spins around me. Someone in this house, someone we trust, is working for Lorenzo. Planning to kill me. And Mikhail, consumed by his need for revenge, might not be able to stop it.
“We need to leave.” Mikhail’s voice is sharp, commanding. “Now. Pack only what you need. We’ll go to the safe house in—”
“You’re right.” The words feel like ash in my mouth, but I force them out. “We should go. Get somewhere secure until we figure out who the traitor is.”
Mikhail’s eyes narrow slightly, surprised by my compliance. “You’re agreeing with me?”
“You want me safe. I get it.” I wrap my arms around myself, trying to look smaller, more frightened than I feel. It’s not hard. The fear is real, even if my intentions aren’t what he thinks. “When do we leave?”
“Tomorrow morning, first light.” He exchanges a glance with Tony. “I’ll have the safe house prepared tonight. Elena will pack your things.”
“No.” The word comes out too fast, and I see both men tense. “I mean, I’d rather do it myself. I need to feel like I have some control over something, you know?”
Tony’s eyes search my face, suspicious. “Sophia—”
“I’m tired.” I cut him off, already moving toward the hallway. “I just need to rest. We can talk logistics in the morning.”
“Sophia, wait.” Mikhail catches my wrist, his grip gentle despite the urgency in his voice. “I know this is hard. But I promise you, I’ll keep you safe. Both of you.” His eyes drop briefly to Tony then back to me.
The concern in his voice almost breaks me. Almost makes me change my mind.
But then I remember the hollow look in his eyes, the way he’s been disappearing into his rage, and I steel myself.
“I know you will.” I squeeze his hand, then pull away. “I trust you.”
It’s not a complete lie. I do trust him…when he’s not consumed with anger and revenge.
Back in our bedroom, I lock the door and lean against it, my heart hammering.
The pregnancy test seems to mock me from the drawer, a small box that holds the power to change everything.
My hands shake as I open it, reading the instructions I’ve already memorized.
Three minutes. That’s all it takes to confirm what I already know in my heart.
I watch the test develop, my breath caught in my throat. One line. Two lines. Positive.
I’m pregnant with Mikhail’s child.
The realization crashes over me like a wave. A baby. A tiny life growing inside me, innocent and unaware of the violence and chaos that surrounds us. A child who deserves better than parents consumed by revenge and bloodshed.
I sink to the bathroom floor, the test clutched in my trembling hand.
This changes everything.
I can’t let this war continue, can’t let my child grow up in a world where Lorenzo’s shadow hangs over us.
I can’t watch Mikhail destroy himself trying to protect us.
I can’t run to another safe house and wait for Lorenzo to find us again.
There’s only one way to end this.
I have to go to Lorenzo myself.
The plan has been forming in my mind for a few days now, bits and pieces slowly coming together.
But now I see the full picture with crystal clarity. Lorenzo wants me dead, wants to use me to hurt Mikhail.
But what if I offer myself willingly?
What if I can get close enough to end this once and for all?
It’s insane. Suicidal. Exactly the kind of stupid thing I promised Tony I wouldn’t do.
But it’s also the only way I can see to save Mikhail’s soul and protect our unborn child.
I pull out the burner phone Elena gave me, the one I’ve kept hidden for emergencies.
My fingers hover over the keys as I compose a message to the number I found in Tony’s things, the one Lorenzo used to contact him.
I know what you want. Let’s talk. Just you and me. No more innocent people have to die.
I hit send before I can change my mind. Sneaking out to confront Tony hadn’t gone well, but this time I’m choosing to take down our enemy.
The response comes within minutes.
Tomorrow. Noon. The abandoned Moretti warehouse.
That’s where it’ll start, but I know he’ll take me somewhere else, somewhere symbolic.
I delete the messages and hide the phone again.
Then I look at myself in the mirror, at the woman staring back at me.
She looks tired, scared, but determined.
Like someone who’s finally ready to take control of her own fate.
Noon tomorrow.
Hours before Mikhail plans to move me to the safe house.
Enough time to slip away while he’s making preparations. Enough time to end this before he even realizes I’m gone.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper to my reflection, to Mikhail, to the tiny life growing inside me. “But this is the only way.”
I slide the pregnancy test back into the drawer, hiding the evidence of the secret that makes this mission both more dangerous and more necessary than ever.
Tomorrow, I’ll end this war.
One way or another.