Chapter 21 Polina
Polina
I’ve done harder things than this. I remind myself of that on the drive over.
I’ve delivered death notifications to parents. Held a man’s liver together with my bare hands for six minutes while we waited for blood. Sat across from Dmitri at Christmas dinner and smiled through his questions like I didn’t know exactly why he was asking them.
None of it felt like this.
Ruslan drives. Lev sits in the passenger seat with his eyes on the window and his hands still in his lap. I’m in the back with my coat buttoned to the throat and my mother’s bracelet turning around my wrist.
My mother wore this bracelet the day she died. She married into the wrong name, learned too much, and became a problem easier to eliminate than manage.
A liability.
What I’ve feared becoming my entire adult life may be exactly what I just made myself.
The drive takes thirty-four minutes, and I count every single one of them.
The compound gates are already open when we arrive. Ruslan pulls away the second Lev and I step out. He knows he’s not welcome here, and he knows Lev will find him if he needs to.
A man I don’t recognize stands at the main entrance. Another falls in ahead of us and leads us down the east corridor without a word.
Whenever I’ve been here for a family obligation I couldn’t avoid, I stayed on the edges. The same photographs line the wall, with a few new ones now that everyone seems determined to marry and reproduce on schedule. I know which frame holds my parents without looking.
Today, I don’t.
The office door is already open when we get there.
Dmitri stands behind his desk. Alexei sits to his left with his forearms on his knees, scowling like he’s one word away from lunging.
Tony stands near the back wall with a tablet in his hand, already looking at home here.
Boris is on the far side of the room, planted between the exit and whoever Dmitri has decided needs containing today.
That would be us.
Dmitri looks at me first. Not Lev. Me.
“Sit down,” he orders.
I lift my chin, at least pretending not to be intimidated. “I’d rather stand.”
He doesn’t argue, which shocks the hell out of me. His attention slides to Lev, and I hold my breath, waiting for a reaction.
Lev gives him a slow nod, like he’s greeting a man at a business meeting instead of standing in the middle of enemy territory with four people who want him dead.
Dmitri is the first to speak. “Tell me why you’re in my office and why I shouldn’t shoot you where you stand.”
Lev draws in a breath and squares his shoulders. “I’m here because your cousin is in danger.”
Alexei pushes up from his chair like he can’t stay seated another second. “Don’t say that like you give a damn.”
Boris slides one step closer to the door, keeping the exit boxed in without making a show of it.
“Sit,” Dmitri states without looking at Alexei.
“Dmitri—”
“I said sit.”
Alexei sinks back down, but he keeps leaning forward with his forearms on his knees like he’s ready to launch.
Dmitri’s eyes stay on Lev. “You’d better start elaborating.”
“We’ve been seeing one another,” Lev explains. “And my father’s men are close to connecting her to you. When they do…”
Only once he trails off does Dmitri finally look at me again. “What the hell are you doing fucking a Morozov?”
For half a second, I consider lying. I could tell him I treated a patient and got pulled into something I never agreed to.
But before I can even get my mouth open, Dmitri lifts one hand, stopping me before I can ruin what little credibility I have left.
“Don’t,” he says, calm enough to be lethal. “If you lie to me now, I won’t forget it.” He nods once toward Lev without looking at him. “Did you bring him here because you wanted my protection?”
“I came because I don’t have another move,” I confess.
Dmitri nods like he expected that answer. Somehow, that makes it worse. He turns back to Lev. “You walked in here with an offer?"
“Yes,” he replies with a nod.
My eldest cousin walks around his desk and stops a few feet from Lev. “You came into my house. You offered information. I’m assuming you want something back for committing treason against your own family?”
Lev answers without hesitation. “I want her safe.”
Dmitri’s eyes flit to me. “And what is it you want?”
“I just want out,” I say. “I want to go back to my life.”
Dmitri’s mouth pulls tight. “You can’t go back to your life.”
“I built it without this,” I snap. “I built it so I wouldn’t stand in this room having this conversation.”
“And yet,” Dmitri answers, spreading his arms wide.
“She didn’t ask for any of this,” Lev says.
“Oh, she chose plenty.”
I swallow hard and begin, “Dmitri—”
“I will talk to you in a minute.” Dmitri looks back at Lev and adds, “You want her safe, and you want yourself alive long enough to walk out with her?”
Lev doesn’t deny it. “Yes.”
“Then you talk.”
“I will. After you confirm you’re not going to punish her for walking in here.”
Alexei lets out a low chuckle. “He’s bargaining now.”
Dmitri doesn’t even look. “Alexei, if you can’t control yourself, leave my office.”
After a beat, Alexei drops back into his chair, breathing hard through his nose.
Tony taps the edge of his tablet once. “Start with something I can verify. A name would be a good start.”
Lev looks at Tony like he’s deciding whether he even matters in all this. “Who are you to verify anything?”
“I’m the one Dmitri trusts to find out if you’re lying. That’s all you need to know.”
“Fine,” Lev responds through gritted teeth. “You want a name, you’ll get one. Then she stays here until you decide what comes next.”
My skin prickles. I don’t like being discussed like furniture.
“She stays because she has to,” Dmitri replies.
I scoff, “Do I?”
Before Lev says, “Start with Gennady.”
Tony looks up. “Vadim’s senior advisor.”
Lev nods once. “He’s running the Moscow push. He directs the hits on your operations while my father stays out of the details.”
“What does he control?”
“Targets, teams, and timing,” Lev answers. “If you want to know what’s coming next, you start with the man who signs off on it.”
Tony nods and starts typing fast, then pulls his phone out. “I’ll make some calls.”
Dmitri doesn’t take his eyes off Lev, and he orders, “You keep talking.”
“Not until I know she’ll be held harmless.”
“Stop talking like I’m not standing right here,” I snap.
“I’m trying to keep you alive.”
“I can speak for myself,” I fire back.
Dmitri continues as though I haven’t said a word. “You’re not in a position to negotiate, Morozov.”
“I am if you need what I have,” Lev answers.
Dmitri steps closer until only a couple of feet separate them. “You don’t get to decide what I need.”
Lev holds his ground, squaring his shoulders. “Then decide.”
The words bubble up, scorching my throat until I can’t hold them back.
“I’m not going to just stand here and wait for you to decide I’m a problem the way everyone decided my mother was. I did not build my life just to end up in this office asking for protection because I got too close to the wrong man.”
Dmitri’s gaze cuts to me again, and my stomach drops because I know he’s about to twist the knife.
“Let me make something clear: You didn’t become a liability because of him. You became one because you lied to me. You’re family. Your choices land here whether you want them to or not.”
Lev steps in front of me. “I didn’t come here to see her get torn apart by her own family.”
“No, you came here because you created the threat, and now you want credit for fixing it.”
Lev works his jaw, but he doesn’t speak.
Dmitri uses that silence. “Boris.”
Boris straightens. “Yes.”
“Take him to holding.”
My stomach roils again, even though I knew it was coming.
Boris steps toward Lev. “Move.”
Lev looks at Dmitri. “I’ll give you as much as you want. Just don’t let my father get his hands on her.”
Boris grabs Lev’s arm and guides him out. Alexei stands to follow.
When the door shuts, Dmitri whirls on me “Do you understand what you risked getting involved with him?”
I swallow the lump in my throat before I respond, “Yes.”
“You built your whole life around staying separate, and I respected that. I didn’t drag you into meetings you didn’t want. I didn’t force you to play a role. I let you have your distance. And in return, you lied to me for months.”
I inhale slowly. “I didn’t want you to look at me like—”
“Like your mother,” Dmitri finishes.
My throat threatens to close, but I force my voice out. “Don’t bring her into this.”
“You walked in here with the enemy on your arm and expected me to separate it from consequence.”
“I didn’t expect anything,” I say.
Dmitri nods once. “Good. Because you don’t get to.”
I take a breath. “What happens now?”
Dmitri doesn’t answer right away. He looks toward the door, like he’s waiting for Tony to come back with proof that makes decisions easier.
He opens his mouth to say something just as a knock sounds, and half a second later, his wife Katya steps in. She takes one look at my face and Dmitri’s and understands enough.
She touches his forearm. “Go on. I’ll take care of her.”
Dmitri holds her gaze for a beat, then walks out without another word.
“His anger will pass,” she assures me once we’re alone.
“I don’t care about his anger,” I lie.
Katya’s mouth quirks. “Sure.”
I drag my hand through my hair and let out a breath. “What do I do?”
“You tell the truth when he asks,” she replies. “You stop trying to manage the situation by yourself. You wait while he decides what needs to be decided.”
“For someone like me, that sounds like punishment.”
Katya nods and offers a soft smile. “It can feel like that when you’re so used to doing things alone.”
I tuck my shaking hands into my sleeves.
Katya steps closer and squeezes my forearm. “You’re still family, Polina. Even when you make choices that scare everyone.”
My throat burns again. I nod because I can’t trust my voice.
Katya steps back, giving me room to pull myself together.
I came here trying not to be my mother, and I walked in with a Morozov at my side and my family judging every breath I take.
If I’m going to pay for it, I’ll face it head-on.