20. Zoya #2
“I have work,” I say.
“You always have work,” Mila says.
Nadia says, “But this episode is short.”
I look at the laptop in my room, then at the two of them pressed against Ruslan like this is normal.
It is not normal. None of this is normal.
But they are calm. For the first time since last night, they are calm.
I sit on the armchair.
Just for five minutes.
The episode ends. Mila explains the planets. Nadia corrects the explanation. Ruslan listens like they’re briefing him before a war.
When the credits roll, I stand. “Lunch soon,” I say. “And after that, quiet time.”
Mila groans.
Nadia asks, “Is quiet time mandatory?”
“Yes.”
Ruslan says, “Your mother has work.”
Nadia looks at him. “You are not in charge.”
“No,” he says. “I am not.”
That answer settles something in the room.
I look at him. “When can you leave?” I ask.
The girls are still there, but my voice is calm enough that they don’t react.
Ruslan doesn’t answer immediately.
“What do you need?” I ask.
Ruslan looks at my phone on the table. “Your phone.”
My hand moves to it before I think.
Then I stop. He sees the hesitation.
His voice lowers. “The sooner I get out of this apartment, the better for you. Isn’t it?”
That is exactly what I want.
It should be easy to say yes.
Before I can answer, Mila shifts closer to him and wraps one arm around his side as carefully as a five-year-old can. “I don’t want him to leave,” she says.
The room goes still.
Ruslan looks down at her like he doesn’t know what to do with the words.
I close my eyes for one second. “Mila.”
She presses her cheek against his arm. “He’s injured.”
“He has people who can help him.”
Mila looks up at me. “But what if they’re bad people?”
Nadia turns to Ruslan. “Are your people bad?”
Ruslan doesn’t answer right away.
Then he says, “Some of them.”
Nadia frowns. “That is a worrying answer.”
“Yes,” he says. “It is.”
Mila’s arm tightens around him. “Then he should stay.”
“No,” I say, more sharply than I mean to.
Mila flinches.
I soften my voice at once. “Baby, this is not simple.”
“You said we help hurt people,” Mila says.
“We did help him.”
“But now you want to send him away.”
“I want to keep you safe.”
Nadia looks at me. “Are both things possible?”
I wish I had an answer that didn’t make my chest hurt.
Ruslan speaks before I can. “Your mother is right,” he says.
Mila looks offended. “You want to leave?”
“No,” he says. His eyes lift to mine. Then he adds, “But I should.”
Mila studies him. “Because of bad people?”
“Yes.”
“Will they hurt you?”
“They can try.”
Nadia says, “That is not comforting.”
“I know,” Ruslan says.
I pick up my phone and hold it tightly in my hand. “One call,” I say.
Ruslan nods. “One call.”
“No names that bring men here.”
“No men here.”
“No threats in my living room.”
His mouth almost moves. “I’ll do my best.”
“Don’t be funny.”
“I wasn’t.”
I unlock the phone, then hesitate again when the home screen opens. It feels too personal to hand it to him.
Ruslan takes the phone carefully, like he knows exactly why my fingers are stiff around it. He dials from memory. That bothers me too. He puts the call on speaker only after I give him a look.
A man answers on the second ring. “Yes?”
Ruslan says, “It’s me.”
The man goes silent.
Then, “Boss?”
Ruslan’s face doesn’t change. “Don’t take any names.”
A pause. “Understood.”
“I need status. Short.”
The man answers quickly. “The van was lost near river road. Malik is alive. Pavel is alive. Stepan is searching. No one knows where you are.”
“Good.”
The man hesitates. “They think you were taken.”
“Let them think.”
I stare at him.
“If Stepan asks? Same answer?”
Ruslan’s eyes harden. “Especially Stepan.”
That makes my stomach drop.
He ends the call.
For a moment, nobody speaks.
Mila whispers, “Who is Stepan?”
Ruslan answers without looking away from me. “Someone I trusted.”
Nadia hears the past tense. Her eyes narrow.
I take my phone back. My hand is cold.
“All right,” I say, forcing my voice steady. “Enough serious conversation. Mila, Nadia, go wash your hands. Lunch.”
Mila doesn’t move. “I’m not hungry.”
“You said that yesterday and ate two cupcakes.”
“That was emergency sugar.”
Nadia slides off the couch. “Come on. If we go now, we can choose plates.”
Mila looks at Ruslan. “Don’t leave while I’m gone.”
He says, “I won’t.”
“Promise?”
He looks at me first, then back at her. “I promise.”
Mila accepts that and follows Nadia toward the kitchen.
I wait until they’re busy arguing over plates. Then I look at him. “What was that about?” I ask.
“What?” he says.
“Stepan… that name is familiar to me. He was your lieutenant, right?” I say.
He gives me a strange look, as if suddenly remembering he had made me a part of his life once, even if it was just for a couple weeks. “Yeah.”
“And you think it could be him?”
“I think it could be anyone.”
The answer makes my skin crawl.
I glance toward the kitchen, where Mila is singing softly to herself and Nadia is telling her not to put spoons in everyone’s cups because “that is not hosting.”
I lower my voice. “Is this related to what happened six years ago?”
Ruslan goes still.
His eyes move to mine. “Why do you ask?”
“Because six years ago men with guns came into a library, and you told me you found the mole. Then you sent me away like I was a problem solved.” My voice stays quiet, but the anger is there under every word.
“Now men with guns show up at my daughters’ school, and again you’re talking about betrayal. ”
He says nothing.
I step closer, keeping my voice low. “Is it connected?”
Ruslan looks toward the kitchen.
The girls are still distracted.
Then he looks back at me. “I thought Anton was the answer,” he says.
The name means nothing to me, but the way he says it does.
“Was he?”
“For years, I believed so.”
“And now?”
Ruslan’s jaw tightens. “Now I think I may have got the wrong man.”