I pressed my forehead to the glass, breath fogging the surface.
Please, I thought.Find them. Bring them home. All of them.
And please—don’t leave Bianca behind. Don’t let hope be the thing that kills her.
And selfishly, desperately—don’t die trying.
The sun rose fully then, spilling gold across the room, illuminating dust motes drifting lazily in the air.
The light felt almost intrusive, too bright for the heaviness sitting in my chest. A new day didn’t care about my fear. It arrived anyway.
I turned from the window and reached for the robe draped over the chair, slipping it on with slow, automatic movements.
My body still felt fragile, like it might splinter if I moved too quickly. I sat on the edge of the bed, the mattress dipping beneath my weight.
The ring on my finger caught the light.
Platinum. Simple. Unassuming. No grand declaration, no audience. Just a quiet promise forged in the dark.
I didn’t know what it meant yet.
I didn’t know what we meant.
All I knew was that today, my only purpose was to wait. To endure the hours stretching ahead of me.
To keep breathing through the memories that clawed at the edges of my mind every time I closed my eyes. To play my role convincingly. To protect Vanya with silence if I had to.
And to pray.
That Dmitri succeeded.
That he came back.
That the girls were found.
That Bianca saw daylight again.
That this fragile thread of hope didn’t snap under the weight of reality.
Chapter 8
PENELOPE
FOUR WEEKS.
Four weeks of silence that felt like drowning in slow motion—lungs burning, instincts screaming, yet no surface in sight.
Four weeks of living inside Dmitri’s house like a ghost, present but unseen, careful not to draw attention.
Four weeks of watching Vanya from doorways and shadowed corners, committing him to memory the way one memorizes a face before exile.
The way his laughter rang out when Seraphina praised him.
The way he tilted his head, lower lip caught between his teeth, when he concentrated on a book.
The way he reached for her hand without thinking.
Every detail was a fresh wound.