He stands slowly, and I have to tilt my head back to maintain eye contact. "What else aren't you telling me, Lena?"
42
ALEKSANDR
Istudy Lena's face in the dim light of her bedroom. The pallor of her skin. The way her dark blue eyes won't quite meet mine, darting away whenever I hold her gaze too long. The tension in her shoulders that makes her look like she's bracing for impact.
She's hiding something.
The knowledge sits in my gut like a stone, heavy and undeniable. Every instinct I have screams that she's pregnant.
But she's not telling me. And that matters.
I could push, could back her into a corner with questions until she breaks and admits the truth. It would be easy. I'm good at extracting information from people who don't want to give it.
But this isn't some soldier hiding evidence of betrayal. This is Lena. The woman who pulled me from the snow and nursed me back to health. Who laughed at my terrible jokes and let me hold her through nightmares. Who looks at me sometimes like I'mstill Sasha instead of Aleksandr, like maybe the man I was in that cabin wasn't entirely a lie.
Pushing her will only make her retreat further. So I step back, giving her the space she clearly needs. My hands ache to reach for her, to pull her against my chest and promise that whatever she's hiding, she can tell me. But I keep them at my sides.
"We'll talk in the morning," I say quietly. "Get some rest."
Relief flashes across her face, so quick I almost miss it.
I move toward the door, then pause with my hand on the handle. "Lena?"
"Yeah?"
"Whatever you're not telling me, whenever you're ready to share it, I'm here." I don't turn around, don't let her see how much this matters. "I'm not going anywhere."
I close the door behind me and lean against the hallway wall with my eyes closed. The urge to go back in there, to demand answers, to take control of a situation that feels like it's slipping through my fingers, is almost overwhelming.
But I don't. Because some things can't be controlled, only waited for.
Morning comes too early. I'm in my office by six, coffee already cooling on my desk while I review security footage from the party. Danil arrives at seven, looking as exhausted as I feel.
"You look like shit," he says, dropping into the chair across from me.
"You're one to talk." I gesture to the dark circles under his eyes. "When's the last time you slept?"
"Sleep is for people who don't have a Pakhan to protect." He accepts the coffee I pour him. "What are we looking at?"
I turn my laptop so he can see the screen. "Footage from last night. Watch Katya."
We spend the next hour reviewing every interaction she had at the party. The way she touched arms and leaned close to whisper in ears. The pattern of who she approached and in what order. The subtle glances she exchanged with certain soldiers across the room.
"She's recruiting," Danil says finally. "Building a network. Just as we thought."
"Agreed." I pull up a list I've been compiling. "These are the men she spent the most time with. All of them are under thirty-five, ambitious, and relatively new to the organization."
"Easy to manipulate." He studies the names. "They don't remember what you're capable of. Don't have the history to understand why challenging you is suicide. Or they think the grass is greener on the other side."
"Exactly." I lean back in my chair. "We need to narrow the suspect list. Who had motive, means, and opportunity to pay Yuri to kill me?"
Danil pulls out his own notes. "Katya Rostova is at the top. She has motive, we know that. Her entire family died because of your order. She has the money to pay someone like Yuri. And she's been in the city the whole time, with access to our people."
"Who else?"
"Two lieutenants who gained power during your absence." He slides photos across the desk. "Both of them were mid-levelbefore you disappeared. Both of them moved up fast while you were gone, taking over operations that would have normally required your approval."