Then it's gone. Buried under that blank mask.
"He's just a means to an end," I continue, twisting the knife deeper because Patrick needs to believe it. Because if he suspects I've turned, Ethan dies. "A job. Nothing more."
"Good." Patrick's voice relaxes slightly. "Because for a minute there, I thought I'd lost you to Stockholm syndrome and good fucking. Would have been disappointing."
"You didn't lose me. I'm just trying to stay alive long enough to get my family out."
"Smart girl." Papers rustle on his end. "Alright. I'll position men along that route. If your intel is good, this ends tonight. Volkov dies, your debt is paid, your family goes free."
He hangs up.
I set the phone down with shaking hands. Stare at it like it might explode.
Lev picks it up, does something to it, and then pockets it.
"You did well." His voice is flat. Empty. "Even convinced me you meant it. That part about hating me, about me being just a job."
"Lev—"
"Save it." He stands. "Patrick bought it. That's all that matters."
"But I didn't mean it…"
"I’m sure you didn’t." He moves toward the door. "Mikhail will take you back downstairs. Stay there until this is over."
"Lev, please—"
"This conversation is over." He walks out without looking back.
Mikhail appears moments later. Gestures for me to follow him back to the basement.
The cell is somehow colder when I return.
Mikhail lingers in the doorway. "I'll bring food and water in an hour."
"You don't have to." My voice sounds hollow. "If Lev wants me to starve, I deserve it."
"Boss didn't say to starve you. Just said to keep you locked up." He studies me for a moment. "You really love him?"
The question catches me off guard. "W-What?"
"Lev. You love him? Or was that all bullshit for Patrick real?"
"I love him." The admission hurts. "I fell for him despite knowing I shouldn't. Despite knowing it would end like this. And now he hates me, and I deserve that too."
Mikhail nods slowly. "For what it's worth, I don't think he hates you. Hate is clean. Simple. What he feels is messier than that."
"Does it matter? Either way, I'm leaving. Either way, I lose him and Mila and everything that mattered."
"Maybe." He shrugs. "Or maybe the boss surprises you. He's done stupider things for people he cares about."
Hope flickers for just a second before reality crushes it.
"He doesn't care about me anymore. You saw him up there. He looked at me like I was nothing."
"I saw a man trying very hard not to feel anything because feeling anything right now would break him." Mikhail'sexpression softens slightly. "He trusted you. Let you in. That's not something he does. Ever. And you betrayed that. Doesn't matter that you had reasons. Doesn't matter that you stopped. The betrayal happened. And now he's trying to put himself back together while everything inside him is screaming."
"So, what do I do?"