The doors slammed shut with a sound like thunder.
Natalia's head whipped around, her hand still gripping Sara's arm. Her men raised their weapons, scanning the shadows, but there was nothing to shoot at. The hall was empty except for the three of them.
Adrian stood between Natalia and her soldiers, his gun raised, his face carved from stone.
"You walked into my home," he said quietly. "You threatened my wife. My child." His voice dropped lower. "You made your last mistake, Mother."
Natalia laughed—a hollow, broken sound. "Mother? You call her mother." She jerked her head toward Sara. "The woman who raised you? The woman who lied to you your whole life?"
"She never lied to me." Adrian's voice was ice. "She loved me. She protected me. She gave me everything you threw away."
"I gave you life!"
"You gave me nothing." He stepped closer, his gun never wavering. "You abandoned me. You let my father tell me you were dead. You spent forty years planning revenge instead of finding me. Instead of loving me."
Natalia's face twisted. "I was cast out! Erased! Your father took everything from me—my husband, my son, my life. I had nothing left but hate!"
"That was your choice." Sara's voice cut through the darkness. "You could have come back. You could have fought for him. You could have been his mother. But you chose revenge instead."
Natalia turned on her, fury blazing in her eyes. "You know nothing. You who stole everything I should have had. His love. His trust. His child."
Sara met her gaze without flinching. "I didn't steal anything. I earned it. I fought for it. I nearly died for it. And I'd do it all again. For him. For our family."
The first shot came from outside.
Natalia's men spun, weapons raised, but it was too late. Adrian's guards poured from the shadows, surrounding them, disarming them, forcing them to the ground.
Natalia watched it happen, her face going white.
"You planned this," she breathed.
"I planned to protect my family." Adrian's gun was still trained on her. "Let her go, Natalia. It's over."
Natalia's grip on Sara's arm tightened. "It's over when I say it's over."
She pulled a knife from her sleeve—fast, too fast. The blade pressed against Sara's throat.
Sara felt the cold steel against her skin, felt her heart stop, felt the baby move inside her as if sensing danger.
Adrian's face went completely still. "Let her go."
"Shoot me, and she dies." Natalia's voice was calm now, almost peaceful. "I've waited forty years for this moment. I'm not afraid to die. Are you afraid to lose her?"
The room was silent.
Sara met Adrian's eyes. In them, she saw everything—his love, his fear, his desperate need to protect her. She saw the man she married, the man she loved, the man who had fought for her from the very beginning.
She saw what she had to do.
She moved.
Her hand shot up, grabbing Natalia's wrist. Her body twisted, the way Viktor had taught her in the warehouse what felt like a lifetime ago. She threw her weight forward, driving her elbow into Natalia's ribs.
The knife clattered to the floor.
Natalia staggered back, her eyes wide with shock. Sara spun, her fist connecting with Natalia's face—a wild, desperate blow that sent the older woman crashing to the ground.
Sara stood over her, breathing hard, her hand pressed to her stomach.
"You should have stayed away," she said.
Guards swarmed forward, pulling Natalia to her feet, binding her hands. She didn't fight. She just stared at Sara with something that might have been wonder.
"You fight like a Volkov," she whispered.
Sara wiped blood from her knuckles. "I am a Volkov."
Adrian was there then, pulling her into his arms, holding her so tight she could barely breathe.
"Never again," he said against her hair. "Never again do you do something that reckless."
"I had to. She was going to kill me anyway. I had to give you a chance."
"I would have found another way."
"There wasn't another way." She pulled back, looking at him. "I did what I had to do. To protect our family."
Adrian kissed her—hard, desperate, tasting of fear and love and relief.
When they broke apart, Natalia was laughing.
It was a terrible sound—broken, hollow, empty.
"You think this is over?" she said. "You think capturing me ends anything?" Her eyes blazed. "I've spent forty years planning this. Forty years building. Forty years waiting. You think I came alone?"
Adrian's face went still. "What have you done?"
Natalia smiled. "While you were here, playing your little games, my people were elsewhere. Doing what I trained them to do. What I raised them to do."
Sara's blood ran cold. "Elena. Tom."
Natalia's smile widened. "You took my son. I took yours."
The phone rang before Adrian could respond.
He grabbed it, his hands shaking. Sara watched his face as he listened—watched the color drain from his skin, watched the light die in his eyes.
"What is it?" she demanded. "Adrian, what is it?"
He lowered the phone. His voice was barely a whisper.
"They took Tom."
Sara's world stopped.
"They attacked the safe house. Marta was hurt. Elena is safe, but Tom—" His voice cracked. "Tom is gone."
Natalia laughed again, that terrible, hollow laugh.
"My son," she said softly. "Now you know what it feels like. To have your child taken. To watch everything you love slip away." Her eyes fixed on Sara. "Your brother will die. Slowly. Painfully. And you will watch. You will both watch. And then you will know what I have known for forty years."
Adrian moved so fast Sara barely saw it.
His hand closed around Natalia's throat, slamming her against the wall. Her feet left the ground. Her face went red, then purple.
"Where is he?" His voice was barely human. "Where is my brother?"
Natalia gasped, choking, but she was still smiling. "Kill me, and you'll never find him."
"Adrian!" Sara grabbed his arm. "Adrian, stop. She's right. If you kill her, we lose Tom forever."
For a terrible moment, she didn't think he would let go.
Then his hand opened.
Natalia collapsed to the ground, coughing, gasping, but still smiling.
"You see?" she rasped. "You're weak. Just like your father said. Just like I always knew. Too weak to do what needs to be done."
Adrian stood over her, his whole body shaking.
"I'm not weak," he said. "I'm choosing mercy. Again. Because that's who I am. That's who I choose to be."
He turned to his guards.
"Lock her up. Somewhere she can't hurt anyone. Somewhere she can't escape."
"And Tom?" Sara's voice broke. "Adrian, what about Tom?"
He pulled her into his arms, holding her against his chest.
"We find him. Whatever it takes. We find him."