Igor’s gaze meets mine over his son’s head. In it, I see a question and a challenge. Are you committed? Are you going to be someone this child can depend on? Despite everything between us—the hatred, the betrayal, the years of planning each other’s destruction—we both want the same thing now. For Damien to be safe. For him to have the childhood neither of us enjoyed.
“If it’s allowed,” I say quietly.
“It’s allowed,” Igor replies. “Same time next week.”
Damien hugs me goodbye with the same enthusiasm he showed when I arrived, and I find myself holding on longer than I should. When I finally let go, he looks up at me with pure trust.
“Remember what I taught you?” I ask.
“The ball will be there when I reach for it,” he recites seriously. “I just have to trust it and keep trying.”
“Good man,” I tell him. But we both know he learned more than basketball today.
The drive back to the mansion is quiet. Aleksander doesn’t ask questions, doesn’t probe for details. But I catch him watching me when he thinks I’m not looking.
For weeks, I’ve been focused on proving I’m more than a weapon, on earning freedom, on navigating the complex politics of my captivity. But today, holding my nephew, listening to his questions, seeing Ana’s eyes in him…
Today, I remember what I’m really fighting for.
Not revenge. Not power. Not even freedom.
Family. Connection. The chance to be someone worth looking up to.
When we reach the mansion, I head straight to my room, but not to brood or plan. For the first time in months, I’m not thinking about strategy, survival or the careful balance of keeping myself valuable while appearing harmless.
I’m thinking about next week. About what I’ll teach Damien, what stories I’ll share about Ana, what kind of uncle I want to be to him.
And underneath it all, threading through every thought like a golden wire, is the growing certainty that whatever Nikolai and Igor decide about my future, whatever freedoms or restrictions they place on me, I have something worth protecting now.
The text from Mila arrives as the sun sets, her name lighting up my phone screen.
Mila:How did it go with Damien?
I stareat the message for a long moment, considering how to capture everything that’s shifted inside me today. Finally, I type back:
Me:Complicated. Good complicated. I’ll tell you tonight.
Because that’swhat tonight is for—Mila. The woman who makes me want to be worthy of her faith, who sees potential for goodness in me that I’m only beginning to believe in myself.
Damien showed me what I’m fighting to protect. But Mila…
Mila shows me who I might become.
And for the first time since Ana died, I’m looking forward to the future instead of running from the past.
24
BOUNDARIES IN ASH
MILA
Twenty-four hours back at the mansion, and I finally finish unpacking. Long enough to fall into old routines, to remember why leaving felt impossible the first time.
Long enough to study the new security patterns.
My fingers skim over the familiar weight of the burgundy dress folded at the bottom of my bag, the one I wore during an early session, the one that caught his gaze and held it. I set it aside with care.
Not for therapy this time.
