Chapter 10: Filthy Lies: Chapter 10

I park the SUV at the gate and wait for the security scan to be completed. Beside me, Rowan sits with Sofiya nestled against her chest, both of them asleep. The soft hum of their breathing is the only sound in the car.

It’s also the only sound I ever need to hear for the rest of my fucking life.

If all the world faded away and there was just that, just my two girls inhaling and exhaling in unison, I’d be a happy man. I’d be a complete man.

The iron gates slide open silently to reveal a winding driveway that cuts through dense forest. I drive slowly, careful not to wake them. Every bump in the road feels like a personal failure.

This property doesn’t exist on any map. I purchased it through seven different shell companies, each registered in a different country. The deed is held by a trust that has no connection to the Akopov name.

It’s my contingency plan. My fortress of last resort.

And now, it’s our home.

The house appears through the trees—modern, low-profile, built into the side of a hill with walls of concrete and bulletproof glass. Solar panels line the roof, and a small helipad sits on the east side. The entire property is surrounded by state-of-the-art security systems.

I ease the car to a stop and turn off the engine. Rowan stirs, her eyes fluttering open.

“Where are we?” she asks. Her voice is thick and dreamy with sleep.

“Somewhere safe,” I tell her. “Somewhere no one can find us.”

She looks out the window, taking in the unfamiliar surroundings. “How long have you had this place?”

“Since I found out you were pregnant.”

Her eyes meet mine. “And you never mentioned it?”

“I hoped we’d never need it.”

I exit the car and move to her side, opening the door carefully. She’s still weak from the birth and captivity. The doctors wanted her to stay in the medical facility for at least a week, but I couldn’t risk it.

Not with the Solovyovs still out there.

Not with my father’s betrayal still hanging over us.

“Can you walk?” I ask.

“I think so.”

I help her out of the car, one arm around her waist, the other hovering near Sofiya. Our daughter doesn’t stir.

“She sleeps like you,” Rowan murmurs. “So still. So quiet.”

The observation catches me off-guard. Under other circumstances, it wouldn’t do anything of the sort. After all, it’s such a normal thing to say. Such a normal moment to have: just two parents noticing traits their child shares with them.

But nothing about any of this shit is normal.

We enter the house through a reinforced door that requires both retinal and fingerprint scans. Inside, the space is open and clean. The valley looms through the windows, green and endless.

“It’s beautiful,” Rowan comments.

“It’s safe.” I guide her toward the sofa. “But I wanted it to feel like a home, not a fortress.”

She sinks onto the cushions and adjusts Sofiya in her arms. “You thought of everything.”

“Not everything.” I sit beside her, careful not to jostle them. “I never imagined finding you like that. In labor. Alone.”

The same old images skip through my head like ripples on a lake that keep spreading, spreading, spreading.

Blood on white marble.

Six digits punched into the keypad.

Screams in an empty hallway.

“But you found us,” she interrupts softly. “That’s what matters.”

I reach out to touch Sofiya’s tiny hand. Her fingers curl reflexively around mine, and another crack goes skittering through the rock of everything I once thought I was.

“I need to go back, you know.” I’m wincing even as the words leave my lips, because they’re exactly the wrong thing to say and yet I can’t say anything but that. “To find them. All of them.”

Rowan’s eyes snap to mine. “You’re leaving?”

“Not yet. But soon.” I open and close my mouth as I struggle to explain the war raging inside me. “Every instinct I have is screaming to hunt them down. My father. The Solovyovs. Everyone who had a hand in taking you.”

“But?”

“But another part of me can’t bear the thought of leaving you two alone.” I look down at our daughter, so small, so vulnerable. “Even for a moment.”

Rowan’s gaze softens, though I can see the worry lingering behind her eyes. For a moment, she just watches me.

Then she moves Sofiya to one arm, her movements still careful, still recovering. “You can’t be in two places at once,” she says quietly.

“I know that. I mean, fuck— logically, I know that.”

“But emotionally?” She reaches for my hand, her fingers cool against my skin.

I squeeze her hand gently. “I want to tear apart anyone who had anything to do with this. But I can’t stand the thought of walking out that door.”

“What about Arkady? Your security team?”

“They’re already working, but…” I trail off.

She studies my face for a long moment, then nods as if coming to a decision. “No more half-truths between us, Vince. No more compartmentalizing your life to protect me.”

“Rowan—”

“That’s what got us here in the first place,” she interrupts. “You keeping secrets, me in the dark.” Her voice grows firmer, more insistent. “Tell me everything, Vince. All of it. No more protecting me from the truth.”

I hesitate. My first impulse is to shield her, to carry this burden alone. It’s what I’ve always done—compartmentalized my life, kept the darkness away from her as much as possible.

But that strategy failed spectacularly. My father used my silence against me. Used my desire to protect Rowan as a weapon.

And in that horrible room, Rowan proved she’s stronger than I ever gave her credit for.

“You deserve to know,” I agree finally. “Everything.”

I stand and move to the kitchen, returning with water for her. She drinks gratefully while I gather my thoughts.

“My father’s betrayal wasn’t spontaneous,” I begin. “He’s been undermining our legitimization efforts for months. The Costa Rica development, the shipping contracts—all of it was sabotaged on his orders.”

“I know. I found the evidence, remember?”

“Yes, but there’s more.” I pace the room, unable to sit still with these truths weighing on me. “When you were taken, it wasn’t just about the baby. It was about control. My father believed he could use you to force me back in line. To abandon our plans for legitimacy and return to the old ways.”

“But the Solovyovs intervened.”

I nod. “They’ve been watching us for months. Waiting for an opportunity.” My fists clench at my sides. “They saw my father’s men take you and seized their chance.”

Sofiya stirs in Rowan’s arms, making small mewling sounds. Rowan coos to reassure her, and our daughter settles back to sleep.

“What about Grigor?” she asks quietly. “Does he know about me?”

There’s the question I’ve been dreading. “I don’t think so. But it’s only a matter of time. Especially now.”

“And when he finds out?”

“Best case scenario, he tries to use you as leverage against me. Worst case…”

Rowan’s jaw sets tight. “Worst case, he tries to take me. And Sofiya.” Her voice is steady, her eyes clear. No trace of the fear I expected.

“Yes.”

“So we’re caught between three powerful enemies. Your father. The Solovyovs. And my biological father, who doesn’t even know I exist yet.” She laughs, a brittle sound. “You should’ve told me I was marrying into a shitshow of a family, Vince.”

“I won’t let any of them touch you,” I vow. “Either of you.”

“I know that.” She looks down at Sofiya, then back at me. “But we can’t just hide forever. We need a plan.”

“I have one.”

“Well, I’m all ears.”

I sit beside her again, needing to be close for this. “First, we secure our position. This compound is unknown to anyone in my organization except me. We have supplies, security, everything we need to stay safe while you recover.”

“And then?”

“Then I eliminate the threats. One by one. I already have men tracking down everyone involved in your abduction. Within a week, none of them will be breathing.”

Rowan doesn’t flinch at my words. The old Rowan might have. The woman who walked into my office all those months ago, innocent and wide-eyed.

But this woman—this mother—simply nods.

“And your father?”

“A more complicated problem.” I run a hand through my hair. “Killing him outright would destabilize the entire organization. Create a power vacuum that could lead to war.”

“So what do you do?”

“I isolate him. Cut him off from his support base and turn his captains against him. Then, when the time is right, I remove him permanently.”

Sofiya emits another small whimper, and both of us instinctively look at her. Her tiny face scrunches briefly before relaxing again.

It’s a strange thing, for your heart to suddenly exist outside of your body. I can see it now, touch it, smell it, hear it. It’s right there—not in me, but over there, reachable, where anyone can simply pluck it away from me.

It’s a strange fucking thing, the twists and turns this life of mine has taken.

“That still leaves Grigor in the mix,” Rowan prompts after a moment.

“What happens there depends on him.” I choose my words carefully. “If he discovers your identity but makes no move against us, we do nothing. If he tries to use you or claim you⁠—”

“You kill him, too.”

It’s not a question, but I answer anyway. “Yes. I do.”

Rowan is silent for a long moment, processing everything. I expect her to be overwhelmed, to break down now that the adrenaline of survival has worn off.

Instead, she looks up at me with clear, determined eyes. “I want to help.”

“Row—”

“No, listen to me.” She pats Sofi’s back gently. “I’m not the same woman I was before. I can’t be, not after what happened. And I refuse to be a passive participant in my own life anymore.”

“You just gave birth. In captivity.”

“Exactly. And I survived. I protected our daughter.” Her voice grows stronger. “I’m not saying I want to go out there and start shooting people. But I need to be involved in the decisions. I need to know the plans. I need to be your partner in this, not just someone you protect.”

I study her face. This is the woman who threatened to kill her captor with a syringe while holding our newborn child. She endured labor alone in a filthy room and kept our daughter alive against impossible odds.

She’s earned the right to know.

“Okay,” I agree finally. “Partners.”

Her shoulders sag as relief passes over her. “Thank you.”

“But you focus on recovering first. On taking care of Sofiya. Let me handle the immediate threats.”

“Fair enough.” She leans into me, and I wrap an arm around her shoulders. “Just promise me one thing.”

“Anything.”

“Come back to us.” Her voice breaks slightly. “Whatever you do out there, whatever kind of monster you have to become to keep us safe… come back to us whole.”

I seal my lips to her forehead. “I promise.”

We sit motionless in the dark, our eyes fixed on the rise and fall of Sofiya’s tiny chest. The crushing reality of our situation radiates through the room like a nuclear winter—but right here, right now, watching our daughter’s perfect face, we’ve carved out this single pristine moment.

One breath of oxygen in the suffocating chaos we call our life.

One heartbeat of serenity while the world outside plots our destruction.

“I want to show you something,” I say eventually, helping her to her feet.

I lead her through the house to a room near the master bedroom. The door slides open silently, revealing a fully equipped nursery—pale eggshell walls, a snow-white crib, stuffed animals arranged on shelves.

Rowan gasps. “When did you…?”

“I had it prepared when I bought the property.” I run my hand over the crib railing. “Just in case.”

Tears fill her eyes. “It’s perfect.”

I take Sofiya from her arms. It still terrifies me, how small she is. How fragile. But I’m learning.

I place her in the crib. She stirs briefly before settling again, one tiny fist escaping the blanket to rest beside her face.

Rowan leans against me. “We should sleep while she does.”

“You sleep,” I tell her. “I’ll watch over you both.”

She studies me for a moment, then nods. “Okay. But just for tonight.”

I help her to the master bedroom, where she practically collapses onto the bed. Within seconds, she’s asleep, breathing gently.

I return to the nursery and pull a chair beside Sofiya’s crib. From here, I can see both her and the doorway to our bedroom. I check my phone. It’s glowing with messages from Arkady about the ongoing hunt for the Solovyovs, reports on my father’s movements, updates on security measures at Akopov properties across the tri-state area.

The world outside is still in chaos.

But that’s outside.

In here, I have the only sounds I need. My woman. My daughter.

The hunt can wait until morning.