Total pages in book: 49
Estimated words: 45635 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 228(@200wpm)___ 183(@250wpm)___ 152(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45635 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 228(@200wpm)___ 183(@250wpm)___ 152(@300wpm)
“They’re moving women,” I said quietly. “Like it’s nothing, like they’re pieces of property to be bought and sold.” I exhaled as emotion rose in me. “I can’t ignore that,” I said. “I won’t.”
“I wouldn’t want you to,” he replied.
“I know I can’t go out there and do what you do,” I continued. “I can’t help in that way, but I want to be part of shutting it down, no matter how long it takes.”
“You already are helping,” he said. “Being here, growing our son, and being so damn strong. You do so much already.”
He didn’t want me sheltered from this part of his life. He wanted me to see it and still stand beside him.
He watched me for a moment before speaking again. “It’s not just your family tied to it. It runs through different groups, different cities. It’s been there a long time. It branches out wider than you think.”
“I figured that,” I said, knowing how deep and long this heinous shit ran. Something like that didn’t disappear overnight.
“I’ve been in contact with Dmitry,” he said.
I knew the name. Everyone did, but I also knew what came with it now.
“And Zoya?” I asked about Dmitry’s wife and the woman I’d previously gone to school with. It had only been a short time, but I’d seen the look in her eyes that told me she was living in the same fucked up, patriarchal, and female oppressive world as I was.
“They’re both involved,” he said. “She doesn’t ignore it either. They’ve already started pulling pieces apart where they can. We’re not the only ones working on it.”
That didn’t surprise me. Women like her, like me, didn’t stay quiet, and men like Dmitry didn’t tolerate anything that crossed certain lines.
“They have connections we don’t,” Alexei continued. “And we have reach they don’t. Others are getting involved behind the scenes. This gets taken apart piece by piece.”
I nodded slowly, absorbing it. “This is going to take time,” I said.
“Yes. A lot of it.”
We weren’t good people. I knew that. This world didn’t run on clean hands or good intentions. It ran on control, power, and doing what needed to be done when no one else would. But there were lines. There had to be.
“Innocent women don’t belong in any of this,” I said.
“No,” Alexei replied. “They don’t. And we’ll stop it, no matter how long it takes.”
I leaned forward and let my head rest against his chest as his arms came around me, holding me in place. “No one will ever touch you or our son,” he murmured against my hair, his voice dark with promise. “I killed one threat for you already, and I’ll take out every motherfucker if I have to. You and this child are the only things in this world I will never sacrifice. This is ours,” he said. “Everything we build from here.”
I closed my eyes for a moment, letting myself feel it fully. Our son. Our future, and a life that wasn’t clean or simple, but was ours all the same.
His hand moved over my stomach, slow and sure, like he was steadying himself in it just as much as I was. “We protect what’s ours,” I said quietly.
“Always,” he replied.
There was no doubt or hesitation in his voice.
In a world built on power and blood, we had carved out something that belonged only to us. It wasn’t soft, and it wasn’t easy, but it was real.
And it was ours to keep.
The End.