“Wladimir always plays dirty,” he replied. “The question is whether we will stay clean until we beat him.”
Just then Lydia returned from the window.
“There’s a car on the road,” he said. “It’s not Vera. It’s someone else.”
Maria got up immediately.
“Take Mila and Raya,” he said. “We’re transferring them. Now.”
My heart jumped into my throat.
“Where?” I asked.
Maria looked at me.
“With a man who doesn’t love Vladimir,” he said. “And who has his own reasons.”
“Who?” I whispered.
Maria hesitated, then said the name:
– Sylvia.
Vladimir’s wife.
And then I realized that war was entering its most dangerous part: inside the enemy’s home.
Chapter Thirteen
Silvia greeted us without unnecessary words. She was a woman who moved quietly, but her presence was heavy. Not as a threat, but as a story that no one had heard in its entirety.
Her house was large, but not cold. It had a coziness that came not from possessions, but from the habit of surviving in the shadow of wealth.
When we brought Raya and Mila, Sylvia looked at them for a long time. Something like pain flashed in her eyes.
“So she’s real,” Sylvia whispered.
“It’s real,” Maria replied. “And it’s in danger.”
Sylvia pursed her lips.
“Vladimir will never forgive me for this,” he said.
“Vladimir never forgives,” Maria replied. “The question is whether you will forgive yourself if you don’t help.”
Sylvia turned to me.
“You are Nikola,” he said. “I was watching the recording.”
I turned pale.
“I didn’t mean to…” I started, but she raised her hand.
“Don’t make excuses,” he said. “You did something that Vladimir doesn’t understand. And that’s what angers him the most.”
Mila stood next to Rai, still frozen in fear. Sylvia approached her.
“What is your name?” he asked softly.
“Honey,” the girl whispered.
Sylvia nodded, as if her name weighed heavily.
“Peter… does he know?” she asked Maria.
“He knows,” Maria replied. “And he’s in danger.”
Sylvia closed her eyes for a second.
“He’s a good boy,” she whispered. “But Vladimir will turn him into a tool if he can.”
She opened her eyes and looked towards Heaven.
“Heaven…” he said quietly.
Raya tried to get up, but she was weak. Her eyes met Sylvia’s. In that look there were years of silence, jealousy, guilt and… strange respect.
“Sylvia,” Raya whispered. “I didn’t want to…”
“I know,” Sylvia interrupted. “Not you. Him.”
The silence grew heavy.
Maria put the envelope with the confessions on the table.
“We have evidence,” he said. “But we need a witness. Someone who was close to Vladimir. Someone who can confirm the schemes. Someone the court will hear.”
Sylvia laughed bitterly.
“Me?” he asked.
Maria nodded.
– You.
Sylvia turned to the window.
“If I do this, I will lose everything,” he whispered. “Home, money, security.”
“And what do you gain by staying silent?” Maria asked.
Sylvia didn’t answer immediately. Then she said quietly:
– Nothing. Just more years in a golden cage.
He looked at Mila.
– And she… she will become the same cell. Only for a child.
Raya whispered:
– Don’t allow it.
Sylvia nodded as if that sentence were a key.
“Okay,” he said. “I’ll talk. But I have a condition.”
Maria looked at her carefully.
“Vladimir has a safe,” Sylvia said. “It contains documents that are more dangerous than anything Raya wrote. If we take them, Vladimir will have nowhere to run.”
“Where is he?” Maria asked.
Sylvia smiled sadly.
