CHAPTER SIX: The Choice They Didn’t Expect
1160 Words
“Is it ours?”
Dmitri’s question cut through the room like a blade.
Anya did not flinch.
The doctor shifted uncomfortably. “The pregnancy is recent, but not recent enough to have started here.”
Silence.
Nikolai closed the study door slowly.
Alexei’s eyes stayed on Anya. “How far?”
“Six weeks,” the doctor replied.
Six weeks.
Before the marriage.
Before the game ended.
Before the Volkov estate.
Dmitri stepped back as if something had struck him. “Who?”
The question was sharp. Dangerous.
Anya held his gaze.
“It doesn’t concern you,” she said quietly.
“It concerns this house,” he shot back.
Alexei raised a hand. Dmitri went silent, but barely.
The doctor gathered his things. “She needs rest. Stress is not good.”
“You can leave,” Alexei said.
When the door closed behind the doctor, the room felt smaller.
No one spoke first.
Anya refused to look away.
Nikolai was the one who finally broke the silence.
“Does your father know?” he asked.
“No.”
“Does the man?” Dmitri demanded.
Her jaw tightened slightly. “No.”
Dmitri laughed once. It held no humor. “So you bring another man’s child into this house.”
“I didn’t bring anything,” she said. “I was brought.”
The words landed hard.
Alexei moved closer to her. Not threatening. Not soft.
“Was it willing?” he asked.
The room stilled.
Anya’s fingers curled slightly at her sides.
“No,” she said.
Nothing more.
No detail.
It was enough.
Dmitri’s face changed first. The anger shifted direction.
Nikolai looked down briefly, then back at her.
Alexei’s expression did not soften, but something colder replaced the calculation.
“Who?” he asked again.
She shook her head once. “It doesn’t matter.”
“It matters to me,” Dmitri said.
She looked at him.
“Why?” she asked quietly. “Because it damages your pride?”
His jaw clenched.
“Because it makes him a dead man,” he replied.
Silence.
Anya’s breathing stayed steady, but her chest felt tight.
“This is not part of the deal,” Nikolai said carefully.
“No,” she agreed. “It isn’t.”
Alexei studied her closely.
“You were going to tell us when?” he asked.
“I wasn’t,” she said.
Dmitri stared at her. “You thought we wouldn’t notice?”
“I thought it wouldn’t matter,” she replied.
Nikolai frowned. “How does it not matter?”
She lifted her chin slightly.
“You married me for access,” she said. “Not purity.”
The word hung in the air.
Dmitri looked away first.
Alexei did not.
“This child,” he said slowly, “changes things.”
“Yes.”
“In what direction?” Nikolai asked.
Anya finally showed a flicker of emotion.
“That depends on you.”
Dmitri exhaled sharply. “You’re asking us to raise another man’s blood.”
“I’m asking nothing,” she said. “You asked if it was yours. It isn’t. That’s the truth.”
The honesty was sharp.
Alexei turned and walked toward the window. His reflection stared back at him.
“Our enemies will use this,” Nikolai said.
“They already use worse,” Dmitri replied.
Anya stood still in the center of the room.
“If this weakens you,” she said quietly, “say it now.”
Alexei turned back.
“It doesn’t weaken us,” he said.
“Then what does it do?” she asked.
He stepped toward her again.
“It tests us.”
Silence followed.
Dmitri ran a hand through his hair. “We can’t ignore it.”
“I’m not asking you to,” she said.
Nikolai looked at her carefully. “What do you want?”
The question came again.
This time, it was heavier.
She hesitated.
Then she answered honestly.
“I want control of my own life,” she said. “For once.”
The room absorbed that.
Dmitri looked at Alexei. “If we keep this quiet, it becomes ours.”
Nikolai added, “If we expose the father, it becomes leverage.”
Anya’s eyes sharpened. “No.”
All three brothers looked at her.
“No?” Dmitri repeated.
“You will not use this child as a weapon,” she said firmly.
“You don’t get to dictate that,” he replied.
She stepped closer to him.
“Watch me.”
The tension rose again, sharp and alive.
Alexei stepped between them before it could turn into something else.
“Enough,” he said.
His voice carried authority that ended the argument.
He looked at Anya.
“You believe this does not make you vulnerable.”
“It does,” she admitted. “But not in the way you think.”
“Explain.”
She swallowed once, then spoke.
“My father will assume I am alone,” she said. “That I am broken. Distracted.”
Dmitri’s eyes narrowed.
“And you’re not?” he asked.
“No.”
Nikolai’s expression shifted. “You want to use his assumption.”
“Yes.”
Alexei watched her carefully.
“You are asking us to protect something that isn’t ours,” he said.
She met his gaze without fear.
“I am asking you to choose what kind of men you are.”
The words hit deeper than any threat.
Silence stretched between them.
Then Dmitri spoke first.
“If anyone touches you,” he said quietly, “they die.”
Nikolai looked at him, then at Anya.
“We don’t punish victims,” he added.
Alexei’s voice came last.
“This child stays,” he said. “Under this roof.”
Anya’s breath left her slowly.
“But understand this,” Alexei continued. “From this moment on, you are not just leverage. You are responsibility.”
“I can handle that,” she said.
Dmitri looked at her sharply. “You don’t get to carry this alone.”
She didn’t argue.
Because for the first time, she wasn’t sure she wanted to.
Nikolai moved toward the desk and closed the remaining files.
“We adjust the plan,” he said. “Your father believes he struck us tonight.”
Alexei nodded once. “We let him.”
Dmitri’s eyes darkened. “And then?”
Anya looked between them.
“Then we make him regret it.”
The brothers watched her carefully.
There was no hesitation in her voice.
No fear.
Only intent.
Alexei stepped closer to her one last time.
“You chose this war,” he said.
She held his gaze.
“No,” she replied softly. “He did.”
Outside, the estate gates remained closed.
Inside, something had shifted.
It was no longer just about power.
It was about protection.
And revenge had just become personal.
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