Chapter 5 - BLOOD IS NOT FAMILY
Dmitri Volkov had Matteo’s eyes.
That was Elena’s first thought when she saw the photograph enlarged.
Same dark shape.
Same heavy brows.
Same expression that seemed calm until you looked long enough to notice the calculation beneath it.
But Dmitri smiled more easily.
In public photographs, he was always smiling.
At charity events.
At business conferences.
At hospital fundraisers.
He looked like the kind of man mothers trusted around their daughters.
Elena had learned enough in seventy-two hours to distrust exactly that kind of face.
“He was there.”
“Yes.”
“Did he know Marco?”
Matteo stared at the screen.
“I don’t know.”
“That answer is becoming a problem.”
“I know.”
“Where is he now?”
“London.”
“Are you sure?”
Matteo looked at her.
“No.”
That honesty frightened her more than false confidence would have.
Tomas survived surgery.
The bullet had missed the major vessels.
Elena stayed until paramedics from Matteo’s private medical network took him away.
Only then did she realize there was blood dried to her wrists.
Not her blood.
Not Matteo’s.
Tomas’s.
Three months ago, she would have gone to a sink and washed until her skin hurt.
That night, she simply stared.
Matteo handed her a towel.
“You saved him.”
“I slowed the bleeding.”
“You saved him.”
Elena wiped her hands.
“Don’t turn me into something heroic because you need one.”
His gaze remained on her.
“I don’t.”
“Good.”
“I need someone who doesn’t lie to me.”
She looked up.
“That sounds lonely.”
“It is.”
The answer came too quickly.
Elena looked away.
They returned to the estate before dawn.
Sofia woke the moment Elena entered the nursery.
The baby’s face crumpled.
Then she made a small desperate sound and reached.
Actually reached.
Toward Elena.
Elena stopped.
Mrs. Kovac smiled sadly.
“She knows you.”
“That’s impossible.”
“Babies know safety.”
Elena swallowed.
“Babies know milk.”
“That too.”
She picked Sofia up.
The baby immediately pressed her face beneath Elena’s chin.
Something painful opened inside Elena’s chest.
She had avoided babies at work since returning after bereavement leave.
Changed assignments.
Took older pediatric patients.
Claimed she needed time.
She had not admitted the truth.
Holding a baby made her body remember everything she had lost.
But Sofia did something else.
She made Elena remember what remained.
Capacity.
Instinct.
Love that had nowhere to go.
Elena hated the realization.
Because loving anything connected to Matteo Volkov was dangerous.
While Sofia fed, Matteo entered.
He stopped inside the doorway.
For several seconds, he only watched.
“You should sleep.”
“So should you.”
“I don’t sleep much.”
“Neither do criminals, apparently.”
His eyebrow lifted.
“You say that like pediatric nurses are known for healthy sleep schedules.”
Elena almost smiled.
She caught herself.
“Tell me about Dmitri.”
The hint of warmth disappeared.
“My younger brother.”
“How much younger?”
“Six years.”
“Same parents?”
“Same father.”
“Does he work for you?”
“He runs Volkov Maritime Europe.”
“So yes.”
“Yes.”
“Do you trust him?”
Matteo did not answer.
Elena looked up.
“That was the easiest question I’ve asked.”
“It was.”
“And?”
“I trusted him yesterday.”
The words settled heavily.
“What changed?”
“You.”
Elena frowned.
“That makes no sense.”
“You recognized the man from your family’s crash.”
“Yes.”
“That man reported to Dmitri’s regional security division three years ago.”
Elena felt cold.
“Did Dmitri order the crash?”
“I don’t know.”
“But he might have.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“That is what I intend to find out.”
Sofia finished feeding.
Elena lifted her to burp.
Matteo watched with almost embarrassing concentration.
“You can hold your own daughter.”
“I know.”
“You look like you’re waiting for instructions.”
“I am.”
Elena stared at him.
He looked entirely serious.
Against her better judgment, she laughed.
It was the first genuine laugh that had left her body since the funeral.
The sound shocked her.
Matteo’s expression changed.
Not a smile.
Something softer.
Elena immediately looked away.
“Support her head.”
“I know that.”
“Then stop looking terrified.”
“I have faced men with automatic weapons who frightened me less.”
“That is because they came with instructions you understood.”
He took Sofia.
Their hands touched.
Elena pulled hers away first.
Sofia settled against Matteo’s chest.
Then promptly spit milk onto his charcoal shirt.
Elena covered her mouth.
Matteo looked down.
Mrs. Kovac laughed from the doorway.
Actually laughed.
Matteo gave her a cold look.
She did not care.
“Congratulations.”
Elena could not stop smiling.
“You’ve been initiated.”
Matteo looked at his daughter.
Then at the expensive shirt.
Then he smiled.
It transformed him.
Not into a good man.
Elena was not foolish enough to confuse charm with morality.
But into a human one.
That was somehow more dangerous.
Later that morning, Dr. Beck returned with the full laboratory report.
The bottle nipples had been deliberately contaminated.
He would not speculate on the exact source without more testing.
What mattered was clear.
Someone had wanted Sofia sick.
Possibly dead.
Matteo read the report once.
Then again.
Elena watched all warmth disappear from his face.
“Who had access?”
“Six people.”
“Names.”
Mrs. Kovac.
Nadia.
The nanny, Anya Petrov.
Two house staff.
And Dmitri.
Elena looked up.
“Your brother handled the bottles?”
“Once.”
“When?”
“The night Nadia died.”
Silence.
Matteo’s hands curled around the paper.
“Why?”
“He came to the house.”
“For what?”
“To argue with me.”
“About?”
“Our father’s estate.”
Elena stared.
“You left that part out.”
“I didn’t know it mattered.”
“Everything matters now.”
Matteo folded the report.
“My father divided his holdings unevenly.”
“Between you and Dmitri?”
“And Sofia.”
Elena went still.
“Sofia?”
“My wife’s family held shares in a group of companies my father wanted consolidated.”
“That sounds like normal rich-family misery.”
“It was until Nadia gave birth.”
“What changed?”
“A trust activated.”
Elena felt the answer before he gave it.
“Sofia inherited control.”
“Not control.”
Matteo corrected her.
“Blocking power.”
“Meaning?”
“When Sofia turns eighteen, no major sale, merger, or transfer can happen without her trustees.”
“And until then?”
“I control the vote on her behalf.”
Elena stared.
“So if something happens to you?”
“The alternate trustee becomes active.”
“Who?”
Matteo’s face hardened.
“Dmitri.”
The room became quiet.
There it was.
Not proof.
But motive.
Elena looked at Sofia asleep in her bassinet.
“If you die, your brother controls her inheritance.”
“Yes.”
“And if she dies?”
“The trust dissolves.”
“To whom?”
“Family holdings.”
“Which means?”
“Dmitri benefits.”
Elena’s stomach tightened.
“Did Nadia know?”
“She helped draft it.”
“Then she knew Sofia could become a target.”
“Yes.”
“Why would she do that?”
“To keep me from selling the legitimate businesses to fund expansion.”
Elena looked at him.
“Criminal expansion?”
Matteo did not answer.
That answer was enough.
She felt anger rising.
“You keep talking like you’re different from the people hunting her.”
His eyes met hers.
“I am different.”
“Are you?”
“Yes.”
“Because you love your daughter?”
His expression hardened.
“Yes.”
“That doesn’t erase everything else you’ve done.”
“No.”
The answer stopped her again.
Matteo stepped closer.
“I have never asked you to think I’m good.”
“Then what are you asking?”
“To believe that whatever I am, I will not let anyone hurt her.”
Elena looked down at Sofia.
“I believe that.”
Matteo’s shoulders loosened slightly.
Then one of his men entered.
“Mr. Volkov.”
“What?”
“We found Anya.”
The missing nanny.
Elena stood.
“Where?”
“New Jersey.”
“Alive?”
The guard hesitated.
“Yes.”
Matteo’s gaze sharpened.
“Then why are you hesitating?”
The man looked at Elena.
“Because she’s been in a hospital for nine days.”
Elena’s heart accelerated.
“What happened?”
May you like
The guard answered quietly.
“Someone tried to kill her.”
