Page 55 of Lost in Fire

“Do you think proximity to me makes her safer?” She laughs bitterly. “I’m the most wanted traitor in their organization. If I’m uncovered, my life will be stripped bare, my secrets revealed. Everyone I love becomes a target by association.”

I run a hand through my hair, my fingertips raking my scalp. “I need a moment to think about this,” I say, stalking past her to prowl through the house for long minutes.

Goddammit!

Again. After promising that we’d work on this together, she’s done it again.

Through the window, I spot the first vehicle—a dark SUV moving with purposeful calm down the residential street. Viktor’s advance team, establishing perimeter.

“They’re here,” I say as I head back to the kitchen, where she’s still standing silently.

“I know.” Vanya moves toward the hallway. “Go wake Ember. I’ll get things locked away here.”

“This isn’t over.”

She pauses in the doorway. “I know that too.”

“I’ll find a way back to you.”

“Maybe.” A ghost of a smile crosses her face. “You’re persistent when you want something.”

“I want you. Both of you.”

“Then take care of her. Keep her safe. Let her grow up knowing her father loves her enough to sacrifice everything for her future.”

The envelope crumples slightly in my grip. Whatever’s written inside—explanations, justifications, promises for a reunion that might never come.

“I will never stop caring about you,” I tell her, because after years of loss and lies and carefully maintained distance, it’s the only truth that matters.

“Me too.” She comes back long enough to kiss me softly, tasting like coffee and goodbye. “I care so much. For both of you. More than my own life.”

Outside, more engines. The extraction team is in position.

“Go wake our daughter,” she says. “Tell her that her life is about to change.”

“Don’t you think you should be the one to do that?”

A flash of pain darkens her fine features. “I… I can’t. Not now,” she whispers. It’s the first sign of vulnerability she’s shown since telling me she’s not coming.

“Okay,” I say, knowing it’s pointless to argue. I head toward Ember’s room, the letter burning in my jacket pocket like an accusation. Behind me, I hear Vanya moving through the house—securing files, activating wards, ensuring nothing remains that could compromise her network.

Still protecting everyone but herself. Still choosing duty over the happiness we both deserve.

The injustice of it cuts deep.

I stop in the hallway, fists clenched, fighting the urge to storm back and demand she reconsider. To tell Viktor the extraction is off, that we need more time. To choose love over logistics for once in our impossible lives.

But Ember’s door is in front of me, and she’s the priority now. The innocent caught between our world of shadows and sacrifices.

I push open her door, preparing to wake my daughter and explain why we’re leaving without her mother. Why the reunion I’ve dreamed of for decades is ending almost before it began.

As I watch her sleep—so young, so unaware—I understand Vanya’s choice even as it tears me apart. This isn’t about strategy or intelligence networks. It’s about a mother who would rather break her own heart than risk her daughter’s life.

“Ember.” I touch her shoulder. “Time to wake up. We need to go soon.”

She stirs, dark eyes fluttering open, blinking in confusion. “Hargen? What’s wrong?”

Everything. Nothing. The world reshaping itself around choices no one should have to make.

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