Snow drifted across Moscow like ash falling from a faraway fire, slow, quiet, peaceful. But inside Dimitri's suite, the air was anything but calm.
Natalia stood frozen in the middle of the room, Dimitri's words echoing through her like a tremor.
"The war has started."
Not loud, not dramatic. But said with the chilling certainty of a man who had survived too many storms to misread the problems happening around him.
Dimitri removed his gloves slowly, each movement deliberate, controlled. That alone told her how much he was holding back.
"Tell me everything," she said softly.
He looked up at her, dark eyes simmering with exhaustion, fury, and calculation.
"There is a leak," he said. "Inside my top circle. Someone who had access to my office, someone who knows my movements."
"And someone who wants me gone," Natalia whispered.
"No." Dimitri stepped closer, gripping her arms gently but firmly. "Someone wants me distracted, and you are the easiest target to exploit."
