Lena studied Valerie closely, as if needing to be certain that the young woman before her truly understood what had just been said.
"If you want to leave," Lena said softly, "you can. But there will be risks."
Valerie did not hesitate for even a second. She lifted her face, her eyes glinting with a resolve that was fragile yet stubborn.
"Whatever the risk," she said. "I'll do it. All I know is that I want to be free from that man."
For the first time, Lena did not smile immediately.
"But you're pregnant," she said slowly. "It is not easy to take a Morvex child out of a Morvex cage."
The words struck Valerie's chest like a hammer. Yet instead of breaking her, they hardened her resolve shaping it into something cold and dangerous.
"I'll terminate it," she said quietly, almost without sound yet firm enough to be unmistakable.
Lena's eyes narrowed. "If you are discovered," she said gravely, "you will never be able to leave him. Not just you. Your life will be caged forever."
