Are You Going To Push Me

Chapter 15

As a child, I always knew that there were parts of the house I didn't know about. Dad would disappear sometimes in the house for periods of time, but I was never curious enough to follow him.

Now I'm glad that I didn't. I think as a child, knowing what hid in the walls of this house would have terrified me.

I had been in our basement before, even played in the basement. But it seemed like half of the basement was missing. The house was huge, but to only have a basement the size of my bedroom seemed odd to me. Now I knew why.

The basement had been redesigned and hidden to suit Dad's needs. He was preparing for the world to go sideways. And it did.

When Dad led us down to the basement and towards the store closet we had, sliding the panel away to reveal a door. I looked at Dimitri before looking back at the door. When the door swung open, I was met with white walls and floors. Seeing the stark resemblance to Division made my skin crawl, but I followed Dad.

I felt cold as we walked and as I looked, I noticed that it looked like a few of the rooms were cell-like. It was unsettling, but for our purpose right now, it was needed. A woman was standing at the end of the hall, her arms crossed behind her back as she observed something. Or someone.

As we got closer Dimitri said something quietly, but not in English. His voice bounced off the wall and the woman turned, a smirk crossing her lips.

"Razve ty ne zrelishche dlya vospalennykh glaz?"

I furrowed my brows but looked at Dimitri. He chuckled and rested his hand on my back, rubbing his hand in a large circle.

"I take it the two of you are acquainted?" Dad asked when we came to a stop in front of the woman.

"It's been a long time," Dimitri admitted with a smile. I cleared my throat quietly, raising my brows at the two men. I was out of the loop of who this woman was or why she was here.

I looked to the right of us and sighed. The windows were two-way mirrors and on the other side was Tasha. She looked dishevelled and a mess, but she was on edge, she was waiting for something to happen. Maybe she knew her fate, or maybe she suspected. After a moment Dad clued in and gestured to the woman.

"This is Galina," Dad said. I turned and felt my blood run cold when my eyes met Galina's. She was a bleeder. I know that it was what Dimitri and I discussed, but it was still jaunting to see one so close and not be the target.

"Dimitri, you look well," Galina said, a heavy Russian accent flowing from her lips.

"Thank you. You as well," he said while his hand slid over my back, coming to rest on my hip. Galina's eyes watched the movement before a smirk crossed his lips.

"Ah. The only reason I could think of that you would kill a woman. For love," she said before watching Tasha through the window.

"For our child," Dimitri admitted quickly, "Tasha went after Roe while she was pregnant with our first child."

I could see the glow of Galina's eyes in the reflection of the window. Galina tilted her head to the side and I could see that she was thinking.

"Was she aware of that at the time?"

"Does it matter?" I snapped.

"She was. Roza was very visibly pregnant; Division had record of her pregnancy as well," Dimitri said after my outburst.

Galina nodded her head and turned to look at me again. "I have rules, Ms. Hathaway. Anyone that is like me had rules. We do not go after children, and we do not harm women who are pregnant. It's unspoken. But this woman violated that rule. She may not be a bleeder herself, but she attacked a helpless being. Your child," Galina said before looking back at the window.