The cold air in the tunnel thickened as Yelena's voice echoed off the walls.
"Hello, dear sister. You've been very busy."
Natalia froze, her mind blank for a moment. The faint light from the corridor illuminated Yelena's face , too calm, too controlled, as if the chaos outside hadn't touched her. The gun in her hand didn't waver.
Dimitri stepped forward, his own weapon raised. "Drop it, Yelena."
She laughed softly, almost pitying. "Always the defender. I see death didn't change you at all."
Her tone was sharp enough to slice through steel. Dimitri's jaw tightened, and Natalia could feel the tension vibrating in the air , two predators surrounding each other, one person between them.
"What are you doing here?" Natalia demanded, her voice cracking with both anger and grief. "You blew up our escape route. You nearly got us killed."
Yelena's eyes flickered, unreadable. "If I wanted you dead, you would be. I needed to make sure you ran."
"That's your excuse?" Natalia spat. "You're working with him, aren't you?"
Yelena's lips twitched ,neither denial nor confirmation. "He's not who you think he is."
Dimitri stepped closer, his gun never lowering. "Then tell us who exactly he is, Yelena. Tell us what game you're playing."
She tilted her head, gaze flicking between them. "You think you understand power, Volkov? You don't. You think you broke free of your father's empire , you think that you're your own man?" Her smile was cold. "You're still his pawn."
The words hit Dimitri like a physical blow. His grip on the gun faltered slightly, just enough for Natalia to notice.
"What the hell are you talking about?" he growled.
Yelena took one slow step forward, lowering her weapon. "He's alive, Dimitri. Sergei Volkov didn't die in that warehouse fire. He made sure the world believed he did. And he's been building his empire ever since , under a whole different name."
The room seemed to turn upside down. Natalia's breath caught in her throat. She turned to Dimitri, whose face had gone very pale.
"That's impossible," he whispered. "I saw his body. I buried him."
Yelena's expression softened for the first time. "You buried what he wanted you to bury."
Dimitri shook his head slowly, disbelief twisting into fury. "You're lying. That's not true."
"I wish I were," she said simply.
Natalia's pulse raced. "Then where was he all this time? Who's been pulling the strings?"
Yelena's eyes met hers, and for a fleeting second, pain flashed there. "You'll know soon enough. He wants both of you alive. For now."
Dimitri's voice dropped to a deadly whisper. "He wants the drive."
Yelena nodded. "And he'll burn everything to get it. He will never stop."
Before Natalia could react, the laptop beside her beeped, the decryption complete.
Lines of code transformed into a video feed.
The screen flickered, static, then clarity.
A man appeared. Older, broad-shouldered, with silver in his hair and cold grey eyes identical to Dimitri's. His voice was low, deliberate, chilling, it was filled with mockery.
"If you're watching this, my son, you've finally disappointed me enough to matter."
Natalia gasped softly. Dimitri didn't move, didn't breathe, he couldn't. His hand tightened around the gun until his knuckles turned white.
"You think love makes you free?" Sergei's voice continued. "It makes you weak. I taught you to rule, and you choose to crawl beside a woman who should have been ashes years ago. You carry my blood, Dimitri. You can't escape it. You are just like me."
The screen glitches, then showed surveillance footage.
Natalia froze. It was footage of her father ,her father, tied to a chair, a much younger Sergei standing behind him.
"He was supposed to stay quiet," Sergei's voice narrated. "But his daughter inherited his curiosity. So, I let him die as a lesson. Pity you never learned it."
Natalia's vision blurred. Her hands trembled, fury and heartbreak crashing together like waves. "He killed him…"
Dimitri turned away, his chest heaving. "No. No, this can't ."
Yelena's voice broke through the silence. "He killed both our fathers, Natalia. Mine, yours — all of them. Every death, every fire, every war was his design. And now, he's using me to bring you back into the fold."
Natalia stared at her, disbelief twisting into rage. "You helped him?"
Yelena's jaw tightened. "I did what I had to do to stay alive. He would've killed me too if I didn't."
"You already chose whose side you want to be on," Natalia whispered.
Yelena looked away, guilt flickering in her eyes. "Maybe. But you don't understand him. Sergei Volkov doesn't just kill people, Natalia , he rewrites them. He'll break you both until you forget who you are."
Dimitri finally turned, his face a mask of fury and heartbreak. "Then we kill him first before he can have the chance to do that."
Yelena exhaled, a bitter sound. "You think you can just walk into his world and take him down? He's everywhere now ,Finland, Moscow, the coastlines. His network is the Bratva reborn all over again."
"Then we burn it down," Dmitri said coldly.
Natalia stepped closer to him, placing a hand on his arm. "Dimitri, listen to me,"
But he pulled away, eyes wild. "He killed your father because of greed. Because of the Volkov name. I've spent my life cleaning up his blood, his mistakes, thinking I could be better. But maybe I'm just the same."
"No," she said fiercely, grabbing his face, forcing him to look at her. "You are not him. You saved my life. You tried to stop all this."
For a heartbeat, something in his gaze softened , and then he kissed her, sudden and fierce, like he was trying to silence his own guilt.
Natalia melted into him, her hands curling into his coat. The kiss was desperate, bruising, filled with every emotion they couldn't afford to say aloud , their promise, fear, love, anger, longing.
When he pulled back, his breath was ragged. "If I lose you because of him…"
"You won't," she whispered. "We'll finish this together."
Yelena watched them silently, unreadable. "If you're serious, you'll need help. His network is impenetrable. He's watching everything , even this room."
Dmitri's head snapped toward her. "What?"
"Look up."
Yelena pointed to the ceiling corner , a faint red light blinked there, almost invisible in the dim glow.
A camera.
Dimitri fired instantly. The bullet shattered it, sparks flying. But the damage was done.
Yelena sighed. "Now he knows you're alive and that you've chosen her."
Natalia's pulse pounded. "Then we need to move now."
But before they could, the heavy metal doors slammed shut. A locking mechanism engaged, the steel echoing like thunder.
Dimitri cursed, rushing to the console, but the screens turned black. A single message flashed across the laptop once more , this time, larger, bolder, pulsing red:
"WELCOME HOME, MY SON".
The temperature of the atmosphere seemed to drop even lower. Natalia's heart twisted as she looked at Dimitri, the man she loved, the son of the monster who had destroyed her life.
Yelena stepped back toward the corridor. "He's coming. You have maybe an hour before this place turns into your tomb."
"Yelena!" Natalia shouted. "You can still help us."
But her sister only looked back once, eyes shimmering with something that might have been regret.
"I already have," she said softly. "There's a key hidden beneath the main terminal. Use it when the lights go out."
Then she disappeared into the shadows, leaving Natalia and Dmitri alone in the cold silence.
Dimitri slammed a fist against the wall, frustration radiating off him. "She's part of it. All of it."
Natalia placed a trembling hand on his arm. "Then we find Sergei before he finds us."
He turned to her slowly, eyes haunted, voice raw. "If he's alive, Natalia, it means the man who raised me , the man I tried to kill, never stopped watching. He's always been one step ahead of me."
The lights flickered once… twice… then died completely.
Darkness swallowed them.
And then came the sound — faint at first, then louder. The rumble of footsteps. Many.
Dmitri reached for his gun, pulling Natalia close. "He's here."
The steel doors groaned again.
A shadow filled the doorway.
And from the darkness came a voice that made Natalia's blood run cold, the same voice from the recording, smoother now, older, but unmistakably real.
"I told you once, my son, love makes you weak. "
A figure stepped into the dim light.
Sergei Volkov.
Alive.