Chapter 3: The Prisoner

The first thing Evelyn noticed when she opened her eyes was the silence. Not the peatceful silence of an empty room, this silence was disciplined; Controlled.

The kind that existed only in places where people were constantly watching. She remained still, forcing herself not to react immediately.

Instead, she listened. Boots echoed somewhere beyond the walls. Metal scraped against metal, a door opened and closed in the distance. Voices drifted through the hallway before disappearing again, she slowly sat upright.

The room was small but clean, The stone walls were bare except for a single lantern fixed near the heavy steel door. A narrow bed stood against one wall, covered with a plain gray blanket. A wooden table and one chair occupied the opposite corner.

There were no windows. Only a small vent near the ceiling, the air smelled faintly of smoke and old stone. Her wrists were no longer bound, She rubbed them absentmindedly before swinging her feet onto the floor.

The events of the previous night returned all at once...The summit, the long drive, Viktor’s men abandoning her near the border and the realization that her own husband had sentenced her to die.

Then the soldiers; the rifles, and Aleksandr Mikhailov with his cold gray eyes.

"Take her to the fortress."

She had expected to wake in a torture chamber. Instead, she was here, in a prison. She stood carefully and walked around the room, The door had no handle on her side, and the walls were too thick to break. The vent was far too small for anyone to escape through. She wasn't looking for a way out, not yet.

She wanted to understand where she was, her father had taught her something long before she married Viktor.

"A person who understands their surroundings survives longer than the person who reacts with fear."

For the first time in years, she found herself remembering Adrian Orlov's lessons instead of Viktor's commands. She counted the seconds between footsteps outside.

Every twenty-five seconds two guards were walking in opposite directions, changing position after every fourth pass. Interesting…Evelyn thought.

Someone unlocked the steel door. The sound of several locks sliding open echoed through the room, Evelyn stepped away from the entrance.

The door swung inward. Four armed soldiers entered first. Only after they had secured the room did Aleksandr Mikhailov walk inside, He wore another dark suit, this one without a jacket. His sleeves were rolled neatly to his forearms.

Unlike Viktor, who surrounded himself with displays of wealth and intimidation, Aleksandr carried authority without trying to prove it. His expression remained unreadable.

One soldier placed the chair opposite Evelyn before stepping back. Aleksandr sat, he crossed one leg over the other. For several moments, he simply looked at her.

Evelyn met his eyes without speaking. Neither seemed interested in filling the silence first. Finally, Aleksandr broke it.

"Did you sleep?" Aleksandr asked,

"I suppose I did," Evelyn answered evenly.

"You don't seem frightened."

"I am." Evelyn responded

Aleksandr tilted his head slightly, "You hide it well."

"I learned that fear rarely changes the outcome." Evelyn replied sharply.

Something almost resembling approval flickered across his face before disappearing. He rested his hands on his knees. "My men searched the border for six hours."

Evelyn remained silent.

"We found no ambush."

"But I told them I came alone." Evelyn said boldly.

"You did." Aleksandr's voice stayed calm. "But that doesn't make it true."

"It is true." Evelyn corrected him.

He leaned back slightly…"We’ll see."

He glanced briefly toward one of his men, the soldier opened a folder. Aleksandr returned his attention to Evelyn. "When did Viktor decide to send you here?"

"He didn't tell me he was sending me anywhere." Evelyn responded,

"So the journey surprised you?” Aleksandr asked,

"Yes."

"Why?" He asked,

"I believed we were returning home after the summit."

Aleksandr studied every change in her expression. "You never questioned why his soldiers ignored you?"

"I did."

"And?" Aleksandr pressed further;

"They refused to answer." Evelyn replied.

"Did that seem normal?"

"No."

Aleksandr nodded once. "Continue."

"They drove for hours, then stopped near the border. Then they ordered me out of the car and they left.” Evelyn paused, "That was when I understood."

"What?" Aleksandr asked..

"That Viktor intended for me to die."

The room fell quiet, Aleksandr didn't respond immediately. Instead, he asked another question.

"Why?"

"I don't know." Evelyn answered.

"You expect me to believe that?" Aleksandr said, raising his voice..

"It's the truth."

"You've been married to Viktor Volkov for three years."

"Yes." Evelyn replied..

"You lived inside his organization."

"Yes."

"You attended private meetings."

"Sometimes." Evelyn clarified,

"You knew his operations."

"No."

Aleksandr frowned, "No?"

"He never discussed business with me." Evelyn added.

One of the soldiers laughed under his breath. Aleksandr silenced him with a glance, then he returned to Evelyn. "Explain." Aleksandr demanded,

Evelyn inhaled slowly.."I attended public dinners, I accompanied him during formal events, I stood beside him when appearances mattered; but when business began..." She looked down briefly. "I was expected to leave."

Aleksandr watched her carefully, "So you were nothing more than decoration?"

The words stung more than she expected..Still she hid her emotions and answered honestly. "Yes."

The room remained silent, Aleksandr wasn't sure whether to believe her. If she was lying, she was exceptionally convincing. If she was telling the truth… Then Viktor had married a woman he deliberately kept ignorant. It made no sense, unless ignorance itself had a purpose.

He continued. "Tell me everything you know about the Volkov cartel."

Evelyn frowned. "I know the names of some senior members."

"List them." She did…

Aleksandr compared each name with the information in the folder. Every answer matched the intelligence his organization already possessed. Nothing new, nothing useful, he continued questioning her for nearly an hour.

Warehouse locations She didn't know, bank accounts She didn't know, Weapons routes she didn't know, including safe houses and hidden alliances she had no idea were in existence.

Each answer sounded genuine; each answer frustrated him more. Finally, Aleksandr closed the folder.

"You know remarkably little." Aleksandr admitted.

"I've been trying to tell you that." Evelyn said softly.

He ignored the comment, his mind was already working. People like Viktor Volkov never made careless decisions…Every move served a purpose, so why send a woman who possessed no strategic information?

Either Viktor had suddenly become incompetent...Or Evelyn herself was the strategy. Aleksandr disliked unexplained variables, He stood up,

"One final question."

Evelyn looked at him.

"If Viktor ordered your execution..."

She nodded.

"...why didn't he simply kill you himself?"

She lowered her eyes…"I've asked myself the same question."

"And?" Aleksandr asked.

"I still don't have an answer." Evelyn responded.

For the first time since entering the room, Aleksandr believed her. Not completely, but enough to recognize genuine confusion. He turned toward the door. One of his captains stepped forward.

"What are your orders, Boss?"

Aleksandr answered without hesitation. "She remains a prisoner."

The captain nodded. "For how long?" He asked,

"Until I know why Viktor sent her here." Aleksandr replied.

The captain glanced at Evelyn…"And if we never find the answer?"

Aleksandr looked back at her, his gray eyes coldly cold revealed nothing… "Then she remains a prisoner." Without another word, he walked out. The soldiers followed; while the heavy steel door slammed shut, Locks clicked back into place.

Evelyn released a slow breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. The interrogation could have gone much worse; or she would have been beaten or threatened but she had learned something important…

Aleksandr Mikhailov wasn't ruled by anger.

He was ruled by logic and that made him far more dangerous than Viktor.

The days that followed settled into a routine, breakfast arrived shortly after sunrise.Two guards delivered it, one always entered first.

The other remained outside with his weapon ready, Lunch came exactly six hours later, then dinner arrived before sunset. The schedule never changed, the guards changed every eight hours. There were twelve soldiers assigned to the prison corridor..Not ten, nor fifteen but twelve. Some spoke to each other, Some never did.

One guard limped slightly whenever he walked, another constantly rubbed his left shoulder. A younger soldier always looked nervous whenever senior officers passed by. Evelyn noticed everything…Not because she planned to escape, because observing kept her mind occupied, and if she allowed herself to think too long about Viktor…She would break.

One afternoon, while returning the empty dinner tray, she spoke to the older guard standing outside her cell.

"How long have you worked here?" Evelyn Asked.

The man looked at her without answering.

"I wasn't asking for military secrets." Evelyn continued,

But there was silence.. "I only wondered." She added.

He closed the food hatch, no response. She smiled faintly to herself. The guards here were disciplined, very disciplined.. Far more disciplined than Viktor's men.

The next morning she heard shouting somewhere in the fortress, not frightened shouting but training. The commands barked in quick succession, the heavy footsteps of the guards thundered across stone floors, weapons clashed repeatedly..

She moved closer to the door.. she was listening. She could almost picture the training yard beyond the walls. This fortress never truly rested, everyone had a purpose. Everyone belonged somewhere, everyone except her.

She was neither a guest nor an enemy, neither innocent nor guilty. She just existed in uncertainty and uncertainty made everyone uncomfortable.

Meanwhile, on the upper floor of the fortress, Aleksandr stood inside his office, staring at a large map spread across his desk. His intelligence chief entered quietly.

"No movement from the Volkovs," the older man reported.

Aleksandr didn't look up. "Nothing?"

"They haven't attempted to retrieve Evelyn, they haven’t mobilized troops or attempted to contact us” the older man added.

Aleksandr frowned. "Interesting…It almost appears as though they've forgotten she exists." Aleksandr finally lifted his eyes. "But Viktor Volkov forgets nothing."

"No, he doesn't." The older man admitted.

Aleksandr walked toward the window overlooking the fortress courtyard as soldiers trained below with practiced precision. His thoughts, however, remained fixed on the woman locked beneath his headquarters.

Everything about her contradicted what he expected. She lacked useful information, She showed genuine confusion and she had made no attempt to manipulate anyone. Either she was the finest actress he had ever encountered...Or she truly had no idea why she'd been discarded. Neither possibility satisfied him, He folded his arms.

"Keep watching her." Aleksandr said.

His intelligence chief nodded. "You still believe she's hiding something?"

Aleksandr's gaze remained on the courtyard. "I believe Viktor Volkov is."

And until he uncovered the truth behind that mystery, Evelyn Volkov would remain exactly where she was; Locked inside the Mikhailov fortress.

A prisoner whose greatest crime might simply be knowing nothing at all.