Page 111 of Betrayal and Vows

"She's done," I say. It's not a question.

"Anton—"

"She's fucking done with me." The words taste like poison. "She meant what she said last night."

Dmitri steps closer, looking around the area. I can tell all of this makes him nervous.

He’d be a damn fool if he wasn’t scared shitless.

"Maybe she's scared. Maybe she thinks?—"

"No." I cut him off. "You didn't see her face. She's made her choice."

The silence stretches between us. In the distance, I can hear the wedding preparations. The string quartet tuning their instruments. Caterers calling out orders. Laughter from guests enjoying the garden and a little pre-wedding cocktails.

The sound of my world ending.

"We could still go," Dmitri says quietly. "Leave her. Get out while we can."

I look at him like he's lost his mind. "Leave her?"

"She doesn't want to be saved, Anton. You can't force someone to choose freedom."

"She's not thinking clearly. Mikhail's gotten to her. Threatened her family, probably. She's scared?—"

"Or she's a Bratva princess who decided she'd rather live in a palace than run for her life with a man who has nothing to offer her."

The words hit like a physical blow. Because they're exactly what she said to me last night. Word for fucking word.

I push off from the wall, pacing toward the fence and back. "You think she meant it? All of it?"

Dmitri's silence is answer enough.

"Fuck." I drag my hands through my hair. "Fuck."

"Anton, we need to go. Now. Before the ceremony starts and security gets even tighter."

I stare at the main house, at the windows of what I know is her room. Is she up there right now, putting on her wedding dress? Is she thinking about me at all, or has she already erased me from her mind?

"I can't leave her with him," I say finally.

"You don't have a choice."

"There's always a choice."

"Not this time." Dmitri grabs my arm. "Listen to me. If you stay, you die. Today. Probably during the reception, when everyone's drunk and happy and no one will ask too many questions about the bodyguard who had an accident."

I know he's right. I've known it for days. But knowing and accepting are two different things.

"She has my ring," I say quietly.

"What?"

"My mother's ring. She's still wearing it." I touch the chain around my neck, feeling the weight of her grandmother's cross."If she was done with me—really done—she would have taken it off. Given it to you to give to me."

Dmitri looks at me with something that might be pity. "Anton..."

"One more try." The words come out before I can stop them. "One more chance to get through to her."