Page 169 of Betrayal and Vows

“Should have been mine,” I repeat. “I wouldn’t take a damn thing from you. You’re the coward, not me. A real man would handle murder himself. I do. I kill my enemies. You order it done. You ordered the murder of your wife and child.”

"A bastard born from my whore wife's affair,” Vadim snarls. “Your mother was a whore. I long suspected you weren’t mine.And then I watched you grow, and I began to believe maybe you could be mine. I waited and watched.”

I’m watching him, but Natalia looks scared.

Why?

"You could have stood at my right hand," Vadim continues, his voice rising with each word. "You could have claimed your birthright! Instead, you crawled back here like a snake, pretending to be someone else. Playing games. Lying to your own father!"

His fury fills the warehouse, bouncing off the concrete walls. I can feel the heat of his rage from across the room.

"You are weak," he spits. "Pathetic. A coward who hides behind false names and borrowed identities. This is what my blood produced? This sniveling pretender?"

Mikhail's grin spreads wider with each insult Vadim hurls at me. He's practically vibrating with glee, finally hearing what he's always wanted—that he's the superior son.

"You see,brother?" Mikhail taunts. "Even our father knows you're nothing. A disappointment. A mistake he should have corrected years ago."

"He's not your brother," Natalia suddenly shrieks, her composure finally cracking. "He's supposed to be dead! You told me he was dead!"

She whirls on Vadim, her face twisted with fury. "Kill him! Kill him now! He'll destroy everything we've built!"

But Vadim holds up a hand, his eyes never leaving mine. "No one touches Anton."

"What?" Natalia's voice cracks like a whip.

"I said no one kills him." Vadim's smile is cruel, calculating. "Death would be mercy. And my son doesn't deserve mercy."

The way he says “son” makes my skin crawl. There's no love in it, no acknowledgment of blood ties. Just ownership. Possession.

"Instead," Vadim continues, "he's going to watch. He's going to watch Mikhail marry his precious little princess. He's going to watch them consummate their union. And then he's going to watch Mikhail put baby after baby into her belly."

My vision goes red. Every muscle in my body screams to lunge forward, to tear Mikhail's throat out with my bare hands. But Dmitri's grip on my arm tightens, holding me in place.

"That's your punishment for thirty years of deception," Vadim says, his voice dropping to a deadly whisper. "You'll live with the knowledge that everything you touch turns to ash. Everyone you love suffers because of your weakness."

Lena makes a sound—half sob, half growl of pure rage. "I'll kill myself before I let him touch me."

"No, you won't," Mikhail says, his grin turning predatory. "Because if you do, I'll make sure Anton dies slowly. Very slowly. I'll keep him alive for weeks while I carve pieces off him."

"You fucking animal," I snarl, finally finding my voice.

Elena lifts her head.

“It wasn’t Vadim who ordered the hit,” she says quietly.

Everyone goes still.

Elena steps forward. Her chin is raised and she’s staring directly at Natalia. “It was Natalia. She had Irina and Alexei killed.”

Vadim blinks. “What?”

Elena keeps going. “Irina never cheated on you. Anton is your true heir. Natalia manipulated everything.”

Natalia gasps, doing a shitty job at pretending to be shocked. “Lies,” she spits. “All lies!”

Elena smirks. “Mikhail isn’t even your biological son.”

It was like time itself stopped. I felt everyone draw a collective gasp. No one moved. Breathed. Blinked.