She opens her mouth to spit more venom—
“Don’t speak.” Vitali’s voice snaps through the room like a bullet.
Mrs. French stiffens. We both turn. He stands at the door, suit immaculate, eyes ice-cold and lethal. He heard everything.
He takes one step forward.
“Apologize,” he says.
The housekeeper swallows. “Mr. Dubovich, she—”
“Apologize,” he repeats, voice quieter. More dangerous.
Her gaze flicks to me, her hatred boiling. “I’m sorry,” she lies.
“For?” he asks.
Her throat bobs. “For… speaking out of turn.”
“That wasn’t an apology,” he says. “That was cowardice.”
His silence afterward is worse than yelling. It’s judgement. Sentencing.
“You’re done here,” Vitali says. “Collect your things and leave the estate within the hour.”
Her face drains of all color. “But… Mr Dubovich, Yury Dubovich, hired me. You can’t—”
“This is my wing,” he says. “My wife. My rules.”
Wife. That word wraps around me tight and warm and terrifying.
“If you need to dispute this decision,” he adds, “feel free to take it up with my uncle.”
Mrs. French looks at me one last time. Her scowl is a promise that she’ll remember this. Then marches away, spine rigid with fury.
The moment she’s gone, I let out a long, slow breath. My knees wobble briefly before I shake the feeling off.
Vitali is at my side instantly, fingers curling around my elbow, steadying me.
“You should have called me,” he says, voice still loaded with steel.
“I was handling it,” I whisper.
He looks down at me, eyes flicking over the oversized shirt, bare legs, the flush still high in my cheeks, and the predator in him softens.
“You were,” he agrees. “But no one speaks like that to my wife. To the mother of my heir. However it came about, however it ends, you deserve absolute respect.”
Heat surges up my throat. Mother of my heir.
He tucks a strand of hair behind my ear, thumb brushing my cheek. “Don’t believe a single word she said.”
I nod. Because if I speak, I’ll shake.
He takes the basket from my hands and nudges me gently toward the bed.
“Rest,” he murmurs. “I’ll handle the rest.”
I start to obey. But I turn back and catch his sleeve.
