My fingers move to the chain around my neck, the one holding both my rings. I stare at the band on his hand, still there, gleaming under the harsh lights, and the pain inside me deepens until it’s unbearable.
“You know…” I whisper, tears roving down my face. “I actually did love you too. More than you’ll ever deserve.”
I unclasp the chain and set it on the edge of the table. The tiny clink echoes like a gunshot.
He’s on me in two strides, his hand buried in my hair as he presses me against the wall. His breath is ragged, his eyes wild.
“Did?” His voice is rough, broken glass scraping. “No. Youdolove me. You can’t just erase that. I won’t let you.”
I place a palm against his cheek.
“You’re right,” I whisper. “I can’t.”
For a moment, we just breathe each other’s air, the space between us trembling with everything unsaid before I lean forward and press a kiss to his lips. Soft. Fleeting. Final.
“It’s why this hurts so much. You should’ve told me. You should’ve given me the truth. I would’ve been furious, but I would’ve respected you for it. Instead, you hid it. That’s not love. And I can’t live like that.”
“Fiona…please. I’m begging you.”
“I’m done, Aleksei. Whatever else you’ve been hiding, I don’t even want to know.”
His jaw locks, eyes burning with something broken. “I will never let you go.”
The words sound like they’re breaking him, like he won’t survive losing me.
“Then kill me. Or let me walk away.”
He shuts his eyes, forehead falling against mine. The tremor in his breaths snaps me in half.
“I don’t know how to do that.”
“You’ll learn.” My soul splinters, hating every second of this.
He takes a shuddering inhale. “Please. Please understand. I was a different man then. And your parents, they had no choice. Not with the debt they owed. Not when I threatened them.”
“Yeah,” I whisper. “They told me about that.” Tears continue to stream down my cheeks. “And do you know what I told them? That I would’ve done anything to help them. Ididdo anything. I agreed to marry you. But they sold me to you like property. And you went along with it.”
“I’m sorry,” he says. “Fiona, please. I don’t exist without you. I’ll do anything you want. Anything. Don’t walk away from me.”
“I already have.” The words leave me hollow and bleeding.
When I push off the wall, he grabs my wrist before I can move. “I’ll leave the house. You don’t have to go. Stay.”
I shake my head, tears falling faster now. “It’s not my home, Aleksei. It’s yours.”
His features twist with his anguish, his grip tightening. “You can’t go back to your house. They’re still after you. Do you understand that? I’d die before I let anything happen to you, ptichka.”
“I’ll go to a hotel.”
His face flashes with anger. “The men will go with you.”
“I don’t need?—”
He cuts me off sharply. “No. That’s not negotiable. They will protect you.Iwill protect you. No matter what, you’re still mine.”
Still his…
God, what I wouldn’t do to forget all of this and tell him how badly I want to be his again.
