Fiona
I’ll have you know my husband paid a lot of money for that dress.
Aleksei
I don’t know what he was thinking. You look too good in it.
I love you.
And he does. I know he does. That’s the part that won’t stop echoing.
But I don’t want this version of love. I want something more than he’s capable of, and that’s what hurts the most. Knowing he’ll never be the man that I deserve.
I close my eyes, but instead of silence, I see his face again. That exact moment in the conference room when he realized Iknew. The way the color drained from his skin, how his eyes shattered like glass. That broken look haunts me.
But I remind myself that it shouldn’t matter. It shouldn’t matter how destroyed he looked. Or that he reached for me like I was slipping through his fingers.
Because he let this happen. He signed that contract. He let my parents trade me and never told me what they all did.
How am I supposed to forgive any of them?
How could my own parents do this to me? I understand they were desperate, but when does that stop being an excuse to sell off your own daughter?
My fingers press into the mattress as if I can anchor myself, but it’s useless. I’m floating through a mess I don’t know how to escape.
How did it all fall apart so fast?
How can I ever trust Aleksei again? How can I look at him and not see the lies?
I curl onto my side, hugging a pillow that doesn’t smell like him, and the loss hits hard. I long for him in a way that’s all-consuming.
A sudden knock breaks the silence just as I sink deeper into the mattress.
At first, I don’t bother getting up. It’s probably the guards or housekeeping. I don’t want to see either.
“It’s me. Open up.” Emilia’s voice slips through the room.
Damn it, Konstantin must’ve told her.
But maybe talking to her would be good. I have no one else. Emilia is the only real friend I have left, and she’s the kind of woman who shows up when you need her most, whether you realize it or not.
Dragging myself to the door, I unlock it and step aside. Her eyes widen the moment she sees me.
“Oh,” she breathes dramatically, juggling two overstuffed shopping bags. “It’s worse than I thought.”
“Thanks, asshole,” I mutter, managing a halfhearted smile.
She sets the bags down on the side table, then unzips her boots. “Don’t worry. It’s not nearly as bad as the way Aleksei looks.”
For a second, something sick and twisted winds through my chest. Hope. Satisfaction.
“Is he really that miserable?”
Her brows pop. “Are you kidding? The man looks like he hasn’t slept since you left. I don’t think he’s showered either.” She scrunches her nose with disgust.
A laugh catches in my throat. “Is it bad if that makes me…happy?”
“Uh, no.” She flops down onto the bed, her hair spilling across the pillow. “I’d be concerned if you weren’t at least a little thrilled by his absolute spiral.”
