“This is why I love you.” I sink beside her, exhaustion settling beneath my skin like a weighted blanket I can’t shake off.
“I brought reinforcements,” she announces, reaching into the bag like a magician.
First comes the bottle of Baileys. Then a gallon tub of coffee ice cream. My favorite. The sight of it makes something warm crack through the ice around my chest.
“You always know the way to my heart. Is it too late to get you to divorce Konstantin so you can marry me instead?”
She laughs, wiggling her brows. “As much as Konstantin adores you, I think he’s done sharing me.”
I jerk back. “Wait. What does that mean?”
“Never mind.” She waves it off with a lazy flick of her wrist. “We’re not talking about me. We’re talking about you and lover boy.”
There’s definitely more there I want to unpack, but I don’t have the energy right now.
Groaning, I tip my head back against the headboard. “I don’t even know who I’m angrier at: him or my parents. I want to scream at both of them. Or maybe just crawl into a hole and never come out.”
“It’s not a competition. You’re allowed to be mad at all of them. Frankly, I’m mad at them too.”
I stare at the ceiling. “What would you do?”
“Punch something,” she says without hesitation.
“I’m serious.”
“So am I.” Her grin widens. “Trust me, it helps.”
Of course she’d say that. Emilia’s obsessed with jiujitsu, with turning pain into power. I envy that. I’ve always carried mine until it rots me from the inside out.
“I don’t know what to say to any of them,” I whisper. “To my parents. To Aleksei. What am I supposed to do, pretend it’s fine? Tell them I forgive them?”
“No,” she says softly. “And no one expects you to. Least of all me.”
A ragged sigh slips out. “I understand why they did it. I really do. They were desperate, scared. They thought they had no way out.”
“But you’re their daughter,” she finishes for me.
I nod. “And Aleksei… I don’t even know what to do with all these feelings. I hate what he did. I hate that he didn’t tell me. But I miss him so much it physically hurts.”
Emilia wraps an arm around my shoulders, pulling me in. “You don’t have to figure it all out tonight. Or tomorrow. Take all the time you need. But, Fiona, he does love you, and you know I would never say that lightly.”
“I know.” The words break loose on a trembling exhale. “And that makes everything hurt even more.”
ALEKSEI
It’s been four fucking days.
Four days since she walked out. Four days since she touched me, looked at me, breathed the same air.
And somehow I’m still walking around like I’m alive when everything in me is dead.
I have returned to watching her on cameras, and I hate it now. I want her here. With me.
The house mocks me without her. Every hallway reeks of her perfume. Every room holds some ghost of her laughter or the sound of her footsteps. I’ve walked into our bedroom ten times only to turn around and march right back out, unable to stand one more reminder of what I’ve lost.
I haven’t slept. I barely eat. I don’t remember the last time I shaved, and judging by the state of my shirt, I haven’t changed it in days.
What for? Nothing matters without her.
