My father studies me for a long moment, and I see him recalculating, adjusting his strategy. When he speaks again, his voice is softer, more reasonable.
"Alina, sweetheart, I understand you're confused. You've been through a terrible trauma. But you don't have to stay here out of some misplaced sense of gratitude. Come home. We'll figure everything out together, as a family."
"She's made her choice," Dimitri says, his voice cutting through my father's persuasion. "Alina is staying here of her own free will."
My father's mask slips again, and this time the anger stays visible. He turns to Dimitri, and the two men face each other like circling predators.
"If that's true," my father says slowly, "if Alina is truly staying of her own free will, then she should be allowed to come home to collect her belongings. To say goodbye to her family properly." He pauses, and I see the trap being set. "Alone. Without your guards watching her every move."
The request sounds reasonable on the surface. But I hear the threat underneath. My father wants to get me alone, away from Dimitri's protection, where he can control the narrative. Where he can convince me, or force me, to stay.
I look at Dimitri, trying to read his expression. His jaw is tight, his green eyes hard as he stares at my father. I can see him calculating the angles, weighing the risks.
"That's not necessary—" I start to say, but my father cuts me off.
"Unless, of course, you're not really here of your own free will." He looks at me, his expression all paternal concern again. "Unless Dimitri is controlling what you say, what you do. In which case, I'll take you home right now, by force if necessary."
The threat is clear. If I don't agree to come home alone, my father will assume I'm being held against my will. And then this tense standoff will explode into violence.
I think about Katya. About seeing my mother. About having a few hours away from this estate, away from Dimitri's intense presence, to clear my head and figure out what I really want.
But I also think about the cold calculation in my father's eyes. The way his questions felt rehearsed. The anger I saw when I said I was staying willingly.
Dimitri moves closer to me, and I feel the heat of his body at my back. "Alina doesn't have to do anything she doesn't want to do," he says quietly.
My father's smile is sharp as a knife. "Then let her decide. Alina, do you want to come home to see your family? To collect your things and say a proper goodbye? Or are you too afraid of what Dimitri might do if you leave?"
All eyes in the foyer are on me now. Dimitri's men. My father's soldiers. The two most powerful men in my life, waiting for my answer.
And I realize that whatever I choose in this moment will set the course for everything that comes next.
10
DIMITRI
Irecognize the play immediately. Viktor wants to get Alina alone, away from the estate, where he can control the narrative. Or worse, where he can make her disappear entirely. The request sounds reasonable on the surface, designed to make me look like the monster he's painted me as if I refuse.
But I've been playing this game long enough to recognize what he’s trying to do.
I study him across the foyer, taking in the calculated concern on his face, the way his men have positioned themselves near the exits. He came here prepared for violence, but he's hoping he won't need it. Hoping I'll simply hand Alina over like a fool.
Not going to happen.
"Alina can return to your house," I say, my voice carrying through the tense silence. "But not alone."
Viktor's expression doesn't change, but I see his jaw tighten. "I'm her father. She doesn't need a guard to visit her own family."
"She needs protection." I keep my tone reasonable, diplomatic. "Someone just massacred people at her wedding. Until we know who and why, she doesn't go anywhere without security."
"My men can protect her."
"Your men failed to protect her at the church." The words are harsh, but true. I see several of Viktor's soldiers shift uncomfortably. "My man, Alexei, will accompany her. He'll wait while she collects her belongings and says goodbye to her family. Three hours. Then she returns here."
The silence that follows is thick with tension. Viktor's calculating, trying to find an angle, a way to refuse without revealing his true intentions. But I've boxed him in. If he refuses to let Alexei accompany Alina, he's admitting he wants her isolated and vulnerable. If he agrees, he loses control of the situation.
Finally, he forces a smile. "Of course. I understand your concern for my daughter's safety. Three hours should be sufficient."
I don't trust that smile for a second.
