“Excuse me, Dwayne.”
I cut him off with a nod and walk after her.
My stride is unhurried.
Controlled.
Predatory.
She can walk out of the room.
She can try to breathe.
She can attempt to escape the truth settling heavily on her chest.
But she can’t outrun me.
Not tonight.
Not ever again.
Enough running for you, Vivian.
Chapter 4 – Vivian
I storm out of the gala so fast I’m barely aware of my own feet. My heart is pounding—violent, uneven, painful. My vision blurs, not from the lights or the cold night air, but from fear…and humiliation…and something I refuse to name.
No.
No.
No.
This can’t be happening.
Dimitri Rusnak?
Rusnak?!
The same man I’ve spent a year hating in secret—hating myself even more for remembering the way his hands felt on my skin…in the dark…in that damn stable in Monaco.
A Rusnak.
He’s a Rusnak.
Dwayne said the name so casually, like he wasn’t detonating a bomb right in front of me.
And then Dimitri looked at me with that infuriating, knowing smirk and said—
Welcome to the family, ma chère.
I choke on a breath.
Impossible.
This is impossible.
I still don’t know who I’m supposed to marry—my father refused to tell me—but it cannot be a Rusnak. Father would never. Never. Even drowning in debt, he’d rather let the family burn than hand me over to a Bratva dynasty.
