“You’ve gone too far, Vivian,” Mom says, her tone sharp with shock and offense. “This isn’t how ladies—”
“Ladies?” I cut her off, my voice rising, but measured enough to strike terror instead of provoke mockery. “Ladies don’t get auctioned off like livestock, Mother. And if you think I’m going to sit here quietly while you hand me over to a man I don’t even know—”
“Vivian!” Dad’s voice is sudden, sharp, trying to assert authority, but it lacks the confidence it used to have when I was a child. “You’re being dramatic. This is for your future. You’ll thank us one day. We’ve talked about this!”
“Okay.” I nod slowly, swallowing the scream clawing at my chest, fighting the tears burning behind my eyes. “Fine. Then tell me who I’m engaged to. Tell me.”
Dad’s jaw tightens. “Vivian,” he says again, more frustrated than firm. “You don’t need to know that yet.”
“Why?” I let out a broken, humorless laugh. “Why don’t I need to know the name of the man who’s going to own me?” My voice drops, brittle and sharp. “Because he’s a Rusnak?”
Both of them freeze.
Mom’s hand stills over her chair. Dad’s brows jerk up. Their eyes meet—quick, startled, guilty. It’s the smallest exchange, but it slices me clean open.
Confirmation.
My stomach plummets. My breath stutters. My heart cracks in a way I didn’t think was possible.
I take one step forward, then another, my anger rising like a tide.
“Is the man I’m set to marry Dimitri Rusnak?” I roar, the words tearing out of me.
Mom flinches—visibly—like the name itself slapped her. She’s never seen me like this. Then again, I’ve never been shoved into this hellish corner.
Their silence answers me.
Their silence damns them.
Their silence destroys the last fragile piece of hope I’d been clinging to. And in that moment, I feel something inside me break—and something else, something darker, begin to form in its place.
I stagger back a step, my hands clutching at the air like I can hold onto some shred of reality. “How…how could you wed me into the Bratva?” My voice is barely controlled, disbelief ripping through every word. “The Bratva, Father? Dimitri Rusnak?!”
My father shifts in his chair, unease flickering across his otherwise calm facade. He opens his mouth, then closes it again, clearly caught between logic and fear.
Mom steps closer, her voice silk over steel, trying to soothe, to rationalize. “Vivian…listen. He—Dimitri—is the richest of all the contenders. He’s…the most desperate to have you. We had no choice.”
“No choice?” I spit the words, incredulous. “You could have—what? Chosen anyone else? Any other man? And you picked him?!”
Mom’s hands flutter briefly in that perfected, measured gesture she uses when she wants to be reasonable, maternal, untouchable all at once. “You won’t be alone. Kyle is still going with you. You can come see us anytime. You’ll have…protection, and comfort. The life you’ve been groomed for isn’t gone.”
I shake my head, fury and fear tangling inside me like snakes. “Protection? Comfort? Do you hear yourselves? I’m supposed to be married to a man who—who could crush me without blinking!” She reaches for my hand, but I yank it away. “You think you’re helping me. But you’re selling me to a cage with bars I can’t even see yet!”
Her face tightens, the perfect composure slipping just slightly. “Vivian, we’re doing this for you—for your survival. You don’t understand the stakes—”
“No!Youdon’t understand the stakes!” I shout back, my voice echoing through the room. “I’m a scapegoat. The Rusnak are Mafia, Mom! We’ve heard their stories. We know what they do. They’re evil.”
“What’s done is done, Vivian,” my father says, his tone tight but weary. “We also didn’t know until his signature was signed. He tricked us too. There’s nothing we can do but accept it. Okay? Just accept it and move on.”
“Move on?” I shake my head, disbelief and fury coiling in my chest like fire. “I can’t believe you’re doing this to me. How can you just…hand me over?”
I turn sharply, the room feeling smaller, suffocating, and storm out. My heels click harshly against the floor as I race up the stairs, through the foyer, and into the sanctuary of my room. I slam the door behind me, letting the lock click—a small, bitter comfort.
I slide down to the floor, back against the door, and inhale shakily. The world I thought I controlled has collapsed, and every piece of it now points toward Dimitri. And the thought makes my stomach twist with a mixture of fear, anger, and something I can’t yet name.
That night, I can’t sleep. I don’t even come close.
Every time I close my eyes, I see him—his mouth curved in that cruel, knowing way…his control, absolute and suffocating…the way he looked at me like I was both prey and punishment.
