The question of all questions. I should probably ease into this, but again, I’m too tired for tact.
“Alexei.”
The silence that follows is absolute. Konstantin goes completely still, staring at me like I’ve lost my fucking mind.
“What?”
I laugh dryly. “You heard me. The baby isAlexei’s.” I laugh again, but it sounds broken even to my own ears. “My dead brother got Vera Ashford pregnant. And then he died, and I married her without knowing, so now I’m sitting here trying to figure out what the fuck to do about it.”
Konstantin leans back in his chair, processing. His face is carefully neutral, but I can see the calculations running behind his eyes. “How long were they together?”
“Eight months. Apparently they were sneaking around behind everyone’s backs for eight months, like some modern day Romeo and Juliet.” Do I sound bitter? I am bitter. “He never told me.”
“Alexei was always... idealistic,” Konstantin says carefully. “He believed in love, in possibilities. Perhaps he thought?—”
“Perhaps he thoughtwhat? That it would magically work out? That somehow an Ashford and a Volkov could live happily ever after?” I shake my head. “He was naive and stupid. And now he’s dead, and I’m left cleaning up his mess.”
Konstantin is quiet for a moment. “What are you going to do?”
It’s the question I’ve been asking myself all night and it has no good answer.
“I don’t know,” I admit. “I could—” I stop myself. Could what? Send her back to her family? Get rid of the baby? Pretend none of this happened?
“You could dissolve the marriage,” Konstantin suggests quietly. “Annul it, or divorce her. Send her back to the Ashfords and wash your hands of the entire situation. The peace treaty is already fragile and this gives you a legitimate reason to end it. She deceived you, married you under false pretenses. No one would blame you for?—”
“No.”
The word comes out immediately before I’ve even thought about it.
Konstantin raises an eyebrow. “No?”
“No one is taking her anywhere.” My hands curl into fists on the desk. “She’s not going back to the Ashfords. She’s not going anywhere.”
Konstantin’s eyebrow rises even further. “Dimitri?—”
“That baby has Volkov blood,” I interrupt. “Alexei’s blood, which makes it mine now. My responsibility. My—” I stop, the word catching in my throat. “My family.”
Understanding flashes across Konstantin’s face. “I see.”
I sigh. “Do you? Because I’m not sure I do.” I run both hands through my hair, gripping it hard. “But I know this. I’m not letting the Ashfords raise Alexei’s child. Alexei is a Volkov, which means the baby is Volkov, and Volkov blood stays with family.”
“And the girl?”
“She’s my wife,” I say simply. “That doesn’t change just because she was pregnant before we married. If anything, it makes it more... complicated. But she’s still mine.”
Konstantin studies me for a long moment. “You’re planning to claim the child as yours.”
I nod. “The baby will be raised as mine with my protection. The world will think it’s mine, and that’s how it stays.”
“That’s... quite a decision.” Konstantin stands, moving toward the door. “Are you sure about this? Once you commit to this path?—”
“I’m sure,” I cut him off, even though I’m really not that sure. I’m still reeling from the news, but I’m also trying to reconcile the rage and betrayal with this strange protective instinct that’s taken root. “The baby is Alexei’s. That makes it sacred. Untouchable. And I’ll be damned if I let anyone—anyone—take that away or use it against us.”
Konstantin nods slowly. “Then you should probably go talk to your wife. Mrs. Kozlov says she hasn’t eaten or slept. She’s just been crying.”
My stomach sours. Vera is probably scared and crying for my brother and for the impossible situation she’s trapped in.
A situation I trapped her in.
