“I’ll talk to her,” I say quietly.
After Konstantin leaves, I sit for a few more minutes, gathering myself. The alcohol has made everything fuzzy at the edges, softened the sharp edges of my rage into something more like pain than fury.
I can work with pain.
I stand, and the room tilts slightly. Okay, maybe I drank more than I thought. But I’m functional. Mostly. Enough to do what needs to be done.
I climb the stairs to the second floor, my footsteps heavy on the carpet. I head down the hallway to her door and pause outside, listening. There’s no sound at all. For a moment, I wonder if she’s even in there, or if she’s found some way to escape. But where would she go? Her phone doesn’t work. The gates are locked. The guards have orders.
She’s in there. Shehasto be.
I open the door without knocking.
The room is dim, curtains drawn against the morning sun. And there, in the massive bed, is Vera.
She’s in a little ball on her side, facing away from the door and still wearing the clothes from yesterday. Her hair is tangled, spread across the pillow in messy waves. I can see her shoulders shaking slightly and she’s either still crying, or just breathing unevenly. It’s hard to tell.
“Vera.”
She goes rigid at the sound of my voice, but she doesn’t turn around or move. She just lies there, frozen.
“I need to talk to you.”
“Please don’t.” Her voice is hoarse from crying. “I can’t—I can’t do this right now. Just leave me alone.”
“I’m not here to hurt you.” I move closer to the bed, and she flinches. The movement sends a spike of something painful through my chest. “I just want to talk.”
“You said everything yesterday. You made it very clear how you feel.” She curls tighter into herself, arms wrapping around her middle. Protecting the baby. “So please just... just go.”
I shake my head. “I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because we need to discuss what happens now.” I sit on the edge of the bed, and she scrambles to move away, pressing herself against the headboard. Her eyes are red and swollen, her face pale and blotchy from crying. She looks…well, she lookshorrible.
I did this. My rage yesterday did this.
“What happens now?” She laughs, but it’s broken. “What happens is you divorce me, or kill me, or send me back to my family with your brother’s bastard? Congratulations, you’ve now officially finished destroying my life.”
“Is that what you think I’m going to do?”
“Isn’t it?” She looks at me with those red-rimmed eyes, and I see only resignation for whatever punishment I’m about to deliver. “You’re furious and you have every right to be. So just... just do whatever you’re going to do. I’m too tired to fight anymore.”
I take a breath. This is harder than I expected and the fucking words don’t want to come out right. So I think back to what I said to Konstantin and use that.
“That baby,” I start, and she immediately moves her hand to her stomach, protective and defensive. “The baby is Alexei’s. Since he’s not here, the baby is mine.”
Her eyebrows knit together in confusion. “Excuse me?”
“My brother’s child ismyresponsibility.Myfamily. Which means I’m not sending you anywhere.” I hold her gaze, making sure she understands. “I will claim the baby as mine and raise the baby as my own.”
Her mouth opens and closes, then opens again. “You... you want toclaimthe baby?”
“I’m claiming both of you.” The words come out rougher than I intended. “You’re my wife, and that doesn’t change. And that baby.” I gesture vaguely toward her stomach. “That baby is all that’s left of my brother. You think I’m going to let the Ashfords have that last piece of him? No. Absolutely not.”
Tears slide down Vera’s face, her whole body trembling. “I don’t understand. Yesterday you were… You said?—”
“Yesterday, I was angry. Hurt. Betrayed.” I’m not apologizing for that, and I won’t apologize for the rage that’s still simmering under my skin. “But I’ve had time to think and process, and this is what makes sense.”
