For a long moment, Liev does not react. He simply stares, as though his mind has refused to accept what it has heard. His gaze drops to our joined hands, then to the way I am standing slightly in front of her, and finally back to my face.
Understanding dawns slowly, then all at once.
The agreement we made. The rules. The promise I gave him.
Don’t touch her.
His expression fractures, and what replaces it is not disappointment but fury, raw and unfiltered.
“You said you wouldn’t,” he growls, the words dragging out of him like they hurt.
“I know.”
“You swore to me.”
“I know.”
The repetition does nothing to soothe him. It only confirms the betrayal.
He moves without warning, launching toward me with the same speed he used to have when we were kids fighting for scraps in Prague alleyways. I brace for the impact, ready tomeet him head-on, ready to take whatever damage he wants to inflict?—
But Aly steps between us before either of us can reach the other.
“Stop,” she shouts, planting herself squarely in her father’s path.
He jerks sideways at the last second to avoid slamming into her, momentum twisting his balance just enough for Nika to grab him around the shoulders and haul him back.
“What are you doing?” I snap, grabbing Aly by the waist and pulling her behind me. My heart is hammering now, anger and fear tangling together. “Don’teverput yourself between us like that.”
“So he can kill you?” she fires back, breathless and furious. “No. I’m not letting that happen.”
Liev tears himself free from Nika and points at me like he wants to put a bullet through my skull.
“You touched her,” he says, his voice shaking with restrained violence. “You broke your word.”
“She isn’t some mistake,” I reply evenly.
“That’s not what I meant.”
“Then don’t talk like she’s collateral damage, some convenient one-night-stand I’m keeping in my home.Youshould know better.”
He turns to Aly instead, desperation creeping into his anger. “You’re leaving. Today. You’re done here. You’re not seeing him again.”
“No,” she says.
He blinks, stunned.
“I’m not leaving,” she repeats, louder now. “You don’t get to decide that for me.”
“I’m your father.”
“Were you?” she asks quietly.
He looks like he’s been punched. Aly steps forward, facing him fully, and I feel a strange mix of pride and dread watching her stand her ground.
“Seventeen years, Liev,” she says. “Seventeen years with Mom while you were gone. You only called when you had to. You only brought me here when it became your legal responsibility. You don’t get to show up now and pretend you’ve always protected me.”
His jaw tightens. “I didn’t have a choice.”
