And then it dawned on me. She’d never be her old self until this was over.
“I can’t wait until you crack whatever’s on that card…and I can finally end this,” I said, trying to inject some excitement, hoping it would lift the mood.
“End what?” she asked, looking at me, her eyes blank.
“End the theft, recover the faction’s losses. Once it’s done, we can get a divorce. You’d be free to live the life you’ve always wanted.”
Even as the words left my mouth, my heart cracked a bit more with each one. But, she needed to hear it, needed to know I wouldn’t go back on our agreement, no matter how much I wanted her to stay.
I wanted a real marriage: waking up next to her, falling asleep with her in my arms, seeing her cross the stage in a few months, baking a cake and watchingTheSound of Musicevery year on her mother’s birthday. But keeping her for myself wouldn’t be fair, not after everything she’d sacrificed.
“And your life would go back to the way it was,” she said flatly.
“So would yours.” I forced a smile. “You’d hang out with Mandy whenever you wanted, go to parties, focus fully on your masters.”
I knew she longed for her old life—friends, freedom, no constant shadows; her dreams she’d had long before I entered her world. Without me, she could reclaim them.
A sharp pang shot through my chest, but I swallowed it. No matter how I felt, I couldn’t be selfish. I needed to let her go.
Sienna spent another two hours in the office before finally saying goodnight and heading to bed. I had hoped our conversation would lift her spirits at least a little, maybe bring back a fraction of the defiant, stubborn vixen she’d been when she first arrived, but it didn’t.
As more days passed, she had stopped coming down for breakfast, retreating to her room to obsess over the memory card. More often than not, the only thing I saw was her back as she walked away and slipped into her room.
“Avit, if you don't stop clicking that damn pen, I swear I’ll stab you with it,” Pyotr’s voice cut through my thoughts.
I slammed the pen down on the conference table and leaned back in my chair, glaring at nothing. Jaroslav and Lev weren’t here yet, and we were waiting for them to start the meeting.
“How are things at home with Sienna?” Marten asked from beside me.
“Of course, as soon as something’s wrong, it has to involve Sienna,” I snapped. “Would you have asked that if I weren’t married?”
“So things aren’t going well at home?” Pyotr pressed.
“Fuck you!”
“Avit,” Marten said quietly. “When I first got married to Kira, I almost ruined our marriage. Honestly, I may still not have the perfect advice, but I can listen.”
Right then, Lev and Jaroslav arrived, and I gave Marten a curt nod. I knew he meant well, but what the hell was I supposed to tell him? That I was on the verge of losing the only woman I’d ever truly cared about outside of family? That nothing would ever be the same once she left?
The meeting began, and Lev sent us the files, which we opened on our laptops, but the words blurred. My mind kept drifting to Sienna: why was she pulling away? I realized I was trying to fix a problem I didn’t fully understand. Talking to her could help…but would I be ready for the answer? And with the separation looming, should I even ask?
My eyes darkened.
It was better to let her be. Any conversation would just make another bond, one that would be broken in the end. What I needed was distance. I had to detach. Hard. Or I’d be destroyed by the time she finally left.
I rose from the chair, oblivious to the strange looks my brothers shot me. At the mini bar, I poured two fingers of vodka and tossed it back, then another and another. The fourth was stopped by a firm hand…Marten’s.
“What the fuck do you think you're doing?” Marten asked.
I yanked my hand away.
“You do realize that I'm a fucking adult, right?”
“And you do realize that as your brother, it's well within my right to stop you from doing anything that could potentially harm you.”
I slammed the glass on the bar, the drink spilling over it.
“If it were anyone else here, would you have stopped them? See, there's a reason things like fucking feelings aren't shared, because eventually the people you share them with turnthem against you. Now I can't even take a fucking drink in peace!”
