“He’s insane,” she says.
“I know.” My eyes shut, and I try to calm down. “Maybe go to a hotel or something in the meantime in case he comes back.”
“No,” she says immediately. “I’m not leaving my home for that asshole. I’ve been running from them enough.”
Part of me wants to argue with her. Another part knows she won’t listen.
“Sloane, just be careful, okay?” she tells me.
And the strange thing is, it sounds like she actually means it.
“I will. I’ll be heading out of town tomorrow morning for a bit.”
“That’s good. Keep Milo safe, and please don’t get yourself killed.”
A small huff of laughter leaves me. “I thought you wanted me dead.”
“I…” She hesitates. “That was wrong to say. I’m…sorry.”
The apology catches me off guard.
“I appreciate that. I’ll talk to you later, Camille.”
“Okay…bye.”
The line goes dead and I lower the phone, staring at it, still surprised by the whole conversation. Maybe this finally scared some sense into her.
Or maybe by tomorrow, she’ll go right back to hating me.
CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
KIRILL
A rowof white chairs stretches across the grass, flowers lining the aisle while lights twist through the trees and overhead, enough to make the whole yard glow once the sun goes down. At the end of it all, a canopy waits for her.
For Sloane.
My wife.
I never thought I’d marry again. Never wanted to. Then she came into my life and made a liar out of me.
Anton sits alone on one side, while Konstantin and Aleksei are seated together in the front row, their wives between them, whispering with small smiles.
Lev stands beside me as my best man in his matching suit, his fingers wrapped around the ring box.
I crouch down in front of him. “Are you happy that Papa is getting married?”
He considers the question before he says, “Love…Sloane.”
My arm curls around him. “She loves you too.”
For the first time, he’s going to have a mother who loves him exactly as he is, not for who she expected him to be.
Father Pasha stands beneath the canopy, waiting for the ceremony to begin, and just as I start to grow restless, the music starts to play from the in-ground speakers.
That’s when I see her. She steps onto the grass holding a small pink bouquet, the lace of her strapless gown catching the light and making her look almost unreal, like something fragile and beautiful that wandered into my life by accident and somehow stayed.
Milo marches beside her, arm looped through hers, while waving toward my brothers the second he spots them.
