Page 112 of King of Pride

Then, without saying another word, she pulled out her phone.

Her fingers moved furiously across the screen before she found what she was looking for.

She shoved the phone directly in front of his face.

“Look at this picture.”

Ivan's eyes dropped to the screen.

It was a photograph of Rose kissing another man.

His expression froze.

“Do you see it now?” Maria demanded. “She married someone else. That's her husband.”

Ivan's eyes remained fixed on the photograph.

“Oswald himself showed this to me and gave it to me when I tried to talk things out with him. He told me Rose is already married and living happily with someone else.”

Her voice softened slightly, but the frustration remained.

“She married him the day after you hit her.”

Ivan's fingers slowly curled into fists.

“And Oswald is so furious that he told us to stay away from Rose. He doesn't want anyone from our family disturbing her ever again.”

Maria lowered the phone.

“She has moved on, Ivan. You need to accept that.”

Ivan’s anger only intensified as Maria’s words sank in. His eyes burned as he stared at the photograph of Rose kissing another man, his chest rising and falling heavily as shock gave way to fury.

“What the fuck?” he breathed.

He looked at the picture again, as if staring at it long enough would somehow make it impossible. Then he turned on his mother, holding the phone out toward her with a shaking hand.

“She can’t do this to me. We have—she’s my girlfriend. How can she kiss someone else?”

Maria stepped forward and caught his arm before he could storm away. “I just told you. She married someone else.”

Ivan ripped his arm from her grip, his face hardening.

“I’m going to track her down and drag her back to my side if I have to. She can’t just leave me. We’ve been together for a year. We’re in a relationship. She can’t simply go off and marry someone else because she’s angry with me.”

He turned and stormed out of the shop.

“Ivan!” Maria hurried after him. “Where are you going?”

He didn’t even look back.

He strode straight outside, climbed into his car, and drove directly to Rose’s house.

The moment he reached the mansion, he stopped at the gate and looked through it. Rose’s car was parked outside.

A surge of relief immediately washed over him.

‘She lied to me.’