For a moment, Josie’s eyes glowed. For that split second, he thought it was all going to be all right.
Then her expression crumpled. “But you were going to separate me from my sister forever, rather than confess how you tried to blackmail her. You were going to force me to give her up, her friendship, her love, for the rest of my life, rather than tell me how you threatened her—with my safety!”
“I was afraid.” Words caught in his throat. He felt her hands starting to slip away and he tried to grab them, hold on to them. “I was afraid you wouldn’t understand. I couldn’t take the risk you wouldn’t forgive me....”
She pulled her hands away. “If even an hour ago, you’d confessed everything, I think even then I could have forgiven you,” she whispered. “But not for th-this.” Her teeth chattered. “You d-demanded that I make that horrible choice. When it was never necessary. Even knowing what it would cost me!”
“I’m sorry,” he said in a low voice.
Her eyes widened, then narrowed. “You never loved me,” she choked out. “Not if you could do that.”
Desperately, he took a step towards her. “It was the only way I could keep you!”
She flinched. Closing her eyes, she exhaled. “I always wondered why a man like you would be interested in a woman like me. Now I know.” She opened her eyes, and tears spilled over her lashes. “I was just a possession to you. Someone to be married for the sake of land in Alaska, then traded for your brother’s company. Then kept at your whim, as what? Your mistress, your sex slave?”
“My wife!”
“You never thought of...of me. How I would feel. You either didn’t think about it, or you didn’t care.”
“It’s not true!” With a deep breath, he said, “Yes, I tried to use you to get revenge on my brother. But everything changed, Josie, when I...I fell in love with you.”
She stared at him. Turning away with a sob, she pressed her face against her sister’s shoulder.
“Please,” Kasimir whispered, taking a step towards her. “Doesn’t it mean anything that I gave up what I wanted most—the company that should have been mine?”
“You don’t have to give it up.” Vladimir stepped between them, his face grave. Reaching into his coat, he pulled out a white page. “Here it is.”
For an instant, Kasimir stared blankly at the page. He took it from his brother’s hand. Looking down, he sucked in his breath. “It’s the contract I gave Bree.” He looked up in shock. “It transfers your shares in Xendzov Mining to me. You signed it.”
“Let this be the end,” Vladimir said. “I was wrong to force you out of our company ten years ago. I was angry, and humiliated, and my pride wanted vengeance. But I was the only one to blame. So take back what I owe you, with interest. Take it all. And let this be the end of our war.”
Kasimir’s mouth was dry. “You’re just giving it to me?” His voice was hoarse. “Just like that?”
“Just like that.”
“A lifetime’s work. You’re throwing it away?”
Vladimir’s forehead creased. “I’m trading it. For the happiness of the woman I love. The woman who will soon be my wife.” His blue eyes, the same shade as Kasimir’s own, were filled with regret as he said softly, “And to make amends to the little brother I always loved, but have sometimes treated very badly.”
A lump rose in Kasimir’s throat.
“I should have waited for you,” Vladimir said in a low voice, “all those days we walked to school in the snow.” Glancing behind him, he gave a sudden snort. “And I should have listened when you said Bree Dalton was a wicked creature, not to be trusted...”
“Hey,” she protested behind him.
Lifting a dark eyebrow, Vladimir gave her a sensual smile. “You know you’re wicked. Don’t try to deny it.” Then he looked back to Kasimir, his expression serious. “I was wrong to cut you out of my life,” he said humbly. “Forgive me, brother.”
Kasimir’s world was spinning. He gripped the contract like a life raft. “You can’t mean it,” he said. “You’ve put your whole life into Xendzov Mining. How can you just surrender? How can you let me win?”
“For the same reason that, an hour ago, you were willing to let it go.” Vladimir gave a crooked smile. “I’ve won a treasure far greater than any company. The life I always wanted. With the woman I always loved. You reunited us in Hawaii. And I have you to thank for that.”
“I was trying to hurt you,” he said hoarsely.
His older brother’s smile lifted to a grin. “You did me the biggest favor of my life. Now you’re taking the mining company off my hands, I’m off to Honolulu. I’ve just bought the Hale Ka’nani resort for Bree.”
“You did what?”
“Oh, Bree,” Josie breathed, clutching her sister’s arm. “Just like you always dreamed!”
“I dreamed of running a little bed-and-breakfast by the sea.” Bree’s lips quirked as she looked at Vladimir. “Trust you to buy me a hundred-million-dollar hotel for my birthday!”
“It was way easier than trying to buy you jewelry,” he said, and she laughed.
Kasimir’s throat hurt as he looked down at the signed contract in his hand. He had the company he’d always wanted. He’d soon have Josie’s land in Alaska. He even had his brother’s apology.
He’d won.
And yet, he suddenly didn’t feel that way. He looked past Vladimir and Bree to the only thing that mattered.
“Can you forgive me, Josie?” he whispered. “Can you?”
She looked up from Bree’s shoulder. Her cheeks were streaked with tears, her face pale.
His heart fell to his feet. He tried to smile. “It’s in the marriage vows, isn’t it? You have to forgive me. For better, for worse. Can’t we just agree that you’re the better, and I’m the worse—”
Josie held up her hand, cutting him off. He stared at her, feeling sick as he waited for the verdict. She’d never looked so beautiful to him as she did at that moment, when he knew all he deserved was for her to walk out the door.
“I was willing to give up everything.” She sounded almost bewildered. She put her hand to her forehead. “Everything. How could I have been so stupid?” She looked up, her eyes wide. “I was willing to give up everything for you. My family, my home, my life—everything that makes me me. For a romantic dream! For nothing!”
Kasimir’s heart stopped in his chest. “It’s not a dream. Josie—”
“Stop it!” Her sweet, lovely face hardened as her eyes narrowed. “It was a dream. I knew you were ruthless. I knew you were selfish. But I didn’t know you were a liar and more heartless than I ever imagined!”
“I’m sorry,” he whispered. He swallowed. “If you’ll just—”
“No!” She cut him off every bit as ruthlessly as he’d once done to her, again and again. He flinched, remembering. She took a deep breath, and her voice turned cold. “As soon as my land in Alaska is transferred to your name, there’s only one thing I want from you.”
“Anything,” he said desperately.
Josie lifted her chin, and for the first time, her brown eyes held a sliver of ice. He saw her soul there, what he’d done to her, in a kaleidoscope of blue and green and shadows, glittering like a frost-covered forest, frozen as midnight. “I want a divorce.”
CHAPTER TEN
ALMOST FOUR WEEKS later, Josie watched her sister and Vladimir get married in a twilight beachside ceremony in Hawaii.
Seeing their happiness as they spoke their wedding vows, a lump rose in Josie’s throat. The sun was setting over the ocean as they stood barefoot in the sand, the surf rushing over their feet. Bree wore a long white dress, Vladimir a white button-down shirt and khakis, and they both were decked in colorful fresh-flower leis. As the newly married couple kissed to the scattered applause of friends and family surrounding them on the beach, Josie felt a hard twist in her chest. She told herself she was crying because she was so happy Bree had found love at last.
Josie had filed for divorce the day before.
When her lawyer had called yesterday morning to tell her that the land in Alaska now officially belonged to Kasimir, Josie had thanked him, and told him to file papers for their divorce.
She’d had no choice. She’d given Kasimir all her trust and faith, and he’d still selfishly asked her to make a sacrifice that would have destroyed her—a sacrifice that didn’t even have to be made, if he’d just been honest enough to confess!
But her heart was breaking. She’d loved him so. She loved him still.
She’d never forget when Kasimir had told her he loved her on that cold winter day in Russia. She’d thought she would die of happiness. Now, Josie looked down, her tears dripping like rain into the bouquet of flowers she held as matron of honor.