I look at the man I think of as my father with new eyes. He’s taught me to take what I want with ruthless precision. To raze whatever’s in my path for the good of our chosen family. To exact vengeance and demand respect, take what’s due to us and show no mercy.
Have I softened because my wife now bears my child?
Or have I been under his curse?
By the time I reach the table, my own anger’s rising. “Why do you treat them like this?” I say in a whisper only for our ears. “What has she done to deserve this?”
Dimitri’s eyes narrow as he grasps the glass in his hand so tightly his knuckles whiten.
“Sit down, Kazimir,” he growls.
My gaze fixed on him, I sit. When he’s satisfied I’m contained, he pulls out a chair and sits, his one seeing eye fixed angrily on me. I take a sip of water to quell my anger. If he’s on the verge of losing his self-control, I’ll be the one who stays calm.
But when he speaks, it isn’t the wrath I expect to hear but broken resignation.
“She left me,” he says. “And our plan is destroyed.”
I blink, and swallow another sip of water before I respond. He’s just given me two pieces of shocking news. When I speak, I keep my voice deliberately calm.
“Who left you, sir?”
“Who else?” he snaps. “Yana, you fool.”
I ignore the insult, processing what he’s just told me. Yana is like a mother to me. She’s left him?
“When?” I ask.
Dimitri suddenly looks so much older. Weary. He buries his head in his hands, his shoulders sagging. “Last night,” he says.
I shake my head. I don’t ask why, that isn’t for me to know.
“Where did she go?” I ask. “Do you know?”
When he lifts his face to mine, a chill runs down my spine. This isn’t the broken, saddened man I expected to see. His cold, calculating eyes meet mine, filled with raw hatred. “Of course I know,” he hisses, spittle forming in the corner of his mouth. “Do you think I’d allow her to leave me? After everything we’ve been through? Everything she knows. I did exactly what I had to, just as you would.”
“Dimitri,” I say in a low voice so no one can hear us. But I can’t bring myself to ask him what he did. I don’t want to know. I know too much already.
“She took her vows to me, Kazimir, and you know how I feel about allegiance. You know how I feel about betrayal.”
I do. I’ve seen him murder men in cold blood who betrayed him. I’ve seen men weep like babies in his vicious hands and come to accept they deserved their fate. But Yana…
Bracing himself on the table, he leans forward, his breath stained with the scent of alcohol. “Leaving me was not an option. I did what I had to.”
“Say it,” I insist, leaning toward him even though I don’t want to hear it. If he’s the type of man to harm his wife, I won’t give him the luxury of hiding the truth.
But he won’t. He holds my gaze and breathes heavily, as if he’s just gotten out of a boxing ring.
“I won’t allow betrayal, Kazimir.”
And this time, I hear the words as if he’s read my mind. As if he knows what I war with internally.
“I know.”
“My wife betrayed me.”
I’ve been a fool to think he actually cared about her.
“What did you do, Dimitri?” I demand.
“And so did Filip.”
I blink. “What? Filip what?”
“He lied to me about Sadie.”
I shake my head, confused. “What are you talking about?”
“The girl is penniless,” he says with disgust. He takes a savage bite of bread and washes it down with a hefty swig of red wine. The burgundy liquid drips down his chin like blood, sickening me.
“Penniless?” For a moment I forgot why I even took her.
Christ.
I’ve been a hapless pawn in the game in which there are no victors.
“Worthless,” he continues. “The information he gathered was incorrect. You’ve married the wrong girl. She’s little more than a vagrant.”
I grasp my wine glass to keep my hand from trembling. “You said she was worth millions. We were supposed to get her inheritance after I married her. You mean this has all been a lie?
“I’m sorry you legally wedded her before you found out the truth,” Dimitri continues, holding my gaze. “But now that you know, you’ll do what you have to.”
Do what I have to? Like he did? Ending the life of an innocent because they failed to deliver what he expected? I never should have left Sadie alone. She’s upstairs, apart from me, and if any harm comes to her—
“Sit down, Kazimir,” he orders before I realize I’m on my feet.
“You’ve just told me the woman I consider a mother… and the woman I call wife…” my voice trails off. I don’t know what to do with myself. I don’t know what to think.