Karina stares at me silently, letting me talk.
“I’ll respect her desire for space from the Bratva. I understand how hard this life was on her,” I admit. “But as soon as she gives birth, I’m collecting the baby.” I gesture vaguely. “We need an heir, after all.”
Asmackechoes through the room. It’s not until I see my sister’s furious expression that the pain in my cheek registers.
I reach up and touch the spot on my face where she slapped me. “What thefuck, Karina?!”
“You’re a fucking idiot!”
I glare at her, but I don’t argue with her.
Karina glares at me. “That baby isn’t what you want.” She points her finger at my face like a dagger when I open my mouth. “And don’t youdareargue with me about that, because you know I’m right.”
I snap my jaw shut.
“The baby wasneverwhat you wanted,” she continues. “It was always Liya.”
Indignation flares in my torso.
Karina meets my enraged gaze without fear. “And you just let her walk away from you without so much as a fight.”
Two for two.
She’s right. My original goal was simply to marry Liya and impregnate her. That was it. Her sole purpose was to provide an heir for the Bratva andmaybegive me something to do in my spare time if I found her engaging enough.
But she became so much more than a wife to me.
She got under my skin. She burrowed into my heart. She might be physically gone, but she lives within me. Always. There’s no way I can get her out. Not now. Not ever. And now that she’s gone, she has ripped away my heart along with her. Defeat takes over as I look at the table.
“It’s too late, Karina.”
“That’s a bold lie, and you know it.”
“Since you know so much, what doyousuggest?”
She urges me to look at her. “You can find Liya. You can move heaven and earth for her.” She leans forward, holding my gaze. “You just have to be willing to give up everything else for her, too.”
“The Bratva.”
She sighs. “I know it goes against everything you’ve been taught, but you can’t live without her.”
“Yes, I can.”
I rub my temples. I don’t have time to do this right now. There’s a meeting with the other crime bosses soon.
“Do me a favor,” Karina says gently. “Think of the most important thing in the world to you right now.”
The noise in my head dies. The sudden silence takes me by surprise, and I feel my mouth open without any prompting.
“Liya.”
Her name flies from my lips like it’s been waiting this entire time. How natural it is to feel those syllables slide over my tongue. Present or not, her name belongs in my mouth.
And my name belongs in hers.
For days, I’ve been fighting a headache. The electric pulses that once reverberated down the back of my neck disappear the moment I recognize what my sister has done.
She’s made me see the truth.