“Cillian and your uncle have made a deal. This is happening, I’m afraid to say.”
Just then Denis storms through the front door and stops when he sees me. “Oh good. You brought her.”
“What is going on?” I ask.
Denis swaggers into the living room and smirks down at me. “You lost, Natalya. Your husband is dead, which makes you a widow. Which means I can marry you off to whoever I want.”
His words hit me like a gut punch. Mikhail is… no. He can’t be dead. Not after we told each other we love one another. He can’t just be… gone.
I don’t even cry. All I feel is shock.
“Do you want to know who you’re going to marry?”
“Who?” My lips are numb.
“Cillian. You’re going to cement this alliance with him.”
“What about Nico?”
Denis scoffs. “What about him?”
“I thought he and Cillian were working together.”
“They had a little falling out when they shot at each other last night. Nico wasn’t happy about what Cillian did so he called the whole thing off. Cillian told me himself.”
All this information is too much for me to process right now. I lay down on the couch, feeling all my energy leave me.
“She looks sick,” Denis comments. “How hard did you hit her?”
“Hard,” Liam admits.
“She needs to be ready for the wedding tomorrow. She can’t be like this.”
“Sorry.” Except, Liam doesn’t sound sorry at all. He sounds like he doesn’t have a care in this world.
Denis mutters to himself. “Josh! Bring her to her old room and make sure she doesn’t get her hands on anything this time.”
The guard enters the room and picks me up. I don’t have any energy to fight. Mikhail is dead. I’m going to be married off to Cillian. I couldn’t save my sisters. I have lost everything.
After Josh places me in my room and leaves, I hear Irina banging on the wall between us.
“Natalya? Is that you?”
“Yes,” I say and that’s all I can say.
“What’s going on? We thought you would be ok. You escaped. What happened?”
“I’m getting married tomorrow.” There’s no emotion in my voice. I don’t feel… anything. No fear. No worry. I’m just numb.
“Natalya? Talk to me. Please.”
I know Irina is worried but I can’t give her any reassurances. Nothing is going to be ok ever again.
Mikhail
I wake up in a hospital room.
My body is in immense pain. It all comes flooding back to me. The gunshot to my shoulder. The gunshot to my back.
