He kept his word. In front of the family, he treated me with measured courtesy. He provided everything a Don’s wife was supposed to have. But our marriage was nothing more than a carefully staged arrangement.
When Sofia was born, he did not smile. He stood beside the hospital bed and said indifferently, “Now neither my mother nor I owe you anything.”
I believed that once he held his daughter long enough, his heart would soften. I thought time would bring him home to us.
Instead, time proved how naïve I was.
After Sofia’s birth, I was the only one who remained trapped in that illusion.
The marriage bought with one life would now collapse because of another.
When I left the Volkov mansion, I returned to the rundown apartment where my mother and I once lived. I brought Sofia’s ashes with me. The cemetery controlled by the syndicate had a three-day waiting period before burial.
On the day of the interment, I had just opened the door with the urn in my arms when a force slammed into me. Someone had kicked me hard enough to knock me to the ground. I barely managed to steady the urn before it slipped.
I looked up and saw Vincent standing over me, fury blazing in his eyes.
Behind him, Roxanne Vega stood flanked by armed bodyguards, her face half-hidden by a white mask.
Vincent stepped over me and entered the apartment without permission, shouting Sofia’s name as if summoning a disobedient subordinate. He kicked open doors one by one, growing more impatient each second when he found no sign of her.
Finally, he strode back to me and grabbed my collar. “Where is Sofia? Tell her to come out right now.”
I tightened my arms around the urn. “You have no right to say her name,” I replied coldly. “Take your mistress and leave.”
My words ignited him.
“Mind your tone,” he warned. “Don’t make me teach you how to speak.”
He continued, “You pushed Sofia into doing something vicious. I was willing to have her apologize, and you interfered. Have I been too lenient with you all these years?”
A chill crept through me. “What are you accusing her of?” I demanded. “As long as I’m alive, you will not lay blame on her.”
For one foolish second, I had thought he might have learned about Sofia’s accident and come to accompany us to the cemetery.
Instead, Roxanne stepped forward, slowly removing her mask.