Page 115 of Betrayal and Vows

The photos spill out like a death sentence.

Me. Lena. The chapel. The bed. Her mouth on mine. Her body under me.

There are dozens. Angles I don’t recognize. Places I thought were safe. Private.

"These weren’t from Vadim’s little network,” Mikhail says. “These were mine. All mine.”

“You enjoy watching me fuck?”

“Did you really think I wouldn’t know? I let it happen. Fed it. Gave you time, space, just enough rope. And look what you did with it. How poetic."

“Why let it happen? You aren’t man enough to fight me? You chain me to a fucking wall?”

“Because,” he says, crouching in front of me, “timing is everything. Why waste a bomb when you can wait until the house is full of guests before you light the match?”

He’s proud of himself.

Smug.

Smiling like a man who thinks he’s already won.

And maybe he has.

“Fuck you. She’ll never want you. She’ll never be the willing woman you want.”

“She came to me, Anton. Begged me. On her knees. Said she’d do anything to keep her family from the scandal. Anything.”

I shake my head. “Liar.”

“She thought she was protecting you,” he says, rising. “And I let her think it worked. I promised her if she walked down that aisle, I’d leave you alone.”

He turns, walks a slow circle like a predator playing with its prey. "So I took her. This morning, actually. It’s our wedding day, after all. No rules broken."

Something inside me cracks. The world spins, the floor lurching.

IknowLena. I know her soul. She wouldn’t?—

“You want to know what she tastes like?” he asks, mocking. “She still had your name on her lips when I fucked her. I’ll train her to forget. Every time she fights me, she’ll be punished.”

“You’re lying.”

But my voice wavers. Because she did reject me. She said we couldn’t. She pulled away.

Did she pull away because ofhim?

Did he already?—

Mikhail steps closer, leaning down until his mouth is near my ear.

“She likes it gentle, doesn’t she?” he murmurs. “Slow. Worshipful. You taught her that. But I’ll teach her something new. She’ll only know pain. Her punishment for giving herself toyou.”

I don’t remember lunging.

But I hit the end of the chain and nearly ripped my own shoulder out trying to get to him.

He laughs.

“God, you make this fun.”