Chapter 4

CHAPTER FOUR

Dimitri's POV 

The word exploded from me like a gunshot.

"WHO?!"

Irina flinched. She wrapped her arms around herself like that could protect her from my rage. Tears streamed down her face. Her whole body shook.

"Dimitri, please…" she whispered.

"Tell me." I stepped closer. My hands clenched into fists at my sides. Every muscle in my body was coiled tight. "Tell me who put their hands on you. Tell me who dared touch what was mine."

"I... I cannot…"

"You will." My voice dropped to a deadly whisper. "You will tell me right now or I will tear this entire compound apart until I find them myself. I will line up every man and put a bullet in their head one by one until someone confesses."

"I am sorry," she choked out through her sobs. "I am so sorry. I did not mean for this to happen. I did not want this. I thought…"

"You thought what?" I demanded. "You thought I would not find out? You thought you could hide a pregnancy from me?"

"I thought it was you!" The words burst out of her like a dam breaking. "I swear on my life, Dimitri. I thought it was you."

The world stopped.

I stared at her, trying to process what she just said, trying to make sense of words that made no sense.

"What did you say?" My voice was barely audible.

She looked up at me through her tears. Her amber eyes were filled with pain and desperation.

"The night of the party," she whispered. "Someone came into your room. It was dark. So dark. He wore your robe. The black silk one I laid out for you. He had your height. Your build. Your hair. And I was so sure it was you. I would never… I could never…"

Understanding crashed over me like ice water.

My brother.

It had to be.

We were identical. Same face. Same body. Same hair. Only our eyes were different. And in the dark, she would not have seen his eyes.

"No," I breathed. My chest felt like it was caving in. "No, it was not…"

Before I could finish, the door slammed open with enough force to crack the frame.

Alexei stood there, breathing hard. His forest green eyes were wild.

He had found out. Someone had told him what was going on.

"Dimitri, wait…" he started.

"You." The word came out quiet, amd deadly. I turned to face him fully. "It was you."

Alexei's face went pale. He opened his mouth. Closed it. Opened it again.

"I did not know," he said quickly. "I swear I did not know it was her. I was drunk. I could not see straight. I thought…"

"You thought what?" I took a step towards him. Then another. "You stumbled into my room. You put your hands on my woman. You took what was mine!."

"I did not know!" His voice rose. "How was I supposed to know you hid her in your room? You never told me about her. You never said anything!"

"I should not have to tell you to keep your hands off my personal maid!" I roared. "I should not have to tell you that she is off limits! That she is the one thing in this whole filthy world that belongs to me and only me!" I roared.

"I was drunk," Alexei said again, but there eas no regret in hos tone. "I do not even remember most of it. I just remembered…"

I hit him. 

My fist connected with his jaw with all the force of my rage. He staggered back, blood spraying from his split lip.

"Do not," I said softly, "talk about that night. Do not you dare talk about what you did to her."

Alexei wiped the blood from his mouth. For a moment, I thought he would fight back. We had fought before. Countless times while growing up. But we always fought together, never against each other.

"Dima… if I had known…"

"But you did not know." I stepped closer. Close enough that we were almost nose to nose. "You did not know and you did not care. You just took what you wanted like you always do. Women, territory, everything. You take and take and take and never think about the consequences."

"That is not fair…"

"Fair?" I laughed. A harsh, bitter sound. "You want to talk about fair? She thought you were me, Alexei. She gave herself to you because she thought you were me. And now she is carrying your child! Your bastard! Tell me, brother, what part of that is fair?"

Alexei flinched like I had struck him again. Behind me, I heard Irina sob. The sound cut through me like a knife.

"I will fix this," Alexei said. His jaw was tight. His green eyes were hard. "I will take responsibility."

"Responsibility?" I repeated slowly. "What does that mean?"

"It means…" He took a breath. "It means she is mine now. The baby is mine. I will take care of them both."

The words hit me like bullets.

I stared at my brother. At my twin. At the other half of my soul. And I saw a stranger.

"No," I said softly.

"Dimitri…"

"No." My voice was louder now. "She is not yours. She will never be yours. This was a mistake. An accident. You do not get to claim her just because you were too drunk to know whose bed you were in."

"The baby is mine," Alexei said firmly. "That makes her mine too."

"She belongs to me," I said through clenched teeth. "She has belonged to me for four years. I found her. I bought her. I protected her. She is MINE!"

"She is carrying my child." Alexei's voice dropped. Became serious in a way I had never heard before. "That changes everything."

"It changes nothing."

"Dimitri, be reasonable…"

"Reasonable?" I was shaking now. With rage. With pain. With betrayal so deep it felt like I was drowning. "You want me to be reasonable while you stand there and claim the woman I love?"

The words hung in the air.

I had never said it out loud before. I had never admitted it even to myself. But now it was out there. Raw and impossible to take back.

Alexei's smirked. "You love her?"

"Of course I love her," I said quietly. "I have loved her since the day she walked into my life. I have loved her through every moment of every day for four years. And I never touched her. I never forced her. I waited. I wanted her to choose me freely. To come to me because she wanted to, not because she had no other choice."

"Dima…"

"And you took that from me." My voice broke. "You took her. You took her choice. You took everything."

"You know I didn't not mean to."

"But you did." I looked at my brother. "You did, and now everything is ruined."

Silence fell between us. Heavy and suffocating.

Behind me, Irina's sobs had quieted. I could feel her watching us. Waiting to see what we would decide about her life. About her future. Like she had no say in it at all.

"She was mine first," I whispered, my voice deadly calm. "And you stole her from me.”

Alexei straightened his shoulders. His jaw set in that stubborn way I knew so well.

"She belongs to me now," he said. His forest green eyes were serious. Determined.

The words hung in the air like a death sentence.

"I know." Alexei's voice was quiet. "But the baby changes everything. You know it does. She is carrying my child, Dima. That makes her mine. That is how our world works."

My fist tightened. 

He was right.