Chapter 4

The moment I stepped into the Volkov estate, a loud crash came from the third floor.

My heart skipped a beat. A dark feeling spread through my chest.

That was my workspace.

I grabbed the railing, dragging my weak body up the stairs. Panic pushed me faster.

I pushed open the half-closed door and froze.

My brain just… stopped.

In the middle of the room, the architectural model Chloe and I had spent a year building—the one that won the national award—was a pile of rubble.

A year ago, Chloe got hooked on a designer drug. The hallucinations drove her mad. She threw herself off a twenty-story building.

This model was the only thing she left behind.

It held the dreams we’d talked about for endless nights. I swore I’d protect it.

And in the center of the ruin, the main tower that held it all together was shattered. It was the secret compartment Chloe had insisted on. The one holding a small portion of her ashes.

Now, the gray ash was mixed with broken glass, ground under Isla’s high heels.

“Clean up this junk,” Isla ordered the workmen.

She stood beside the wreckage in a silk robe, sipping a hot coffee.

When she saw me, she raised an eyebrow.

“Good, you’re back,” she said, like it was nothing. “Maxim gave me this floor for Leo’s sunroom. I took the liberty of throwing out this depressing stuff for you.”

I stared at the shattered pieces, my fingers trembling.

“This was the only thing Chloe left me,” my voice broke.

“So what?” Isla scoffed, kicking the broken glass. “She was a junkie whore. She deserved to die.”

She stepped closer, her mouth next to my ear.

“You’re just like her. Born to lose everything good.” Her voice was low, poisoned. “Like your short-lived son. He deserved to die at birth. The perfect medicine for my Leo.”

A violent pain ripped through my chest.

Like someone reached inside me and crushed my already broken heart into dust.

My last thread of sanity snapped.

“You animal!”

I swung my hand at her smug face.

My wrist was caught in mid-air.

I turned.

Maxim was behind me.

His fingers dug into my wrist, his brow furrowed. “You just got back and you’re already starting shit?”

Again.

He promised he loved me, but he always stood in front of her.

Protecting her, he sliced me apart, piece by piece.

Before I could speak, Isla gasped.

“Sister, don’t hit me!”

She flicked her wrist. The scalding coffee flew at my face.

It happened too fast.

Maxim’s instinct won. He pulled Isla into his arms, shielding her with his body.

The dark liquid splashed across his forearm.

He grunted in pain.

Stung by the burn, driven by the instinct to protect her, he shoved me.

I was already weak from childbirth. The push sent me flying backward.

Thump.

My lower back slammed into the jagged metal base of the ruined model. The metal ripped through my clothes, biting deep into my flesh.

The stitches on my abdomen ripped open.

I collapsed into the shattered glass. Hot blood poured out.

I curled up on the floor. Everything inside me felt broken. I was in too much pain to even make a sound.

“Maxim!” Isla screamed, throwing herself at him.

She grabbed his arm, tears instantly welling up. “You’re burned! It’s all my fault, I thought she was going to kill me, I was so scared…”

I lay in a pool of my own blood, gasping for air.

My baby was dead. My best friend’s last memory was destroyed.

And my husband was holding the murderer in his arms.

Maxim looked at the angry red burn on his arm.

He pulled his arm back, shaking off Isla’s hand.

For the first time in three years, I saw irritation in his eyes. Directed at her.

Isla froze, tears clinging to her lashes.

But the flicker of annoyance was gone as quickly as it came.

Maxim looked down. His gaze passed over the debris and landed on me.

Blood from the metal frame was dripping onto the carpet.

A flicker of deep, repressed pain crossed his eyes, but it was quickly buried by his anger towards me.

He stared down at me, writhing in agony on the floor, his expression turning to cold disgust.

“Are you done yet? Are you not happy until everyone is as miserable as you are?”

I tried to fight back, to say something.

But my mind was empty. I couldn’t hold on. I passed out.

As darkness pulled me under, I saw the first flash of true panic strike Maxim's face.