LOGINI straightened up. My heart was pounding. I looked around the room and for a single, disorienting moment, I had no idea where I was. The black stone walls, the red sky beyond the window, the dead air of this place—none of it felt right. None of it felt like mine. I felt like a man who had woken up m
Andrei’s POVThe collar of my shirt was pissing me off.I had fastened it twice already and it still insisted on sitting crooked, pulling too tight on the left side. I undid it a third time and redid it, slower, watching my hands in the mirror rather than my own face. My reflection had been botherin
Natalia’s POVHe didn’t hesitate.The moment I swung the rod toward him, his hand shot out and closed around my wrist like a vise. My arm wrenched sideways, and I felt the bones grind together under his grip, and the rod fell. It clattered somewhere on the stone floor, rolling away into the darkness
Andrei’s POVThe room was warm. The bed was soft and plush, the pillows made of feathers and velvet. Everything smelled familiar, the kind of scent that you recognize from a past life but can never put a finger on its source.Home.The woman was laying next to me, just as she always did. Amber hair
But I would do it, because the alternative was my children going through whatever came next, and that was not something I was willing to consider.I wasn’t certain yet. That was the only reason I was still trying so hard now. Because there was still a small part of me that thought that there must be
Natalia’s POVThey came for me after what felt like a full day. I say felt like because it really could have been any amount of time, or none at all. But someone did bring me some slop to eat at some point, so that had to have meant that at least a full cycle had passed.I was on my feet before the
And there, near the entrance, was the family I couldn’t stop thinking about.Natalia looked stunning in a pale yellow gown that made her skin glow. The twins flanked her sides, Jane in a pink dress that made her look like a little princess and Max in a tiny tuxedo that made him appear far older than
Lilith flinched, fresh tears spilling over. “I never would have—”“Don’t tell me you wouldn’t have gone to such a length to get what you wanted, Lilith. You tried to kill two children. You pushed Jane and Max into that lake and you did it with glee. They could have died. You nearly murdered two fuck
AndreiThe twins were in the back yard when I arrived. Jane immediately bounced over, grinning from ear to ear, while Max remained where he was crouching by the swingset, digging in the dirt with a stick.He only glanced up at me over his shoulder with a wary look before he returned to his work. Mea
NataliaMy heart sank as I processed what Lilith had just shown me. Her hand on her belly, that smug smile. She was pregnant, wasn’t she?Of course she is.All those stupid fantasies I’d been having lately about maybe working things out with Andrei, about the twins having their real father, about us







