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"You stupid little whore," his mother hisses, real hatred gleaming in her eyes. "All of them… they stole it. It should've been ours."

"What are you talking about? Stole what?” Is she delusional?

I shake my head.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," I snap.

"Of course you don't," she sneers. "You're just a stupid little bitch who thinks she knows better."

The way she says it—so dismissive, so cold—something clicks in my mind.

I stare.No.

"You put him up to it," I whisper.

It wasn't just his brother going behind his back.

She let her own son bear the brunt of it.

And she let her other son pull the trigger.

Fury rises in my chest.

His mother shakes her head, her eyes cold and calculating.

"Matvei loved those cousins of his way more than his own brother. Just the way he treated him after he betrayed them was enough to show it. We all knew it."

I'm struck by how horrible she is.

She was complicit in all of it.

It's because of her.

"Run, you stupid little bitch. I'm glad you're not having his baby. We don't need your kind around here. Pack your bag and fucking run. He'll find somebody else. Somebody better. Somebody who can have his babies."

I stare at her.

"What do you think you know about me?"

“I know everything. I was there the day Gleb supposedly betrayed everybody. I know exactly why he sent them after Polina instead of you. I knew the Irish were going to take you in. You young kids think you know everything, but some of us have been here for decades, way longer, before you were born, and we have connections.” She points a long, pointy nail at me. “Some of us have alliances in places you haven't even thought of. So take your bag, and I'm going to make this very easy for you. It was too much for you. You needed to run. You had nowhere to go, but this was no place for you. So you left. You're going to write him a note and make sure he never finds you again."

I shake my head. “No.”

"Yes," she says, her voice like steel. "I want you out of my son's life. You don't deserve a penny of his money or a second in this town. You're nobody. You're nothing."

Every word falls like a sledgehammer. And in the weight of realizing I can't give him the one thing he needs, Ifeellike nothing. Like nobody. My throat tightens.

But I will not bebulliedby the woman behind this, especially not before I tell him everything.

She raises her hand as if to slap me when someone grabs me from behind and pulls me back.

I scream.

“Hey. It’s me.”

I look over my shoulder to see Yana holding a gun. She speaks into her phone. "Please tell him we've detained Irma."

I can leave now before there's no turning back. Before he's married to me. Before he actually cares. This is it. This is the time.