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"I’m not afraid," I lie.

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Chapter17

ANISSA

“Hmm.”

Inside, the large formal dining room hums with quiet conversation. Crystal glasses catch the chandelier’s light, throwing sharp reflections against the walls. I know who everyone in this room is.

Everyone except the woman who looks like mymirror image.

I barely register Semyon, his sisters Yana and Zoya, or even the man who was supposed to be my husband.

My gaze locks on the blonde. A hush falls over the room. Someone drops a glass. It shatters, sharp and brittle in the quiet. No one moves.

"Son of a bitch," Vadka mutters into his drink. "Who knew?"

Matvei exhales a sharp, amused breath. "Gleb, that’s who.”

I stare, unblinking, at the beautiful woman standing before me now. Willowy where I’m curvy, but the same white-blonde hair, the same blue eyes, the same upturned nose.

I’m dressed in dark-colored jeans and a black top with shiny, high-heeled boots, and she wears a simple pale-pink peasant dress tied at the waist paired with ivory flats.

“It’s good to finally meet you,” she says. It’s so bizarre hearing a voice so much like my own.

Polina.

I stare at her. Her hair is long like mine, falling down her back like silk sheets—pale, blonde, straighter. Mine’s wavy. But we have the same eyes, and where I know I’m jaded, her face is soft. Trusting.

God, I miss being able to trust someone.

She wears tiny gold hoops and no other jewelry, except for a gold band on her wedding finger, and I have a line of earrings that go all the way up my ear, gold bangled bracelets, and rings on several fingers.

She extends her hand to me.

“Polina Kopolova. You must be Anissa.”

“Yes.”

I’m usually bolder than this. Braver. But right now, I feel like a child.

“It’s nice to meet you too—except, please understand, I just found out about you. I didn’t even know I had a sister.”

“I know,” she whispers. Something unexpected that I can’t quite name passes between us.

And then we’re hugging.

I never hug strangers. But this… this feels right.

This woman is my sister.

And I am completely unprepared for the way I react. My eyes sting with tears, my throat tightens, and I can barely swallow past the lump rising in my throat…

Until a deep voice clears his throat beside Polina, and I jump back as if waking from a dream.

Right. Her husband, Rafail Kopolov himself.Fuck.