Page 60 of Unrequited

And then,oh my god, he turns to me. “I told you I would come for your sister. I remember it vividly. I bet Semyon does, too. And I never, ever back down on my word.”

He gestures, his hand steady, his voice quiet. “Come here, Zoya.”

My body refuses to move at first.

“Go,” Rafail whispers in my ear. “You have to do what he says now. I can’t stop him.”

The room is rigged.

Seamus’s voice rolls through the room. “I have forty plantsstationed on this estate. Every exit. Standing right beside you.”

My head snaps up. The guards, uniformed, still, all armed, areeverywhere.

We’re surrounded.

Holy shit.

He snuck them all in.

For me.

A promise. A vendetta. A reckoning.

“What did you do with Morozov?” Rafail asks flatly.

Seamus’s eyes ice over. “You know exactly what I did.”

Oh my god.

“Did you start a war, Seamus?” I whisper.

Rafail’s gaze on me hardens. No one calls him Seamus. I shouldn’t know his name.

“It’s hard to start a war that’s already begun,” Seamus replies, his tone glacial.

Then he turns to me again.

And even now, my traitorous heart expects a flicker of warmth. A softened look.Something.

But his gaze is frozen.

“I said come here, Zoya.”

My legs are made of jelly. But I walk.

“Zoya, come,” he says, gentler. “I won’t hurt you, little lass. I promise. You have my word. Please, just come to me now.”

Polina’s hand is on her mouth. Yana’s watching us both with narrowed eyes. Anya’s pale, her eyes wide.

Everyone watches. Everyone heard him.

So I go. I walk down the aisle. Past my family. Past everything I’ve ever known. Still clutching my flowers to my chest.

Into the arms of Seamus McCarthy.

Knowing what I’ve done. Knowing what this will cost them. Knowing they will never forgive me. That the blowback will be brutal. Unforgiving. Total.

I go to him.