Page 234 of Marrying My Ex's Brother
I look over my shoulder. “There was never any coming back.”
Then I go up the stairs.
Dmitri tries to run. He slips on blood near the corridor, catches himself against the wall, and turns as I reach him. His face is pale now, all arrogance stripped away. The bruise at his jaw has darkened. His injured arm hangs uselessly.
He looks young suddenly.
He presses his back against the wall, one hand clutched to his bleeding arm, his face pale beneath the bruises. Hismouth opens, closes, then opens again. For once, the beautiful arrogance is gone. No smile. No lazy charm. No polished Volkov confidence.
Only fear.
“Yaromir,” he says, voice cracking. “Wait.”
I keep the gun trained on him. “There is nothing left to say.”
“There is.” He swallows hard, eyes darting toward the stairs behind me, then back to the barrel pointed at his face. “Please. I made a mistake.”
I almost laugh.
A mistake.
That word again.
“She was running,” he says quickly. “I was angry. I wasn’t thinking.”
My finger tightens on the trigger. “You shot my wife.”
His face twists. “No.”
The word is so immediate it stops me.
“I didn’t kill Anya.” His voice breaks on her name. “I swear on my life, I didn’t kill her.”
“Your life is worth nothing.”
“I know.” His eyes shine with terror now. “I know. But I didn’t kill her.”
The corridor around us seems to narrow. Behind me, the house is still full of men, weapons, smoke, blood. Somewheredownstairs, my father is on the marble floor, breathing through whatever pride he has left. Galina is crying or cursing. I don’t care which.
All I hear is Dmitri.
I step closer. “Then whose body was found near the canal?”
Dmitri’s face changes. The fear remains, but something worse moves beneath it.
Guilt.
Real guilt. But not for Anya. For someone else.
My gun stays steady. “Answer me.”
His throat works. “Katya.”
The body near the canal. The one Viktor went to identify.
Dmitri’s eyes shine with panic. “She was there. She followed me. I don’t know how. She must have known something, or suspected. She kept saying this had gone too far.”
My jaw locks. “And you shot her.”
