Page 29 of His Ruthless Vow

The door opens with a burst of cold air and I turn to see her. She wears a dark red wool coat and a black hat. Her hair is braided down her back and her cheeks are rosy from the wind. She's beautiful, but telling her that will just make her angry. She's been resisting me at every turn, even when I point out the logic behind things. But our common goal of stopping this wedding keeps reminding her—and me—why our being together is a bad idea.

"Hey," she says, softly, and I see she's been crying. Her eyes are red-rimmed and her nose puffy. The redness around her nose isn't just the cold.

"You okay?" I ask, walking toward her. She doesn't back away and when I reach for her, she doesn't push me away, either. Something is wrong. This isn't normal.

"Yes, I'm fine," she says, but I know it's a lie the instant it's off her tongue. A woman is never "fine" when she says she is if she's been crying. I just don't want to press her and make her upset.

I pull back and hold her by the shoulders and look her in the eyes, wondering what's gotten into her. If something is wrong, I should know, considering we're in this together and I sort of need her help to pull this off. With only days until the wedding, we have one shot to get this right.

"You're not backing out on me, are you?"

Finally, she pulls back and wipes her face with her hands, which I notice are not gloved today. She's unprepared for the weather. She's been crying. What's going on with her?

"No, I'm not. I promise. I'm fine and I'm not backing out on the plan. We'll stop the wedding and fix what our fathers did." What she's telling me sounds true, but there's pain in her eyes, a heaviness I can't put my finger on.

"So, what's wrong?" My chest is heaving with emotion. For some reason, this feels like a goodbye. I'm supposed to be tuned into her somehow and I'm not. I don't know what she's thinking or feeling and I get the sense that I'm about to get a knife to the heart.

"Dimitri, I need you to know that when this wedding is broken up, we have to be done with whatever this is we're doing." Tears well up in her eyes and she takes a step backward. "You knew from the beginning that it was a bad idea, right? And if we keep doing this, we're going to get caught. Our fathers will see our sneaking around as traitorous, especially after disrupting their alliance."

"Then we'll go away," I blurt, taking a step forward, but she holds up a hand as tears streak down her cheeks.

"No." Alana really means it. She's breaking this thing off and we never got a chance to name what it is.

"Why? We can go to St. Petersburg or Perm. We can be far away from this life and no one will know. We'll set the record straight and then⁠—"

"I love you," she says softly, and it steals my breath. Her eyes are so sincere, locked with mine and not looking away. "I've loved you for a while and I just can't do this, Dimitri. The feud between our families, the pain it will cause me to know you're right there within reach and I can't have you. I can't do this. I'm going to leave town when it's done and I’m not coming back."

My heart is shredded, dangling in pieces with nothing left inside me to fight. "No. You can't, Alana. I love you too. We belong together. You should be with me."

Her head hangs and she sobs, shoulders shaking, before looking up at me. "Then what? Our families hunt us for weeks or months? We can never have our mothers or fathers? Our siblings will hate us? I don’t want that life, Dimitri. I need my family, especially now."

"Especially now?" I hiss, starting to feel angry again. She's been my anchor for weeks, so much so that now she is the only way that I calm down, to talk to her, to be with her. And now she's ending this? How the fuck am I supposed to deal with this? "What is that supposed to mean?"

"I can't," she whimpers and she backs away. "The plan is solid, okay? I'll do my part when you need me, but then we walk away before it's too late."

She turns and steps back into the cold, leaving me in my rage and ready to kill someone. I pick up the floral arrangement nearest me and launch it across the room, smashing the pot on the heavy wooden door and sending broken pot fragments and dirt everywhere.

This cannot be happening.

I love this woman and she's just walking away? But I've done everything for her, fought for her, defended her, and taken risks I never should’ve taken. All for her.

What the hell am I supposed to do now?

20

ALANA

This dress is ridiculous. I stand in front of the mirror, glowering at my own reflection. Natalia just had to choose taffeta. As if this stupid wedding wasn't poorly scripted enough as it is, she's got me wearing the most scratchy, cheap material there is because she finds it "exotic". Disgusting is more like it.

"Stop scowling, dear. Your makeup will get creases and you'll have to powder it more." My mother stands with Natalia across the room, but her eyes keep flicking up to mine.

I'm scowling for more than one reason and the uncomfortable strapless dress isn't what's got me in such a mood. It's just the straw threatening to break the camel's back.

"I'm fine," I grumble, but in less than an hour, I won't be. I don’t know what's going to happen or how my father will take it when I stand up and protest this wedding, but I can't back down now. I don't care who gets mad at me. I deserve to do this for myself and if the council still won't side with me, I really will be forced to leave town.

I told Dimitri that's my plan, but I don't want to do it. I want to stay here in Moscow with my family and I don't ever want to go away from them. At this point, I'm taking one day at a time. No one knows I'm pregnant, and if they find out, I'm screwed unless some miracle happens.

"Are you ladies ready?" I hear and turn to see my father walk into the room. He's wearing a black tux and bowtie. The cummerbund is a shade of deep green to match this hideous dress I'm being forced to wear. Thankfully, however, for the sake of time, I'm not being forced to walk down the aisle with her as a maid of honor.