"At least come sit down," I say again. "I need to talk to you." So my plan to ease her into this isn't going to work the way I thought. She still needs to hear it from me before that gala.
"Tell me from there."
So damn frustrating. Why can't she let me do something nice for her? Why does she have to be so damn stubborn? "Fine, I've been thinking about this for a while now and it doesn't make sense to marry one of the Koval women and hope the family holds together for another two and a half years until you turn twenty-five and the inheritance passes to Vera by default." Mila's eyes widen, but she still doesn't look up at me. "It's a bad plan. It has too many variables and too many ways for Vera to undermine it."
Her eyes snap to mine and she snips, "What are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about you and your inheritance, Mila. I know you have to be married before you turn twenty-five and?—"
"I know how my father's will works, Roman."
"Then you know it's a losing proposition for both of us." I take a few steps toward her. "I get nothing out of this arrangement for three more years, unless I marry you." It's coming out wrong and I know it. I'm not a man of great tact by any means, but this takes the cake. I watch her wilt a little, lip trembling as she stares at me.
"If I marry you, I assume leadership of the Radin family now. Not in two and a half years. You claim your inheritance early because you've fulfilled the marriage condition, and the assets transfer to you before Vera can redirect them. The family stays together under my authority and your name, and Vera loses her grip on everything she's been trying to steal."
It makes sense to me and gives her everything now without waiting. And the world will know we're together then. She'll be mine in every sense of the word, and she'll share my bed and be my queen instead of my servant.
"You're out of your mind," she hisses, shaking her head.
"It's a win for both of us, Mila. I get the family and you get what your father left you, and Vera gets nothing."
"You think I want to marry you so you can claim my entire empire? Like some stupid business proposal?" When she says it like that, it stings. That's not how I see it, but it is part of it.
"Mila, it's in your best interests."
She stomps toward me and slaps me across the face, and I immediately bring my hand up to my jaw. Her eyes are filled with tears, chest heaving, and her fists are shaking at her sides.
"I don't want the power," she says, trembling. "I want nothing to do with my father's money. You could've asked me what I wanted at any point in the last two months and you never did. Not once."
"Mila—"
"I won't marry you for an inheritance, Mr. Kuzin." She backs toward the door and her hand finds the handle behind her. "You can't give me what I want. And the fact that you don't even know what that is tells me I'd never want to be your wife, either."
She opens the door and storms out as I stand there holding my cheek, wondering what I said. I am offering to marry her, to make her the queen of my world. What the fuck does she want?
I stare at the door and my chest tightens. Every word she said ricochets in my skull. I’ve offered her everything—my name, my power, my world—and it doesn’t matter. She’s gone, and with her, whatever I thought I understood about her. She doesn’t want the crown I’m holding out. She wants something I can’t even name, something I can’t see.
I replay her words, her tone, the way she moved—like she could vanish into the air and I’d be left holding nothing. And maybe I am. Maybe all I’ve ever wanted from her isn’t what she wants at all.
23
MILA
My heart… I can't even believe what just happened as I run from his room, past Yegor who probably heard the whole thing and thinks I'm stupid. But it feels like my physical heart in my chest is dying. The squeezing and ache is so painful as I flee toward my bedroom that I can barely breathe.
I want him. I want him so desperately, but not like this, and not for some arrangement. My whole life, I've been waiting for someone to want me for me, to love me and choose me and celebrate who I am as a person. Now Roman Kuzin thinks he can own me and parade me around his empire like arm candy because I have something he wants.
Well he's wrong.
I won't marry him just so he can take what's mine. I may have stolen from him, and yes, that was wrong. I should never have listened to Vera at all, even though that ring really is my father’s. I should have kept my nose in my own business and tolerated her the way life always was. But I didn't. I believed that the task of stealing the ring meant something to her and I was stupidenough to think she'd finally accept me. Now look where that's gotten me.
I walk into my room and slam the door, pacing back and forth at the foot of my bed. This is worse than hearing him choose Sofi or Sabine. Way worse. To think he wants me to hand over my entire inheritance to him and what? Let him run my father’s organization while he fucks me in secret? Then what? I just produce heirs to him?
I can't.
I won't let him use me the way Vera used me, and I won't let him forget and discard me when he's got what he wants. I've felt forgotten and discarded enough in my life. I'm worth more than that and I know it, and what I really want is for him to notice me.
I climb into bed, not bothering to change into pajamas, and curl into a ball as the anger continues to make my stomach turn. At least I know now why I'm constantly sick, but it doesn't change how I'm feeling. When Sorin brought that test in, I had to lie to her and tell her it was negative just to get her to leave my room. And now, knowing I'm having that man's baby while all he can think about is expanding his empire is soul-crushing.
