Standing would work. I could watch the confusion appear in her eyes before she realized what was happening. There was the traditional version too, the one involving a man on one knee, although Inna would almost certainly say something devastating while I was down there and somehow make me deserve it. The beach was another option. We had already fucked on that beach, which could work in my favor and improve the chances of her saying yes.
Speaking of sex, maybe proposing while inside her would work. If I timed it and hit the right spot enough times, she would probably be too distracted to argue. She might even put the ring on herself.
A faint smile pulled at my mouth.
It has been a while since we fucked.
I missed her warmth. I missed the moans she made when she stopped thinking about everything else and simply let herselffeel. Did she miss that too? Was she lying awake beside me, exercising the same restraint? Or was I the only idiot suffering through this while she slept peacefully on the other side of the bed?
Chapter Fifty
Inna Grace
I stared at the ringbetween my fingers, the small piece of metal that started everything and apparently wasn’t done causing problems. A maid found it in the backyard and took it to Grandma. Grandma recognized it immediately and summoned me for questioning. I watched her face change as we talked. Her eyes moved from confusion to understanding, then to hurt. The next thing I knew, she passed out because her blood pressure spiked.
That was the disaster Dmitri created after throwing the ring away. Now I was sitting on a couch at eleven in the evening, waiting for him to come home. I wasn’t even sure he would. But Dmitri always came home. He had to show up tonight because we needed to explain everything to Grandma.
Grandma has done nothing but take care of Cole and me since the moment we arrived here. She fed us, worried about us, and treated us like family before we earned the right to be considered one. Yet today, she looked at me as if I had taken part in a deception.
She wanted this marriage so badly that it lived in every small thing she did. She always ensured that our places were set together at the dining table. Whenever Dmitri and I were in the same room, she observed us with quiet satisfaction. She built hopes, plans, and expectations around something temporary.
The guilt settled in my chest.
Leaving was supposed to be the easy part. People left me all the time. My parents did it. So why was it so difficult for me? Why did walking away from something temporary feel like I was trying to tear everyone apart?
I looked down at the ring again. Nothing about this made sense anymore.
The door opened, and I stood. I smoothed my dress and watched Dmitri walk in. He closed the door behind him, and his eyes found me right away. Confusion flickered across his face at finding me awake.
This was my conversation to start. I was the one who waited for him. I crossed the room before I lost my nerve. He slipped his hands into his pockets.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
I looked down at the ring in my hand. When I lifted my gaze again, he was already looking at it too.
I held it out toward him. “You threw this into the backyard.” I swallowed. “A maid found it and gave it to Grandma.”
He didn’t take it. His eyes lifted to my face instead.
“Grandma recognized it and asked me about it. She wasn’t happy,” I continued. “She got sick, and now she’s upset with me. So I waited for you because we have to talk to her together. We need to explain that this was an agreement. That it was always supposed to end.”
Dmitri was quiet for a moment before his gaze dropped to the ring again. “Okay,” he said.
Relief settled in my chest. He agreed. I had prepared myselffor an argument, for one of those conversations where every sentence became a battle. Instead, it sounded simple. I was glad he accepted that leaving was something I had to do.
“You can have the ring back,” I said, and he took the ring back.
He turned toward the door, and I followed him out. We walked together to Grandma’s room. The door was slightly ajar when we arrived. Dmitri stepped inside first, and I hesitated at the doorway, looking through the gap. The doctor was there. Apparently, he had returned to check on Grandma after she woke up. A maid stood beside the bed as well. She stayed with Grandma all day, just as Anita stayed with me when I was sick.
The moment the doctor and maid noticed Dmitri, they straightened, bowed, and left the room.
I stepped into the room, and Grandma looked at us. She sighed and adjusted the pillow behind her back. “If you two are here to stress me further, just leave.”
“Looks like you’re doing well,” Dmitri said. “Inna said we had something to explain.”
I turned to look at him. He sounded calm. It was as if he had quietly picked up the entire conversation and set it back in my lap.
“That you ended your marriage and threw the ring away?” Grandma asked. “I know.”
