Nathan came back at three. He brought flowers—white roses, the same ones that had been at the gala. I set them on the windowsill and pretended they didn't mean anything.
They stayed. Both of them. They sat on opposite sides of the room and watched me, waiting for me to make a decision I couldn't make.
The sun set. The room grew dark. The nurses brought dinner, and I picked at it, and Aleksander and Nathan watched.
At midnight, I finally spoke.
"I'm not going to leave," I said. "I'm not going to choose."
Aleksander's eyes met mine. "Then what are you going to do?"
"I'm going to stay. Here. In this house, in this family. I'm going to finish school. I'm going to become a veterinarian. I'm going to live my life." I paused. "And I'm not going to let any of you make me feel guilty for it."
Nathan stood, walking toward the bed. "You're willing to stay. But you won't choose."
"No."
"Then what happens when one of us wants something you can't give?"
I met his eyes. "Then I'll tell you no. And you'll have to accept it."
He stared at me for a long moment. Then he nodded—a slow, reluctant nod—and stepped back.
Aleksander walked to the other side of the bed, his hand reaching for mine. "You're stronger than you know, Monika. Stronger than any of us."
"Maybe." I squeezed his hand. "Or maybe I'm just too tired to fight anymore."
He kissed my forehead. Nathan kissed my hand. And then they left, one after the other, their footsteps fading in the hallway.
I was alone again.
I looked at the flowers on the windowsill. The white roses, the symbol of a world I didn't understand.
I thought about Gabriel. About the life he'd offered me.
I thought about the cages. The warehouse. The things I'd seen.
And I realized, with a clarity that felt like a knife, that I was never going to be the same person I was before.
I was Monika Mire now. For better or worse.
And I was going to make it work.
28
The Glass Empire
The mansion was quiet when I returned.
The gates swung open as the car approached, the iron bars parting like they'd been waiting for me. The driveway stretched ahead, lined with evergreens dusted with snow, the fountain in the center of the circle frozen solid. The house loomed before me—stone and glass and the ghosts of everyone who'd ever walked through its doors.
I walked inside. The foyer was empty, the chandeliers dark, the marble cold beneath my feet. The portraits on the walls watched me pass—Elena, and the ones who'd come before her, the women who'd been claimed by this family and never quite escaped.
I didn't go to my room.
I walked through the house, my footsteps echoing in the silence. The library where Nathan had cornered me. The dining room where I'd had my first dinner with the family. The greenhouse where Gabriel had kissed me for the last time.
I found them in the study.
