Page 2 of King of Pride

Her shoulder had accidentally hit the wooden shelf, making the glass and everything else on it shake.

The snow globe, which had been placed perfectly in the middle, had immediately begun to fall.

Rose had instinctively reached out to grab it. Her fingers had closed around it, but the globe slipped through them. She had tried to adjust her grip and place it back where it belonged after rubbing off the dirt that had gotten onto the snow globe.

But she hadn't managed to save it.

It had fallen.

And shattered.

That was when Rose had turned around, only to see Ivan standing in front of her.

His eyes were burning with rage, his face filled with anger and emotions she had never seen before. The fury spreading across his features made Rose's body instinctively stiffen.

She knew how much he cherished all these things—all the gifts he had received from Jessica.

The hurt flashing across his face immediately made her feel terrible. Her heart sank, and she quickly tried to apologize.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to—"

She had barely started when his hand struck her face so hard that everything else became completely silent in her world.

Except for the ringing in her ears.

Rose stood frozen in front of the man she was supposed to marry in a few months. Her heart could barely seem to move inside her chest as she stared at him in complete silence.

Everything suddenly became completely still.

Rose slowly lifted her eyes to him.

This was the man she was going to marry.

Then her gaze shifted toward the snow globe.

And suddenly, everything became so much sharper that she could barely process what had happened.

Rose's mind filled with memories of their time together—all the times she had stood in front of him and given him expensive gifts, only for him to place them carelessly somewhere and even forget about them the next day.

But this snow globe, something that wasn't worth even ten dollars, had enraged him this much that he had slapped her over it.

Rose took one step back.

Her hand slowly lifted toward her burning cheek, her fingertips hovering over the place where his palm had struck her before she finally touched it.

She looked at Ivan.

Her eyes weren't filled with anger. Or betrayal. Or even pain.

Instead, she simply stared at him in complete silence.

Ivan looked at her.

She looked back at him.

Realization flashed across his face for a moment, a startled expression appearing as though he had only just understood what he had done.

But that realization disappeared just as quickly.