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I touch my phone screen, feeling a flicker of warmth despite the coldness that seems to have wrapped itself around me ever since I left Luca’s office. I’ve never been quite as close to anyone as I’ve come to be with Sofia. I know she doesn’t have many friends either, just Ana, and I know she’s looked up to me in the past. Like an older sister, maybe, someone who knows this life better than she once did. I tried to be there for her when she was navigating her relationship with Luca. But now I’m the one in need of comfort. Seeing the familiar nickname calms me, though, makes me feel a tiny bit more grounded. No one else calls me Cat. Just Sofia.
Luca promised me he won’t hurt you.
I laugh at that, a small, bitter sound.He promised me the same.
If there’s anything I know about Luca, he keeps his promises.
I lean back in the seat, closing my eyes. That much is true. Luca moved heaven and earth to keep a promise he didn’t even make, one made between his father and Sofia’s, arranging their marriage without them even knowing. No one would have blamed him for breaking it. He could even have convinced my father to let him marry me instead, maybe, solidifying his position even more. But he didn’t do that.
He kept that promise. And now he and Sofia are happy.
Could Viktor and I be happy? I tell myself not to even think it. I’d hoped for some kind of happiness with Franco and been bitterly disappointed. If I go into this marriage clearheaded and with open eyes, knowing that there’s no hope of happiness with my husband, there’s no possibility of disappointment. I can forge ahead without worrying about trying to make a shared life, finding common ground.
What common ground could I ever have with a Bratva brute, anyway?
I’ll be fine,I text back.I always knew I’d be in an arranged marriage. So it’s with a Bratva man instead of Italian. I’ll live.I pause, then keep typing.He can’t be worse than Franco.
A pause, and then Sofia’s reply.Famous last words.And then just as quickly.I’m joking. Luca wouldn’t agree if he didn’t think you’d be safe.Seconds later—I’m always here for you, Cat. You know that. Anything you need. Just like you were there for me.
It’s almost funny how the tables were turned. Not that long ago, I was the one trying to reassure Sofia, to help her understand how marriage to a man like Luca would work, what it would be like. To understand what her choices really were and how to live with them. Now it’s her, comforting me. Trying to ease my fear and worry.
Because Iamafraid, no matter how desperately I’m trying not to show it. I’m terrified of Viktor.
Any reasonable woman would be.
My chest aches when I step inside my house. I walk through it, drifting from room to room like some kind of Victorian specter, touching furnishings and breathing in the scent of it, the clean rooms and the dustier, less used ones. This house is too big for one person. I would have rattled around inside of it. That’s why I’d planned to travel—plans that will have to be put on hold now, possibly for good. I can’t imagine Viktor letting his wife travel independently, and I have no desire to go on fucking vacation with my Bratva husband.
As far as I’m concerned, the less time we spend together, the better. And I hope he might feel the same. Men like him aren’t usually interested in the company of their wives.
This morning, I’d felt something like grief at the thought of leaving this place behind. But now I feel nothing—just empty. Hollowed out, like a shell left on the beach.
I sink into a chair, closing my eyes.It’s for the best,I tell myself. It’s how I’ll get through this.
Empty is good. Hollow is good.
Nothing ever comes fromfeeling.
