Aliana POV:
I stared at the word 'Baby' on the glowing screen.
I didn't cry. There was no lump in my throat, no stinging behind my eyes. Ten years of grueling medical training had taught me how to compartmentalize trauma. When a patient was bleeding out on the table, panic meant death. My brain simply severed the connection to my emotional center, plunging me into a state of absolute, surgical logic.
I locked my phone and slid it back into my wet pocket.
I stood up slowly, my joints stiff from the cold. I looked through the gap in the curtains one last time. Ivan had lifted Kiera off the sofa. Her legs were wrapped tightly around his waist as he carried her toward the stairs.
In my mind, the white wolf kept her eyes closed. She wasn't dead. She was waiting.
I looked down at my left hand. I was still gripping the handle of the thermos. The metal was lukewarm now. I thought about the three hours I spent simmering the deer meat, carefully balancing the herbs to soothe the tension in his shoulders. It was pathetic.
I didn't throw it. I didn't scream and smash it against the glass. A confrontation right now would only end with me looking like a hysterical, discarded woman. I didn't want his apologies. I didn't want his guilt.
I wanted his ruin.
I walked away from the window, my boots squelching in the mud. I stopped beneath the massive, sprawling branches of the old oak tree in the center of the yard. I crouched down and placed the thermos carefully against the thick roots. It stood perfectly upright, a silent, mocking monument to my dead devotion.
I turned and walked back down the driveway. I didn't open my umbrella. I let the freezing rain beat down on my head, plastering my hair to my face, washing the weakness out of me.
I slipped past the guardhouse. The guard was staring at his phone, completely oblivious.
I climbed into my car. The engine roared to life. I cranked the heat, holding my numb, blue fingers in front of the vents until they stopped shaking.
I put the car in drive. I didn't go straight home. I merged onto the interstate and drove in a massive, sweeping loop around the city perimeter. I watched my rearview mirror constantly, tracking the headlights behind me. Only when I was absolutely certain I hadn't picked up a tail did I take the exit toward the city center.
I pulled into the underground garage of the penthouse I shared with Ivan.
I rode the private elevator up. The doors slid open to complete darkness. The air in the apartment smelled like expensive vanilla diffusers and polished wood. It smelled like a lie.
I stripped off my ruined trench coat right in the foyer and dropped it directly into the trash can.
I walked into the master bathroom and turned the shower on. I didn't touch the hot water dial. I stepped under the freezing spray fully naked.
The ice-cold water hit my scalp like needles. I grabbed a rough loofah and scrubbed my skin until it was bright red, violently erasing the ghost of that synthetic orchid perfume from my pores. I stayed under the water until my teeth started chattering and my core temperature plummeted.
I stepped out, drying off with mechanical efficiency. I put on a pair of long, white silk pajamas.
I walked into the living room and sat down on the center of the plush velvet sofa. I didn't turn on a single lamp. I sat in the pitch black, perfectly still, like a marble statue blending into the shadows.
The hours ticked by. The rain outside slowed to a drizzle, and the sky beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows began to bleed into a bruised, pale gray.
While I waited, my mind categorized everything. I mapped out the location of every physical deed, every encrypted drive, and every patent document in this apartment.
At exactly 7:00 AM, the elevator chimed.
I heard the faint scrape of a key sliding into the heavy brass lock.
I adjusted my posture, letting my shoulders slump. I closed my eyes and let out a soft, ragged breath, letting the exhaustion of the night wash over my face.
The heavy door clicked open.
Ivan stepped inside. A blast of chilly morning air followed him. He was carrying a brown paper bag from the artisan bakery down the street—his pathetic prop for his 'long night at the border.'
He reached out and flicked the switch for the foyer lights.
The sudden illumination spilled into the living room, catching me on the sofa. Ivan froze. The paper bag crinkled loudly in his grip. His red eyes widened in a split second of genuine panic.
But Ivan was a master of the mask. In the blink of an eye, the panic vanished, replaced by a look of deep, overwhelming affection.
He dropped the bag on the console table and strode across the room, his boots heavy on the hardwood. He dropped to his knees in front of the sofa, reaching out to cup my cheek.
"Baby, why did you fall asleep on the couch? Aren't you cold?"
