Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-Five

Irina

I watched Dimitri sleep. He looked exhausted.

The weight of everything was crushing him.

His brother's betrayal.

His impossible choice.

I understood why he felt guilty.

But I also knew he had made the right choice.

Any parent would save their child. It was instinct.

It was love. 

But Alexei did not see it that way. He saw it as proof that Dimitri had chosen me over him. And in a way, he was right.

Dimitri had chosen our family. Over his past with Alexei.

I got up quietly and checked on Nikolai.

He was sleeping peacefully. Unaware of the chaos around him. Unaware...