Dimitri POV:

You step out of the club just after midnight, breath fogging in the damp air. The suffocating smell of this damn American city fills my senses in a way that makes me question why you moved here instead of staying where you belonged. In Russia. Where I could keep you without having you. No one would've dared touch you there.

But here?

Here, I couldn't do anything, not with little to no power. Maybe that's the truth of it. The answer to why you moved as far out of reach as possible after the contract ended.

I watch from the shadows, shoulder pressed to the cold brick wall, cigarette smoke curling up into the polluted air. I don't move when you exit.

The wolf only catches the rabbit if it's patient. I have that in spades. I need the moment to hit you first. Need you to see me before I speak. Because then you'll freeze, and I'll have you.

I watch you take slow, graceful steps down from the club's entrance.

Even now, after a year and a half, your presence knocks something loose in my chest. Push and pull. That's what we were. I'd pull, you'd push. That's all we did for our entire marriage... until it broke.

Your gaze finds me as if you could sense me long before you saw me.

You freeze, half in the spill of streetlight, half in shadow, and I knew I had you.

Still breathtaking, my little wife. Still more dangerous than any gun ever pressed to my temple.

Rain drizzles steadily now, soft against the stone. Dew-like drops crown and dampen your hair. An ethereal beauty in a jungle of concrete and noise. It slowly soaks into my coat, cold at the collar, but I don't move. Our eyes stay locked for one long heartbeat.

Finally, I bring the cigarette to my mouth and inhale. The burn in my chest is both emotional and physical. It settles the part of me that still wants to show itself, but I refuse. I reveal nothing less than stoicism. Because even now, I can see the change in you. You're no longer the wife I once knew. You're something new.

Dimitri Antonov: "Dorogaya (darling)," I say in greeting, my voice deeper and smoother than I feel.

In my mind, it's choked and strained. But a Pakhan doesn't allow for open vulnerability. So I give you the mask you know too well.

Dimitri Antonov: "A year and a half," I murmur.

Dimitri Antonov: "And not a single word."

It's not an accusation. Just a fact. Still, your shoulders straighten. Your body stiffens, ready for war. I watch as you hold your ground, chin tilting ever so slightly in that familiar way. Almost a fuck you.

There's something honest in that. Something I want more of. I want to see every shade you've grown into, whether old or new.

We may have been married five years and bound by a contract, not affection, but what we built was something deeper than ink and paper. It was quiet, brutal, and ours. It was toxic. And in the end, it nearly killed us both.

But the one who destroyed us wasn't you.

Not even when you walked out after the contract ended. No, it was me. I'm the one who fucked us up.

I watched your love for me die in real time and still signed the divorce papers like you meant nothing. I told myself that letting you go was control, that it was what was best for you.

But your father is dying now. Lev Volkov. The Pakhan of your Bratva. Manipulative to the end. His final request was for all his children to return to Russia, which included his only daughter.

I told him you wouldn't come. He smiled and said, "Then send the one thing she can't ignore."

So here I am.

Twisting the knife in both our chests.

Dimitri Antonov: "I hear you've been busy," I continue. "Building a nice little life."

The smoke lingers between us, and your jaw tightens.

Dimitri Antonov: "Tell me, krasotka... (beautiful)," I tilt my head slightly. "Do you miss home? Do you even check in anymore?"

The rain picks up, tapping against the rooftops and sliding down your bare arms. You stay rooted because you take this as an act of war, and I'm the enemy.

I'm not just here for business. I'm here for the one thing I swore I didn't need.

You.