Page 8 of Dark Promise

“You said, ‘Ifhe gave his blessing.’ That’s a bigif.” She pauses, then says, “I don’t believe your father gave Roberto permission to do anything of the sort. I think…” She huffs a quick breath. “I think he lied to you, used your love for your father and your grief as a tool to make you say yes because when he came home with you for Christmas last year, he saw just how rich your family is and he wanted a piece of that pie. I’m sorry. Hate me if you want, but it’s what I believe. And you know what else I believe?”

I’m all for being truthful and blunt, but this is pushing it. I give her a warning glare. “What do you believe, Nadia?”

“I believe you’re lying to yourself. I believe you want to be madly, passionately, dangerously in love. But you’re afraid of losing someone like you lost your mom and then your dad.” Nadia twines her fingers with mine. “If you let yourself…if it happens for you, I know the light will come back into your eyes, you’ll stop playing safe—which issonot you, Sabina—and everything will start to make sense again.”

I’m quiet for so long that she lets go of my hand and picks at her dessert. I notice her hands are trembling. I know it took a lot of courage for her to say all of that to me. We’ve known each other forever and she can say anything to me, even the stuff that cuts deep, because I know she’s willing to be one hundred percent truthful and that truth comes from a place of deep and unshakeable love.

Doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt like hell.

Especially when I know she’s fucking right.

“I’m sorry,” she finally says. “I shouldn’t have said any of that. It’s…it’s none of my business.”

I let out a shaky sigh. “I hate you right now.”

“Understandable.”

“And I love the hell out of you for speaking your mind.”

She grimaces. “Good?”

“No, not good. You’ve just made my life way more complicated than it already was.”

“Does that mean you’re going to think about what I said?”

“I’ll think about it. And also, fuck you.” I take a sip of my espresso and offer her a little smile as I steer the conversation in a slightly different direction. “By the way, did I tell you I had another marriage proposal?”

Nadia raises a brow. “What? Who?”

“Nikolai Ivanov.”

Her eyes go wide. “What? You hate him. You called him a loathsome piece of shit, didn’t you?”

“I did. And he is.” I lean in conspiratorially. “Nikolai asked Leo for my hand in marriage in order to create an alliance between our families.”

Nadia’s jaw drops. “Are you kidding me? He asked yourbrother? To create analliance? What year does he think this is? The thirteenth century? And when exactly did this happen?”

“At my engagement party,” I deadpan.

She gasps then bursts into laughter. “You’re fucking joking.”

I stare at her. “No joke.”

She shakes her head. “Oh, my god. The audacity.”

“Right?” I let out a bitter laugh. “And Leo’s met with him a couple of times since then.”

I can’t believe it, myself. My brother meeting with the son of the man who had our father murdered. The Ivanovs took Papa from me. From all of us. Leo refuses to talk to me about the war between our families. He brushes me off and says it’s being handled. And yet, months have gone by.Months. And Mikhail Ivanov still lives and breathes.

I want that motherfucker dead for what he did.

I want every Ivanov to pay for taking my father’s life.

But Nadia doesn’t know any of this. We don’t talk family business with anyone outside the family. So I don’t hold it against her when she quirks a brow and says, “If a guy like that offered me a ring, I’d at least take a minute to consider it.”

“He is a piece of shit,” I say, thinking of the way Nikolai has looked at me the few times we’ve run into each other, like he sees the woman I keep hidden away, like he knows all my secrets and is just waiting for the right moment to use them against me.

Like he wants to pin me against a wall and take everything I have to give.

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