Page 2 of The Payment

She had signed without hesitation, certain no clause could threaten a love like theirs.Now, that certainty crumbled as she understood the careful architecture of her own destruction.The contract hadn’t been her protection.It had been a cage, and she had locked herself inside.

Why the fuck did I ignore all those red flags?

She knew why...because she had believed he loved her just as much as she did him.Nothing would’ve made her believe she would have any reason to want to divorce him—ever—let alone within five years.

Jarek’s laugh reverberated through the dining room.Each syllable was underscored with sharpness.It sounded cruel and devoid of warmth.It scraped against her memories of tender moments and whispered promises in the dark.Her heart seized as she tried to hold on to those fragments of what she had believed was love.

“Did you really think...”His voice dropped to that intimate tone he had used so often.“That I would waste my time on some lovesick fantasy?”

Hope flickered in her chest, but it was fragile and desperate at best.This was her Jarek, somewhere beneath this coldness.It had to be.The man who held her at night, who knew how she took her coffee, who...

“Ah, sweet.”He clicked his tongue.“Still trying to find a way to turn this around?That is what made you so perfect, Tatiana.That stubborn ability to see only what you want to see.”

The hope shriveled, leaving nothing but bitter truth.Her body recognized it before her mind could accept the lies.Every shared laugh, kiss, and moment of intimacy now twisted into calculated ugliness.

His continued chuckle, resonating soft and knowing through her mind, burned away the last wisps of denial.This was no nightmare she would wake from.This was her new reality.

“I don’t know you,” she said softly.“I never did.”

“Ah, my dear wife, as the saying goes...‘You don’t truly know someone until you see them at their worst’.”The endearment dripped with venom as Jarek moved through the dining room with lethal grace.Each step was as deliberate as a hunter closing in on a prey.His gaze swept from Tatiana to her grandfather.Savage triumph etched across his face, transforming his handsome features into a predator’s mask as the corners of his mouth curled upward in a cold, victorious smile.

“I’m afraid your granddaughter isn’t going to agree to your suggestion, my dear man.In fact, I believe she will emphatically say no to any counsel about an annulment or a divorce.”

Power radiated from his stance as his head tilted in mock consideration.This was the real Jarek, the bastard she had never seen beneath the mask of devotion.

“Or just to turn around and walk away as you mentioned earlier, dear wife...at least not for the next five years, by which time I will have gained full payment of Gregor’s debt.”

“What is he blabbering about, Tatiana?”Gregor demanded.

Tatiana’s lips compressed into a bloodless line as her mind became consumed with self-recrimination over that legal loophole.She couldn’t form a coherent defense as the oversight turned into a noose, tightening around everything she had built.

“Hmm...shall I tell him?”Jarek’s eyes gleamed with predatory satisfaction while delivering each verbal blow.Tatiana’s stomach churned with a visceral hatred as a scorching, unfamiliar rage spread through her veins and transformed her love into a venomous, primal force.Her fingers curled into fists so tight, her manicured nails cut half-moons into her palms.The physical pain barely registered against the betrayal burning inside her.

“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?Humiliating me like this...and for what?So, you can watch my grandfather grovel at my expense?Me, the one person in this room who had no knowledge of what had happened...or was involved in any way.”

“Unfortunately, you’re guilty by association, my dear.As I’m sure you know by now, all’s fair in love and war.”He lifted one shoulder in a fluid, dismissive motion.With his hands in his trouser pockets, his entire posture radiated bored indifference, dismissing her pain as insignificant.Even his eyes remained flat and unaffected.It was the casual cruelty of a man who had never viewed her as more than a means to an end.“The Polovs started this war, Tatiana, and we’re all pawns battling it out to the end.”

“Whose end?Dedushka’s?Yours?You’re deluding yourself if you believe there’ll be a winner in your desire for vengeance, Jarek.War and battles have nothing to do with this.It’s all about you...and what you want...fuck those who get hurt in the process.”Her eyes held shadows like deep water, reflecting something dangerous beneath the surface.“I’m sure your wife is turning in her grave, watching you right now.Shame on you, Jarek Farrel, for using your dead wife and innocent child as an excuse for your own behavior.”

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