Page 119 of Immaculate Corruption (Romanoff Bratva)

Vera throws back her head and laughs. “God, it’s sad hearing you talk yourself into delusions. I’m dying to hear how you’ll justify the third Trial to yourself. That one is a doozy.”

I clench my jaw, trying not to show that I have no idea what she’s talking about.

I assumed Dima would tell me what the third Romanoff Trial entailed when the time came, but he hasn’t said anything yet.

Truthfully, I kind of forgot. With the baby shower and the new nursery and how close the two of us have been, the last few days have felt like a paradise. I didn’t want to pop the perfect bubble by bringing up Ilyasov or the Trials.

“Wait.” Vera tips her head to the side, her hair falling in a thin silky sheet over one of her eyes. “You do know what the next Trial is, right? After all, you and Dima work together. Isn’t that what you said?”

I clench my hand into a fist, fighting the urge to slap her. “I trust Dima.”

She smiles. “Of course. You’d have to trust him… if you plan to let him kidnap and sell an innocent woman.”

Suddenly, it feels like I’m the one who has been slapped.

I actually stagger back, clutching onto Lukas to be sure I don’t drop him.

Kidnap…

And sell…

An innocent woman.

Her expression turns soft and sympathetic, but her eyes are alight with amusement. No matter how much Vera plays the role of the innocent bystander, she enjoys the pain.

She’s a wounded animal, deep in her soul. But she’s the special kind of wounded I used to see in my clinic from time to time—the kind who hurts others to make her own pain feel better.

“You didn’t know, did you?” She pouts out her lower lip. “Poor Arya. I guess Dima doesn’t tell you everything after all.”

The whispered conversation I overheard between Dima and Gennady the day of the baby shower comes back to me.

There’s no way to do this covertly. You’ll have to announce what you did.

Is this what Gennady meant? Have I let myself be blind to the truth?

I feel sick.

“And that begs the question,” Vera continues, “what else has Dima lied to you about? If he didn’t tell you something like this—seeing as how it’s such a personal topic for you, given all you’ve been through—then what else has he kept from you?”

I want to scream at Vera, but I can’t find the words or my voice.

I’m stunned.

But the worst part is… I shouldn’t be. I know what Dima is. What he’s done.

And I’ve accepted it all along.

Maybe I just thought I could change him. Isn’t that every woman’s dream? Change the bad boy with the heart of gold into someone worthwhile? Fix him?

I was wrong. Worse, I was stupid.

He knows what I went through at Taras Kreshnik’s house. He knows what Rose went through. I’ve cried into Dima’s shoulder night after night. Weeping over my lost friend. Over the horrors she endured.

And now this?

Suddenly, voices echo down the hallway. The meeting is over.

Vera looks towards the encroaching voices and smiles. Then she throws up a small wave. “Well, I have to run. As always, great to see you, Arya. We should do this again sometime.”

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