Page 181 of Filthy Promises

But here she is, studying me across said sticky table with eyes that miss nothing.

“You look terrible,” she observes, not unkindly.

“So I’ve been told.” I wrap my hands around my mug of decaf, grateful for its warmth. “Thank you for coming.”

“I’ll admit, I was curious.” She sips her own coffee. “I never expected a call from you.”

“That makes two of us.” I laugh humorlessly. “But I didn’t know who else to turn to.”

“Not your fiancé?” Her perfectly shaped eyebrow raises.

“Ex-fiancé,” I correct. “And definitely not him.”

“Ah.” She nods, unsurprised. “You found out.”

I freeze, then set down my mug before I drop it. “So you knew? About all of it?”

“Most of it.” She studies me with those calculating eyes. “Though not about you being Petrov’s daughter until recently. That was quite the revelation.”

I shake my head, trying to process yet another betrayal. “Did everyone know except me?”

“If it makes you feel any better, I disliked you at first just on your own merits,” Anastasia offers.

“Gee, thanks.”

“But then I saw the way he looked at you at that dinner.” Her voice softens. “I’ve known Vincent Akopov for many years, Rowan. I’ve never seen him look at anyone the way he looks at you.”

“You mean like a surveillance target?”

“Like a man in love,” she corrects. “Whether he meant to or not.”

I stare down at my coffee, fighting back tears. “It doesn’t matter if he loves me now. He lied to me from the beginning.”

“Yes. He did.” She doesn’t sugarcoat it, which I appreciate. “But I think you need to understand what kind of world Vincent comes from. The world you’re now part of, whether you want to be or not.”

“The Bratva,” I say quietly.

She nods. “Vincent was raised to be suspicious, calculating, ruthless. He was taught that love is weakness and trust is for fools. His father made sure of that.”

“That doesn’t excuse what he did to me.”

“No. It doesn’t.” She takes another sip of her coffee. “But it might help to explain why, when he found himself actually falling in love with Grigor Petrov’s daughter, he didn’t know how to handle it.”

I look up at her, surprised by the understanding in her voice. “Why are you defending him?”

“I’m not.” She sighs. “I’m trying to help you see the complete picture before you make a decision you can’t take back.”

“What decision?”

“Whether to leave him for good,” she says simply. “Whether to raise that baby alone, without the protection of the Akopov name.”

My hand drops to my stomach instinctively. “Arkady mentioned something about that. About me being a target now.”

“He wasn’t exaggerating.” Her face grows serious. “The child you’re carrying represents the union of two of the most powerful Bratva families in America. There are people who would kill to control that kind of potential power.”

“So what am I supposed to do?” I ask, hating how small my voice sounds. “Go back to the man who’s been lying to me for five years?”

Anastasia reaches across the table, surprising me by taking my hand. “I can’t tell you what to do, Rowan. But I can tell you what I’ve seen: a man who started with calculation and ended with love. A man who stood up to his father, risked his inheritance, and broke a lifetime of conditioning because of how he feels about you.” Her grip tightens. “Do you have any idea how monumental that is? Vincent was raised to be Andrei’s perfect heir, his mirror image. Breaking from that… It’s like trying to stop the tide.”

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