Chapter 72

Sophia

I stare at Mikhail, his words hanging in the air between us. His gaze is unwavering, filled with a resolve that makes my heart race for all the wrong reasons.

I try to keep my face from betraying the chaos inside me, but it’s a losing battle.

Why is he doing this?

But the important question is, why am I being affected?

All these years of hate, and he comes back into my life, and again, my heart starts to betray me?

I want to be furious. I want to rip into him, to tell him exactly how much I despise him for what he’s done, for the pain he caused me, for abandoning me when I needed him the most. But standing here now, with him looking at me like that—like I’m the only thing in the world that matters—it’s hard to hold onto that anger. It’s hard to keep my walls up.

I clench my fists, nails biting into my palms, the pain a welcome distraction from the whirlwind of emotions swirling inside me.

“You don’t get to just waltz back into my life and say things like that,” I finally manage