Chapter 10
Chapter
Ten
KAYLANI
The rage didn’t cool once we left the house. It intensified.
With every mile between my father and me, it burned hotter, brighter, until it felt like it had nowhere left to go. I wanted to put my fist through a wall. I wanted to call him out for what he really was.
He hit me. My father hit me.
In front of all those men, like that didn’t tell them exactly what I meant to him and how they were allowed to treat me.
I thought Goran was taking me to Nathaniel’s house, but we passed the driveway and pulled onto an unmarked road. The ground was unpaved, and the trees were so thick I couldn’t see where we were headed.
We pulled up to a cozy home nestled beside its own private cove.
“Where are we,” I asked, leaning forward in my seat.
The moonlight reflected off the water, the shape rippling across the surface.
Goran turned and looked at me.
“This is my place.”
“This is yours?”
He chuckled. “Don’t sound so shocked.”
“It’s just…okay, this is going to sound dumb now that I’m about to say it out loud, but I thought you lived with Nathaniel.”
My cheeks warmed with embarrassment. I had married him and never asked where he lived.
What the hell was wrong with me?
“Well, in a way I do. It’s attached to his property.” Goran shrugged.
He got out, opened my door, and held out his hand. I wobbled a little on the rocky ground and squealed when he swept me up into his arms. His boots crunched over the rough stone, but even when he could have set me down, he didn’t. Instead, he unlocked the door and paused.
“I didn’t get to do this in Vegas, considering I was a little incapacitated.”
“Please. You still wouldn’t have. I never would’ve gotten you down the aisle,” I teased.
“That’s probably true.”
Goran stepped across the threshold into his home, and the simple act wiped away the bitterness that had been sitting on my chest.
The door closed behind us with a soft click, and for the first time all night, I could breathe. This wasn’t a palace, but it wasn’t a cage either.
With a little smile playing across his lips, he set me gently on my feet. His knuckles grazed the side of my cheek where my father had hit me.
“I’ll get you something cold for that.”
He flicked on the light, took my hand, and guided me to the kitchen. Everything was new, clean, and neat as a pin. Not a single dirty cup in the sink or piece of paper out of place.
Instead of sitting, I drifted to the window overlooking a steep drop where the water lapped into the inlet.
“This is beautiful.”
“You should see it during the day. The view is incredible from the balcony.”
Goran touched my shoulder, and I turned to face him.
“I could live here,” I blurted.
His eyes darted around the room before settling on me, as if I had just said the craziest thing imaginable. Which was impressive, considering some of the things I had said before.
“Here? With me?”
“Yes. Why? Would you not want me to live with you?”
The hurt was instant, sharp, and uninvited as I waited for him to answer.
He laughed.
Annoyed, I marched toward the front door, but Goran caught my arm and spun me around, my body colliding with his. I glared daggers at him.
“I didn’t mean that I wouldn’t want to live with you.”
Tilting my head, I analyzed his face as his hand slid to the base of my back.
“Then what did you mean?”
“Lani…you’re still a princess. You deserve the mansion, the fancy cars, the shopping trips, and the red carpet events. What you have in your closet wouldn’t even fit in this house. There is no way you could ever live here long term.”
“You insult me by reducing everything I am to what I was born into.”
He sighed and stepped away, holding out a dish towel wrapped around a bag of frozen peas.
I took it and watched as Goran loosened his tie and shrugged off his suit jacket, revealing two guns and two knives in holsters.
He rolled up his shirt sleeves, and if he was trying to distract me, he was doing a terrific job.
Goran gestured to a chair back by the window. I reluctantly walked over and sat, pressing the peas to my sore cheek.
“Lani, I’ve never lied to you, and I never will.
When I say this, it isn’t to hurt you. It’s simply the truth.
I don’t see you as a pampered princess. I know that there’s far more to you than anyone gives you credit for.
You’re smart, talented, passionate, beautiful, and have an incredibly caring heart.
But that doesn’t change your circumstances. ”
He leaned forward, bracing his hands on the table.
“I know you don’t want it to be true, but not wanting it and it not being so are two different things.”
I looked away from his intense stare and focused on the dark water rolling toward the shore in lazy waves.
“What if I walk away?” The words tasted like blood on my tongue. “What if I give up the name? All of it.”
“Why?”
“What do you mean why,” I asked, dropping the peas on the table.
“Why would you give it up? Just because Dimitri is a jerk? Nathaniel kept his name and still separated himself from your father.”
I sighed and crossed my arms.
“Yes, and he’s also a man everyone respects. Do you really think anyone will want to work with me or trust me with any part of their company after word gets out about tonight?” I shook my head. “I promised myself I wouldn’t let him, but with each passing second…”
Goran reached across the table and placed his hand on mine, grounding me.
“I don’t know how to make this work. I was so focused on getting us married that I didn’t have a plan for what came after.”
“Do you regret marrying me?” Goran’s voice was careful, like he was shielding his heart.
I shook my head.
“Never. I’ve loved you for years. I could never regret it. But I don’t know how to get us out of the weeds we’re tangled in. The only thing that makes sense is for me to publicly say I’m leaving the family.”
Goran sat back and crossed his arms. “Lani…”
“Don’t say it won’t work,” I bit out.
“Fine. I won’t say it.”
Goran stared at me, the silence stretching between us. Frustrated, I stood and moved to the furthest corner, but no matter how far I went, his words still clung to me.
“Ugh…why won’t it work?” I caved, needing to know what he was thinking. Over the past year, Goran had become my voice of reason. Even when no one else could get me to see straight, he could.
“I’ll give you two names. The first one is Helena. The second is Atlas.”
I cringed. He was right. My father would never punish me directly. He’d bleed me through the things I loved.
“You know as well as I do that you might still see your mother, but it won’t be the same. Your father will make it a living hell for both of you. And you can kiss Atlas goodbye, because he will not continue to support you if you denounce his name and humiliate him. Daughter or not.”
I closed my eyes. Suddenly, Goran was behind me, his warmth soothing as he wrapped his arms around me.
“Then what do we do?”
“I think it’s time I spoke to Nathaniel.”
I locked eyes with his reflection in the glass. “But what if he fires you…or worse?”
“Then he does.”
I turned in his arms, holding him tight.
“I could never live with myself if he did something to you. I should be the one to tell him.
Goran shook his head.
“No. This is a conversation between him and me. I never should’ve kept my feelings for you from him in the first place. Now…well, it’s time. With his support, we might actually survive your father.”
“I wish I could say I’m sorry for getting you into this, but I’m not.”
He smirked and kissed me softly. “Do you want to have a bath and relax?”
“Are you going to join me?” I purred, brushing my lips along his jaw.
“I could be persuaded,” Goran teased, his hazel eyes lighting up and making me warm all over.
“Then give me the grand tour.”
I linked our fingers, my heart smiling as he nodded and led me through his home.
Yes, it was small. But it was beautiful. Perfectly him. And I loved that.
Could it be enough? Could I give up my name? Could I give up my dream, my family, for him?
I wanted to scream yes in the face of everyone who would dare question me. But Goran was right…I stood to lose more than money and fame.
I’d always known power came with a price. It demanded obedience, silence, and blood.
Choosing Goran marked me as something my father would never accept. Something he would never stop trying to destroy. Only now did I fully understand the weight of that choice, and how many lives it could destroy before it was done.