The Bratva Stalker's Obsession

Prologue - Vera

“I cheated on you.” The words left my mouth before I could lose the courage to say them out loud. It had taken everything in me to even force my tongue to utter them, but I knew I needed to do this.

For a moment, Nico simply stared at me.

I had spent the entire drive here rehearsing this conversation in my head.

I had practiced every sentence and every lie until they sounded almost believable even to my own ears.

I had imagined anger and disbelief, and him raising his voice or demanding answers.

I had imagined him walking away before I could finish.

I had imagined him lashing out or refusing to believe me or wanting proof or something. Anything.

But what I had not imagined was this.

Silence. Complete, absolute, utter silence.

The office suddenly felt too small, and I wanted to do nothing but stand up and get out.

Everything ached within me, but I knew the man standing in front of me must be hurting just the same.

I owed him this. One last conversation where I could tell him the truth.

Or the lie I was forcing down his throat. But he was never going to find that out.

Nico turned around and sat down behind his desk, one hand resting on a stack of paperwork he had clearly been reviewing before I barged in without warning.

The floor-to-ceiling windows behind him overlooked downtown Miami, the city glittering beneath the evening sky.

I had been here countless times before, and all of them had always been happy occasions.

I had laughed here with Nico and cried and made love and simply sat in silence and watched him work because I didn’t wish to be alone that day.

This office had seen us come closer in the past few months.

And now everything was coming to an end.

Normally, I loved this office. Normally, it felt warm and familiar.

Tonight, it felt like an execution chamber.

“What did you say?”

His voice was calm. Too calm. I almost wished he had started shouting already because that would have at least made things easier. I clasped my hands together behind my back to stop them from shaking.

“I said I cheated on you.”

His eyes narrowed slightly, but nothing in his expression gave anything away.

In fact, the movement was so subtle that most people would have missed it.

I didn’t. I had spent months memorizing every expression Nico made.

I could judge his face with my eyes closed, except today was the first time he was making it impossible for me to understand what he was feeling.

“I heard the words,” he said evenly. “I am asking because I thought perhaps I misunderstood them or misheard you.”

“You didn’t.” The lie scraped against my throat, my nails pinching into the soft skin of my palms. Any more pressure and they would start bleeding, but I didn’t care.

The physical pain helped me distract myself from the emotional havoc that consumed me because of the decisions I had made.

I had no other choice. This needed to be done, and the best way to end things with someone like Nico was to make sure he ended up hating me.

He had to hate me after this.

Across from me, Nico slowly leaned back in his chair.

I hated that chair. It was ridiculous that my mind chose that moment to think about something so stupid and insignificant.

I hated it because I had picked it. Three months ago, he had spent an entire afternoon complaining about office furniture.

I had dragged him through six different showrooms before finding one I liked, and he had humored all of my whims. Now all I could think about was how many memories existed inside this room.

Too many. Far too many.

His gaze remained fixed on mine. “When?”

The question was simple and direct. Exactly the kind of question Nico would ask.

I swallowed. “A few weeks ago.”

Another lie. I had never cheated on him.

Not once. Not for a second. Both rational and emotional parts of me could not even dream about cheating on him.

It was impossible because I loved him so much.

Yet I was standing in front of him and hurting him in the worst way imaginable.

There had never been another man because, for me, there could be no one but Nico.

But I wasn’t here to tell him that.

My chest tightened painfully.

I thought about my father and the conversation that had taken place less than two hours ago.

About the cold certainty in his voice and the threat he had delivered in that cruel manner of his, which reminded me again and again that he didn’t care about me at all.

He never had. God. The threat still rang in my ears. Loud and clear.

“You’re pale.” Nico’s words pulled me back into the room, and I forced a smile before feeling awkward and dropping it. He did not want to see me smile. Not after what I had just told him. I didn’t deserve to smile or be happy.

“I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not.”

The concern in his voice almost broke me, and I looked away before he could see it.

This was exactly why I had come here immediately.

If I had given myself time to think, I would have lost my nerve.

If I stayed near him any longer, I would tell him everything, and I couldn’t afford that either.

I had to do this at once and be out of here.

Out of this office and his life. Forever.

“You don’t need to worry about me anymore, Nico. My health is no longer your concern.”

His expression hardened. “Vera.”

The warning in my name made my stomach twist. Nico rarely used that tone with me. Since the day I had met him, he had been nothing but patient and calm. Usually, he looked at me like I was the best thing that had ever happened to him. I couldn’t let him do that anymore.

“You deserved to know the truth, Nico,” I said. “And that is the only reason I am here. I cheated on you with another man, and I could not keep the truth from you any longer.”

“With who?”

“What?”

“Who is he?”

The question came immediately, but I had already expected it.

Unfortunately, expecting it didn’t make answering it any easier because I had no clue who to name.

I had never been very good at lying, and Nico could read my eyes and my body language within seconds.

I didn’t know how to get out of this, but I needed to.

“It doesn’t matter.”

“It matters to me.”

His voice remained level and controlled.

Dangerously controlled. I knew that tone.

Anyone who didn’t know Nico would assume he was calm right now.

I knew him well enough, though, to know he wasn’t.

Not even close. The more controlled he sounded, the angrier he usually was, but I forced myself not to react.

“It was someone I met through work.” That much wasn’t even a lie.

There had been someone. The man my father wanted me to marry.

The man whose family had connections powerful enough to make even my father nervous.

The man standing at the center of this nightmare.

Only there had never been an affair or a relationship or anything of that sort.

And if it were up to me, there would never be anything in the future as well.

“Do I know him?”

“No.”

“What’s his name?”

I looked directly into his eyes. “I’m not telling you.”

For the first time since I’d arrived, something flickered across his face. Not rage. Not yet. But frustration. Good. I needed frustration and anger, and I needed him to hate me. Because hate would keep him alive.

“You expect me to believe that?”

I shrugged. “I honestly don’t care what you believe.”

The words felt monstrous and very unlike me. I cared too much. That was my flaw. Nico stared at me as silence stretched between us. I wondered if he could hear my heartbeat because it felt loud enough to shake the entire building. Finally, he stood up; the movement was slow and deliberate.

Nico was a large man. Not intimidating because of his size alone, but because of the certainty with which he occupied space.

The moment he stood, the entire room felt different.

My pulse accelerated, but not because I was afraid of him.

I had never been afraid of him. I was afraid of myself.

Afraid that if he came any closer or took my face between his fingers in that unique way of his, I would throw myself into his arms and confess everything.

He rounded the desk, and I took an instinctive step backward. The movement didn’t escape his notice.

His jaw tightened. “Look at me.”

I forced myself to meet his gaze and immediately regretted it because I could see confusion there. Confusion and hurt. Nico wasn’t stupid. I was sure he knew something was wrong. He could feel it, and for one terrifying moment, I thought he might figure everything out.

“You’ve been crying.” I blinked. Damn it. I should have checked my makeup before coming here.

“I haven’t.”

“Don’t lie to me.”

The irony of that statement nearly made me laugh. Or cry. Maybe both.

“I’m not lying.”

His eyes darkened. “Vera.”

“Stop saying my name like that.”

“Then stop acting like a goddamned stranger.”

The words hit harder than they should have because that was exactly what I was trying to become. A stranger, so he could walk away from me and forget me. My throat tightened, but I forced myself to keep talking.

“You know what the problem is, Nico?”

His expression grew wary, but he answered. “What?”

“You always took this more seriously than I did.”

The lie landed between us like a grenade, and I saw the impact immediately.

His entire face changed with that one statement.

Good. That was good. That was exactly what I came here to do.

So why did it feel like I was tearing my own heart out?

Why did I still hate hurting him like it was hurting me more?

“This being our relationship?” he asked, his face once again unreadable.

“Yes.”

“What does that mean?” His voice had gone quieter, and somehow that was worse. I couldn’t decipher what he was thinking.

“It means exactly what it sounds like.” I folded my arms across my chest. The gesture felt defensive. I hoped he interpreted it as indifference.

“I’m not going to lie, what we had was fun.” I continued, the words nearly choking me. “But it lasted longer than I could have ever hoped or expected.”

Nico didn’t move or blink or say a word, so I kept going. Because stopping would be fatal.

“But eventually I got bored with you and this little act we had going on of a whole pre-marriage cycle here where everything was becoming monotonous and redundant and basically making me go to sleep. I honestly couldn’t have taken any more of this.”

The second the sentence left my mouth, I wanted to take it back.

Not because he looked angry, but because he looked hurt.

Deeply, genuinely, painfully hurt. I had seen Nico bleed.

I had seen him injured. I had seen him walk away from situations that would have broken weaker men, but none of it compared to this. None of it.

“I don’t believe you. Every single word coming out of your mouth is a lie, and you know it better than I do, Vera.”

Relief exploded through me. For one glorious second, relief flooded every corner of my body because he didn’t believe me. I didn’t want him to believe me. Thank God. Thank God. But then I remembered why I was here. I crushed that relief immediately.

“You should believe me, Nico. I am not lying.”

“No.”

The answer was immediate, as if he was absolutely certain about his verdict. I hated how much I loved him.

“You know me better than that.” My chest tightened as I said it, the irony of the statement coming to me. Exactly. He knew me better than that, which meant I needed to do worse. Much worse. I took a slow breath and then another. And then I delivered the cruelest blow I could think of.

“I never loved you, Nico.”

The words hung in the air between us for a few seconds before everything changed.

I saw it happen. Saw the exact moment something inside him broke.

Not completely, but just enough to matter and be irreversible.

For the first time since I entered the office, Nico looked away.

Only briefly. Only for a second. But he looked away.

And somehow that hurt more than anything else.

Because Nico never looked away from difficult things.

Until now. Until me.

“I don’t believe that either.” His voice sounded different. Rougher. I could see him trying to hide his own emotions, but it was getting harder with every awful word that came out of my mouth.

I closed my eyes briefly and then opened them again. “You should.”

“No. I can’t and I won’t.”

I laughed softly. The sound felt hollow.

“You really are stubborn.”

“Does Ava know you did this?” he asked, mentioning my best friend who, apart from him, was the one person who knew everything about me. Ava already knew the truth and had tried her best to talk me out of it, but hadn’t been able to.

“She doesn’t.” I lied, and his expression turned colder.

His gaze returned to mine. “You love me. You have loved me from the very first moment you met me, and you know it. I know it. You cannot stand here and tell me that you have never loved me and force me to believe it, Vera.”

I almost shattered right there and then.

The certainty in his voice was unbearable because he was absolutely right.

God help me, he was right. I loved him so much that I was standing here destroying both of us.

I loved him enough to let him hate me. I loved him enough to lose him.

And that was exactly why I couldn’t stay.

I forced a smile.

A cold one. An artificial one. The kind he hated.

“I thought I did.” His expression didn’t change. “I don’t anymore.”

That was when the silence returned.

Only this time it felt different.

Heavier. Final.

And for the first time since I walked into the office, genuine fear settled inside my chest. Because I could see it happening. I could see him starting to believe me. I knew I had successfully broken Nico’s heart to pieces, and there was no coming back from that.

Nico Romanov finally hated me.