Chapter 199 Chapter 199 Mine
I step outside the bedroom, and Taylor is already leaning against the wall beside one of the guards. Their close proximity tells me everything. The way Taylor’s lips stay slightly parted after every word, the way his gaze lingers too long on the other man’s face.
They are absolutely flirting.
“Sorry to cockblock,” I say with a soft laugh, “but are we going for a run or are we flirting?”
Taylor straightens immediately, startled enough that I know he genuinely didn’t notice me standing there.
He grins as he pushes off the wall, and we start with a slow walk through the hallway before heading out the front doors. Once we hit the gardens, he picks up the pace.
Last night’s conversation with Liam still sits heavy inside my chest.
Now that everything is out in the open, I can finally picture him leaving me.
I told him everything.
Every reckless thing I’ve ever done. Every terrible choice. Every messy detail about Dimitri, Ivan, and me. Every ugly piece of my past I spent years trying to bury under motherhood, work, and routine.
No secrets.
The look on Liam’s face when I confessed everything still haunts me. At first it looked like disgust. Then lust. Then something else entirely. Something unreadable.
He’s going to leave.
Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow.
But eventually.
I wonder how he’ll do it.
Will he cheat? Slowly disappear? Become too busy to call? Too busy to visit? Or will he be the first man honest enough to look me directly in the face and tell me I’m not worth the trouble?
Me.
My kids.
My ex-husband.
My other baby daddy.
I really shouldn’t refer to Mason that way, but technically that’s what he is.
The baggage attached to me feels endless sometimes.
Taylor and I stay quiet as we run deeper into the property. Massive trees tower above us, casting shadows over the winding paths. Eventually the vineyard appears, rows and rows of vines stretching endlessly across the hills.
Then the other villas come into view.
One after another.
Perfectly manicured Italian estates that somehow all look identical. I never realized there were this many houses on the property before.
We’re running farther than we ever have.
Eventually the guards’ villa comes into sight. It’s enormous. Honestly bigger than most luxury resorts.
Taylor finally slows down.
“Illia was furious at Ivan after you served him the papers,” he says quietly. “When he showed up here afterward… he was destroyed. And I mean worse than your wedding. Worse than I’ve ever seen him.”
We slow to a walk.
“It got bad,” Taylor continues. “They stayed in Illia’s office for hours. Yelling. Throwing shit. Then…”
He stops.
“Then what?”
Taylor hesitates.
“Illia shot him.”
I stop walking completely.
“What?”
“He shot Ivan on the left side of his stomach.” Taylor looks genuinely uncomfortable now. “Illia could’ve killed him.”
My hand flies to my mouth automatically.
Tears instantly burn at my eyes.
“I went into the office afterward,” Taylor says quietly. “Pictures of Ivan with other women were scattered all over the floor. Blood everywhere. Broken glass. It looked like hell.”
“He never told me any of this,” I whisper.
Several guards pass nearby, nodding respectfully as they continue walking.
Taylor lowers his voice.
“Illia told Ivan he never should’ve married you. Said he knew even before the proposal that Ivan would never stay faithful. Not to you. Not to anyone.”
The words hit like knives.
“I guess on your wedding day,” Taylor continues carefully, “Illia tried convincing him not to go through with it. Told him if he hurt you again, he’d pay for it.”
My stomach twists violently.
Then anger comes.
Hot.
Sharp.
Immediate.
How could Ivan never tell me?
“Oh God,” Taylor groans, grabbing my arm lightly. “I know that look. Don’t you dare tell them I said anything. These were whispers, Elena. Understood?”
I barely nod.
Because I am so fucking angry I can’t even think straight.
Everything comes rushing back at once.
The betrayal.
The humiliation.
The love.
The grief.
All the feelings I convinced myself I was numb to slam into me together.
Because he didn’t tell me.
Because he let me think he simply didn’t care enough to fight for us.
Because he never came to me when things started falling apart.
I would’ve done anything for that man.
Anything.
Like an idiot, I probably would’ve agreed to the open marriage just to keep him beside me.
I take off running before Taylor can stop me.
I don’t even know what I plan to do.
Yell at him.
Hit him.
Cry on him.
Maybe all three.
I don’t care who’s with him. Whoever it is can deal with my wrath too.
But when I finally reach the basketball court tucked behind the hedges on the south end of the main villa, Ivan is alone.
Of course he is.
He stands near the hoop in gray sweats and a black T-shirt, lazily tossing a basketball toward the net. His hair is still damp from his shower.
He notices me immediately.
The second I get close enough, I start hitting him.
Hard.
My fists slam against his chest over and over.
Ivan doesn’t even flinch.
His cold stare never wavers.
I grab his shirt with both hands and yank it upward until his stomach is exposed. My fingers instantly trace the scar along the left side of his abdomen.
The tattoo that once covered that spot is ruined now, the words warped and broken by scar tissue.
“How could you not tell me?” I choke out as tears finally spill over.
I hit his chest again.
And again.
Until finally Ivan exhales sharply and wraps both arms around me.
“Because I want you to be happy,” he says quietly. “Alone or with someone else.”
A cold laugh leaves his chest.
“If I had told you what he did to me, you would’ve come running back. You would’ve let me hurt you again.”
His hands slide up, gently lifting my chin so he can wipe my tears away.
“Or worse,” he continues softly, “you would’ve agreed to the open marriage and spent the rest of your life miserable beside me. You would’ve lost yourself trying to keep me.”
His thumb brushes slowly across my bottom lip.
“So I’m stepping aside,” he murmurs. “From there, I’ll watch you be happy. Quietly. I’ll always be there for you, no matter who stands next to you.”
His gaze drops briefly to my mouth before returning to my eyes.
“You will always be mine.”