But unbroken.
And that terrified me more than anger ever could.
“Hey,” I said, and hated how rough my voice sounded.
I lifted a hand, then let it fall, suddenly unsure of every movement, every breath.
She crossed her arms—not defensively, but protectively—like someone bracing against weather they hadn’t invited.
Her gaze never left mine.
“I told Ruslan not to let you anywhere near here,” she said calmly. “But he insisted. He thinks we have a chance to... rebuild something.” A faint, humorless curve touched her lips. “As if the past can just be erased with proximity.”
“Penelope,” I breathed.
The word broke something in me.
Before I could stop myself—before pride, reason, or self-preservation could intervene—I dropped to my knees.
Right there. On her doorstep.
The tile was cool against my skin, grounding, unforgiving.
The posture felt obscene and necessary all at once—the mighty Dmitri Volkov reduced to a man begging at the threshold of the woman he had shattered.
Her breath hitched. Just barely. But I saw it.
“I gave up everything,” I said, my voice low, steady only because I forced it to be. “Lake Como. The fortress. The men who would burn cities for me. The money, the power, the illusion that any of it mattered.”
I looked up at her, really looked—no posturing, no defenses. “All of it was worthless the moment I learned the truth. I lived in lies for years, Penelope. Lies I used to justify hurting you.”
Her jaw tightened, but she didn’t tell me to stop.
Encouraged—or maybe just desperate—I went on.
“That ring you wear... it never meant ownership to me. Not the way I treated it. It was supposed to mean us. Partnership. Protection.” My voice cracked despite myself. “I failed you in every way a man can fail the woman he loves.”
Silence.
Heavy. Watchful.
“I don’t expect forgiveness,” I continued quietly. “I don’t deserve it. I don’t even expect kindness. But I’m here because I finally understand what I did to you. Because I know now that you were innocent—and I punished you for crimes you never committed.”
I swallowed, my throat burning.
“I will spend every day proving I’m not that man anymore. Not with words. With patience. With respect. With restraint. I will kneel every damn day if that’s what it takes.” My gaze flicked briefly to the interior of the apartment—to the life she’d built without me. “Our son deserves better than the ruins I left behind. And so do you.”
I lowered my head, resting my fists against the tile.
“I need you,” I said, the truth stripped raw. “Not as something I own. Not as something I control. But as the woman I loved before I learned how to hate. If you send me away, I’ll go. If you tell me to wait, I’ll wait. Just... don’t tell me it was all for nothing.”
I looked up again, eyes burning.
“Please,” I whispered.
I watched her lips curve—not into a smile, not quite—but into something sharper.
A smirk edged with contempt. Her eyes looked down at me, cool and assessing, amusement glinting beneath steel.