Valentina POV
I knew Nikolai was watching me.
I felt it before I saw it.
That was becoming a problem.
The engagement party continued around me in a blur of candlelight, champagne, flowers, and polished voices.
Guests smiled at me like they were congratulating romance instead of witnessing a contract between two criminal empires. Women admired my ring. Men congratulated my father.
Everyone pretended not to notice that every major family in the city was recalculating power beneath the music.
And through all of it, I felt him.
Nikolai Sokolov stood near the hallway, half-shadowed by gold light, looking at me like the entire room had become irrelevant.
I hated knowing exactly where he was.
I hated it more that I had looked for him first.
Rosalia appeared beside me with two glasse
