Eliza's pov
I stood frozen, my breath catching in my throat as the door clicked shut behind my father. The sound echoed in the silence of the room, leaving a hollow feeling in its wake. My head was spinning, the weight of his words crushing me under a tidal wave of shock and disbelief. Marry Nikolai? No matter what?
I couldn't breathe. The world felt unreal as if I'd been plunged into a nightmare I couldn't wake from. My father had walked out, leaving me alone with the man who was now supposedly going to be my husband—Nikolai. I couldn't comprehend it, couldn't make sense of how my life had suddenly spiraled into something I had no control over.
Nikolai's footsteps were slow, and measured, as he took a step toward me. His eyes gleamed with something unsettling, something that ma
