Mikhail
I sat on the front steps of the manor, my head in my hands, trying to make sense of the mess my life had become. The October air was cold against my skin, but I barely felt it. Everything inside me was numb, like I'd been hit by lightning and was still trying to figure out if I was alive.
My whole life was a lie. Every relationship, every choice, every moment of happiness, all of it had been manipulated by the woman I trusted most in the world. The woman who raised me. The woman I called family.
"Mikhail?" Liliana's voice came from behind me, soft and careful like she was approaching a wounded animal.
I didn't turn around. I couldn't look at her right now. Because the worst part of all this wasn't what Anastasia had done to Maria or Elena or Sofia. The worst part was not knowin
