Dimitri's POV
"I cannot," Irina whispered. "Please do not make me choose. I cannot."
"You have to," Mikhail said firmly. "This is your life, your future, your child. You have to decide what is best for all of you." His voice dropped. "You have seven days…"
"No," I interrupted. "She does not need to make a choice. She stays with me." Every eye in the room turned to look at me.
"Dmitri," Mikhail started.
"She stays with me," I repeated. My voice was cold. "She is my maid. She lives in my house. She is under my protection. That doesn't change because my brother made a mistake."
"A mistake that resulted in a child," Alexei's voice was dangerous. It was the tone he used right before he killed someone. "She has my child. That makes her mine."
I took a step towards him. "She is not yours. She will never be yours."
"The baby inside her says differently." He shot at me, his green eyes glistening with rage.
"The baby that should have been mine." I shot back. "The baby that only exists because you were too drunk to know whose room you were in. That does not give you any right to her."
"It gives me every right." Alexei's green eyes flashed. "You know the rules, Dimitri. A woman carrying a man's child belongs to that man. It is our law."
"Our law." I laughed bitterly. "You want to talk about our law? What about the law that says you do not touch your brother's woman?"
"I did not know she was your woman!" She slammed.
"Because I had to hide her from you!" The words exploded out of me. "I had to keep her locked away because I knew what you are. I knew that if you saw her, if you knew how much she meant to me, you would find some way to ruin it. Because that is what you do, Alexei. You destroy things!"
"That is not fair…" His gaze flickered.
"Fair?" My voice rose. "Nothing about this is fair! You took the one pure thing in my life and you destroyed it. And now you stand here acting like you have some claim to her? Like you have any right at all?"
"I have the right of fatherhood!" Alexei thundered. "I have the right of blood. The baby is mine, Dimitri. Nothing you say will change that."
"Both of you are insane," Mikhail said before I could open my mouth. "This is not about laws or rights. This is about a young woman who is terrified and a child who deserves better than two brothers fighting over it like a prize."
"She stays with me until the baby is born," I said, gazing at him. "That is non-negotiable."
"No," Alexei said flatly. "She comes with me. Now."
"Over my dead body." I growled.
"That can be arranged." Alexei's voice was ice cold.
We both moved at the same time. I reached for the gun at my hip. Alexei did the same.
"STOP!" Mikhail's voice cracked like thunder.
We froze with our guns half-drawn.
"Put them away," Mikhail ordered. "Now."
Neither of us moved.
"I said put them away!" He roared.
I let my hand fall slowly, Alexei did the same.
"You will not kill each other over this," Mikhail said firmly. "I will not allow it. Your parents would be ashamed of what you have become."
"Our parents are dead," I said coldly.
Mikhail looked between us. "If you two destroy each other, everything they built dies with you. Is that what you want? Is she worth destroying everything for?"
"Yes." Alexei and I said without hesitation.
Mikhail closed his eyes. "Then you leave me no choice. The girl stays here. In this house. But neither of you will touch her. Neither of you will claim her. Not until the baby is born."
"That is seven months away," Alexei protested.
"Then you will wait seven months," Mikhail said. "Both of you. She will be kept in a separate wing. Guards will watch her day and night. Neither of you will be allowed near her without supervision. And when the baby comes, we will know the truth, and only then, will she choose who she wants to be with."
"No," I said. "She stays with me. In my wing."
"So you can manipulate her?" Alexei asked.
"I would never…"
"You're desperate, Dmitri. You will do anything to keep her." He interrupted.
He was right. And I hated him for it.
"She needs someone to take care of her," I said. "She is sick, she needs…"
"She needs space," Mikhail said firmly. "Space from both of you. Time to think without you brothers breathing down her neck. She needs time to think."
"I know what she wants," I said. "She loves me. She has always loved me."
"Then she will choose you," Mikhail said. "When the time comes. If she really loves you, she will choose you. But you have to give her the freedom to make that choice."
I looked at Irina. She stood by my bed, her arms wrapped around herself. Her face was wet with tears. She looked small and terrified and it broke my heart.
"Irina," I said softly. "Tell them. Tell them you want to stay with me."
She opened her mouth, but closed it, looking between me and Alexei.
"I…" she started. "I do not know what I want."
The words hit me like bullets.
"You do not know?" I repeated slowly.
"I am scared," she whispered. "I am confused. Everything is happening so fast and I cannot think and I just... I do not know."
"You love me," I said confidently. It was not a question. "I know you love me, Irina."
"I do love you," she said, fresh tears spilled down her cheeks. "But I am also carrying Alexei's baby. And I do not know what that means. I do not know what I am supposed to do."
"You are supposed to choose me," I said desperately. "You are supposed to choose the man you love."
"Even if that man will hate the baby?" she asked quietly. "Even if every time you look at this child, you see your brother?"
"I would never hate an innocent child." I said.
"Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow. But eventually." She looked at me with those amber eyes full of pain. "Eventually you would hate it. And you would hate me for bringing it into your life."
"That is not true…"
"It is," she whispered. "And we both know it."
The room was silent.
Because she was right.
God help me, she was right.
I would try to love the baby. I would try so hard. But every time I looked at it, I would see Alexei. I would remember that night. I would see everything I lost. And eventually, that would poison everything between us.
"So what do you want?" I asked. My voice sounded hollow and empty.
"I want time," she said softly. "Time to think. Time to…"
"Time to fall in love with him?" I interrupted. "Time to convince yourself that the man who took your innocence is actually the better choice?"
"That is not what I am doing." Her voice broke.
"Then what are you doing?" I dug my nails into my palm.
"I am trying to survive!" She voiced. "I am trying to make an impossible choice that will affect the rest of my life. I am trying to figure out how to be both a mother and a slave. I am trying to do the right thing when I do not even know what the right thing is anymore!"
Her voice echoed through the room. Then she sank onto the floor, sobbing.
I moved without thinking and dropped to my knees beside her. I pulled her into my arms.
"I am sorry," I whispered into her hair. "I am so sorry. I should not have said that."
She cried against my chest. Her whole body shook.
Over her head, I saw Alexei watching us. His green eyes were cold and filled with jealousy.
"Get your hands off her," he said quietly.
I scoffed at his guts.
"No." I replied coldly.
"Dimitri…" His gaze flickered.
"She is crying because of you," I said. "Because of the impossible situation you put her in. So no, I w
ill not let her go. Not now. Not ever."
Alexei's hand moved towards his gun. "Let. Her. Go." He ordered.
"Make me, little brother." My voice was ice cold.