Chapter 36

Tatiana

She stood abruptly, so quickly that her knees banged loudly against the table and nearly spilled their water, catching the attention of the customers nearby. Pain rang through her body at hitting her bruises so harshly yet she couldn't bring herself to care in that moment. The pain was in the deepest, most inconsequential part in the back of her mind.

"I—" She began, but was at a lost for words, still staring in Zeke's direction. To a passerby, he would merely appear like a man lounging against an outdoor wall and relaxing, staring off into space, but she knew better. She knew that he was definitely not relaxed.

Ramsey stood as well, looking concerned, a hand reaching out towards her. "Tatiana? Are you all right?"

"I have to go." She told him urgently, gathering her things. This was not good, she thought as she hastily tidied up and slung her bag over her shoulder.

"Where are you going? Hold on, I'm coming with you—"

"No!" She all but screeched. Realizing how she must've sound, she backtracked, "I mean— no, I'm fine. Don't accompany me, please. I must go alone."

He didn't appear to believe her, but she wasn't about to stop and argue with him. She turned away before he could voice anything else he wanted to say.

Tatiana hastily drew away, but was only able to take a few steps before a hand clasped her around the elbow and sharply turned her around. She crashed into a solid chest, one she was no longer too acquainted with, and hands were snaked around her waist. When she turned her head up to demand Ramsey release her, the words were evaporated into thin air when soft lips mashed into hers.

She was frozen, taken completely by surprise. Her eyes widened and before she even realized it, she was hesitantly kissing him back. Taking it as a sign of encouragement, he kissed her more forcefully, his hands bunching around the thin fabric of her dress by the waist. This dragged on for a few seconds, before her brain finally caught up to her actions that were betraying her.

Lifting her hands and squeezing them between the tight space between them—which was no easy feat—she tried with all her might to push him away. He didn't seem to notice at first, entirely lost in the kiss. With a sharp move, she wretched her lips away from his and turned her face to the side just in time for his lips to ram smack into her cheek.

"Ramsey." She said his name so venomously that she felt his arms flinch back. "Let. Go. Of. Me." When he didn't move as fast as she'd have liked, she added, "Now."

That snapped him out of his trance. Soon, they were a few steps apart. He stood in a daze, while she stood with a foot behind her, ready to run the instant if he tried something else with her. She eyed him cautiously, before she spoke. "What the hell was that?" She demanded.

"I— I'm sorry it just happened." He said, looking confused himself. "It's just— I really— ugh." He raised his fisted hands to his temples, digging them into the skin in anxiousness. He took a few, quick breaths before lowering them and looking her in the eye. "I missed you, Tatiana. More than you can ever know."

"You don't have the right to kiss me— nor touch me that way anymore. You left me. Don't think that just because I was happy to see you that all of that immediately goes away because it doesn't."

"You're right." He said so sadly that it almost broke her heart. Almost. "I did leave you, but it wasn't by choice."

"Our lives are laid out with all the choices in the world, Ramsey." She said, a dead look in her eyes. "You just didn't look hard enough."

He stared at her silently, his sad eyes trained on her. "I'm sorry."

Tatiana only shook her head before glancing back in the direction the others were. Her only thought in that moment was Zeke.

If she wasn't worried for Ramsey's life before, she was now.

She was just in time to see a lone figure turn away, walking slowly yet with purpose, in the opposite direction, his shoulders tense with anger and... something else she was too scared to admit for fear of how much pain she caused him.

Betrayal. Her heart broke at how this must've looked to him. A few meters away from where he once stood was Keith snd his guards. Though the guards kept their faces professionally blank, she could feel their disapproval rolling off of them in waves. And beside where they stood was Keith.

Though his face was otherwise expressionless, his eyes were positively livid with anger, his lips set into a frown of disgust.

She visibly flinched back.

Taking in a short, calming breath, she straightened her spine and began to walk ahead.

"Tatiana, wait—" Ramsey's voice, one that used to be welcomed into her ears, now only enlisted a stab of hurt and fury.

She paused. "Don't," She said tiredly. She was exhausted with playing these kinds of games with him. "You need to leave."

"I can't just leave you here with them—"

Tatiana spun abruptly, looking at him over her shoulder. "Just go." She said, mustering up all the hate and resentment she had felt all these years. Add to that the disgust at his insult to her soon to be family.

If Zeke will still marry you after what Ramsey just did, the thought jumped at her like a blindspot.You mean what you did too, her inner voice added, as if she didn't already feel guilty enough.

Ramsey stepped back in shock at her vicious tone, a look of pain and uncertainty on his face. She didn't stay to find out if he heeded her words. The next thing she knew, she was already marching away, as far away as she possibly could from him.

If he didn't listen to her, it might've just meant sealing his funeral.

When she neared where Keith and the others stood, she slowed her pace, worried about how she may be received. When no one went to block her path, she continued in their direction, though admittedly much more cautiously than what would've been considered normal for people you spent an entire afternoon with befriending.

After a few moments, she finally reached his side. If she thought he was going to say anything to her, she was sorely disappointed. Keith said nothing. He didn't even turn to glance at her upon her arrival, like her just being there was the bane of his existence and a rash he didn't deign to look at as if that would magically make it disappear.

So far, it was working. She felt entirely invisible, on top of all the remorse she was feeling.

This continued on for a few minutes, until she couldn't take it anymore and asked, "Is Zeke...—"

"Don't even say his name right now." Keith said quietly in slow words, as if anything more would make him lose control. "Especially not in front of me."

She clenched her teeth in anxiety. "I deserve that." She relented, her hand tightening around the strap of her bag she had in her grip.

He let out a laugh devoid of any real joy. "You don't want to ask me what you deserve."

"I didn't mean to, you know."

He rounded on her, a look of disbelief on his face. "I'm sorry. I suppose locking lips and letting him shove his tongue in your mouth was entirely unavoidable."

"I was caught off guard." She said defensively, though on the inside her chest was splitting in two.

"Caught off guard." He scoffed. "I was there. I saw what happened. You know, if it turns out that you already had a boyfriend before this engagement happened, I wouldn't even know how to react— but I sure as hell know how the rest of the families would.

He rounded on her, stepping close into her personal space and making her uncomfortable. "You'd be a disgrace." He spat. "An oath breaker of a woman already engaged to a mafioso man. There is no place for a woman like that in our world." And with those words, their entire afternoon of fun and ease was gone.

"That's so sexist and you know it." She hissed, matching his angry tone. "You cannot expect women to abide by your rules when you men go off doing who knows what. Women have just as much reason to cheat in a loveless marriage like the ones I've seen— and no, I'm not cheating on Zeke."

He raised his brows in disbelief. "Whatever you say, madam Volkov." He said in a tone that chilled her to the bone. "Do not tell me what I already know." He added with regards to the inequality between the mafioso men and women. "I didn't make the rules. It's just the way it is— it's tradition. And you know what families like ours do to oath breakers."

"I am not an oath breaker." She said angrily and went to add more to what she was saying, but paused and decided against it. She shook her head at herself before she said, "I'm not going to stand here any longer and argue with you about this. This is beside the point."

"Finally, something we can agree on." He stepped back, resuming his blank expression. "The point is, you kissed a man in front of your fiancé. I hope you have something of an explanation for that. Otherwise, I'll be happy to be rid of you myself." He said with finality and turned away from her.

Dread slowly crawled through her veins. What was she going to say?