Prologue
They say the sound of a breaking heart cannot be heard. That is a lie. I heard it clearly. It didn’t sound like clinking crystal, but like a dull, wet crack somewhere in his chest when my sister’s words hung in the air like a heavy, inevitable guillotine.
“This is her revenge plan for you, Heartbreaker.”
I looked into his eyes—those same blue, bottomless eyes that just a minute ago had been glowing with unconditional love, the very kind for which he had stripped off all his cynical armor. Now, they were empty. Absolutely, terrifyingly empty. As if someone had switched off his life with a single click.
“Rose, I’m begging you, tell me it’s not true,” his voice cracked, turning into a desperate, painful wheeze. His large, warm palms cupped my face. There was such hope trembling in his fingers that I wanted to tear my own skin off. “Tell me she’s lying!”
I just had to lie. To do what I had been doing masterfully for the past few months. But as I looked at the man I was supposed to destroy, I realized I had destroyed myself. Tears burned my cheeks. Every word I was about to utter was like swallowing broken glass. I swallowed the lump in my throat, looking straight into his desperate gaze, and passed judgment on us both:
“It’s... true.”
His hands slowly slid away from my face, as if I had become a leper. The mask of the confident, untouchable Vladislav Ognev, the terror of all the girls in the city, crumbled into dust. Standing before me was a betrayed boy who had lost everything for the second time in his life. He didn’t scream. He didn’t punch the wall. He simply turned around, stepped over the threshold, and slammed the door, cutting me off from his world forever. I collapsed onto the cold floor, choking on my own sobs.
My revenge had been served. The plan had been executed perfectly. So why do I feel like I just killed the only person worth living for?
Six months ago...
