Shattered Defenses

Vivienne’s POV

“Svetlana was with me in Moscow.”

The words landed like a physical blow. I felt my chest seize, the air clawing at my lungs. My pulse stammered, uneven and harsh. Svetlana. With him. In Moscow. The name alone scraped through me like broken glass, but paired with him, it was unbearable.

In an instant my mind betrayed me. Images burst, unbidden, vivid and raw. Svetlana’s laugh, that h