Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 77879 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77879 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
If he expected me to run away like a scared little girl, to give him an excuse to hunt me down like some predator looking for a snack, he had misjudged the situation.
That scared little girl was gone, left in the past.
I was backed into a corner and my only way out was to fight.
The Ivanov men had held me captive in their home, and their wives took care of me. Which meant Gregor had shown his hand and I had nothing left to lose.
Just being here meant I was a liability that they weren’t afraid of anymore. I realized the truth moments after Gregor left. I had two options, but Russia wasn’t one of them.
I could stay and be kept as Roman’s pet, signing all my power, my wealth, and my voice over to him.
Or I could die.
Even in Russia, I was a threat to them. I had allies there, more than they did after both halves of their family moved to this side of the world. Even if I never set a single toe on American soil again, I was a threat.
In this century, I didn’t need physical access to a man to hurt him.
Gregor Ivanov was not going to allow a threat, especially one that knew where he lived, to have the chance to hurt his family again.
He had put all the pieces together. Not just Los Infideles, but my influence and manipulation of Solovyov. He knew that old fool would not have been able to follow Marina across an ocean and still find her.
Hell, he wouldn’t have even known how to set up the meetings with United States senators, let alone figure out who had the power, and who would be more open to bribes.
Gregor had known for months that someone was working behind the scenes—chipping away at his crew, bleeding them dry move by move.
Now he knew it was me.
I’d been hiding in his blind spot the whole time—the little Novikoff sister, too insignificant to register as a threat.
And yet here I was, a direct challenge to his authority, his leadership.
His glaring mistake.
A humiliation he couldn’t let stand.
That was why it was time to eliminate me.
I wasn’t just a problem.
I was the reckoning he should’ve seen coming.
I’d bet Artem agreed.
Gregor probably even thought he was being chivalrous by giving me a choice between being Roman’s kept woman or death.
It made me wonder, though.
How far would Gregor go with this charade?
I assumed the only reason he was keeping it up was for Roman’s sake.
So would Gregor take me to the airfield and then kill me on the plane? Or would I not even get that far?
If I made it all the way to Russia, who would Gregor send to kill me? The Ivanov demon didn’t want to kill me, he wanted to keep me. Or was my refusal enough to change Roman’s mind?
There were so many variables and none of them ended in my freedom.
I didn’t think my refusal was enough to deter Roman.
Not with the way he was looking at me, the anger, frustration and just a little pain reflected in his eyes.
No, he was here to punish me, not kill me.
Still, this entire convoluted situation meant I had nothing to lose.
I refused to lose my independence, so they had to get rid of me, but I wasn’t going down without a fight.
I knew I would lose the fight. I just never considered how I would lose the fight.
Roman had me in his arms almost immediately.
He devoured my mouth with savage, filthy hunger—his tongue plunging deep, like he was already fucking me with it, before pinning my body against the wall, every thick, hard muscle demanding my surrender.
Breathing ragged, he had one hand in my hair, pulling my head back, the other on my hip with a too-tight grip, bruises forming under his fingers.
His scent—leather, sweat, and sin—flooded my senses as his cock ground against me like punishment.
The heat rolled off of him in a barely contained inferno.
This wasn’t just anger.
Lust and desire mixed with the anger in his eyes, a primal need, and despite how I wanted to refuse my instincts and deny my desires, my body responded in kind.
Roman was nothing but power and rage, all bottled up and ready to explode.
I should have been terrified, but I wasn’t.
That same potent mix of hate, rage, and need flooded my veins. I did the only thing I could.
I gave in to it.
I didn’t know if we were going to fight or fuck, but what did it matter if he killed me now or Gregor did it later?
When I opened my mouth to scream at him, Roman claimed my lips again.
Why couldn’t his kiss be soft and pleading?
Why couldn’t he be sweet and loving?
I could fight soft and sweet.
I could deny pleading and loving.
But the violent demands in his touch, the power and the control were too much.