Chapter 4
CHAPTER 4
T he silence in the room was deafening, broken only by the soft click of the door as Mikhail stepped aside to let Anna in. I didn't turn immediately. I wanted to savor this moment, the anticipation thrumming in my veins.
I should have been indifferent. Cold. Detached.
“Maxim,” Mikhail said quietly, his voice steady as always.
I finally turned from the window, and my eyes landed on her.
The girl who had once been nothing more than a loose end was now a woman.
Anna stood just a few feet away, her body tense, her eyes wide with fear and confusion. She had grown, matured, but the vulnerability was still there, barely hidden beneath the surface. Her soft brown hair cascaded over her shoulders, her lips parted slightly, as if she wanted to say something but couldn’t find the words.
I should have felt nothing. After all, she was just a pawn in a game far bigger than she could ever understand. But as my gaze swept over her, something inside of me shifted. My body betrayed me. A pulse of raw, primal desire coursed through me, surging up without warning.
I could feel the blood rushing to my cock, the sudden and uncontrollable urge to claim her, to bend her to my will.
I clenched my jaw, forcing myself to remain composed. She was beautiful, yes—irritatingly so—but that didn’t change the fact that she was here for one reason only.
To be controlled. To be silenced.
I kept my face cold, unreadable. She didn’t need to know the effect she had on me.
“Anna,” I said, my voice low, the sound of her name slipping from my lips like a threat.
She flinched slightly but held her ground, her eyes darting between me and Mikhail. The fear in her eyes was unmistakable, but there was something else too. A flicker of curiosity, of defiance. I could see it in the way her hands trembled, even as she tried to keep them steady.
She didn’t understand why she was here, and I liked that. Confusion made her vulnerable, malleable.
“Why am I here?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper, though there was an edge of strength to it that surprised me. She was scared, yes, but she wasn’t crumbling. Not yet.
I smirked, taking a slow step toward her. Her eyes followed my every movement, her chest rising and falling with quick, shallow breaths.
“You’re here,” I began, circling her like a predator stalking its prey, “because you’ve been living on borrowed time. You should have been dead years ago.”
She swallowed hard, her throat working as she processed my words. “I don’t understand,” she whispered, her voice trembling.
“Of course you don’t.” I stopped directly in front of her, towering over her small frame. The scent of her—something light and floral—reached me, stirring that primal need again. “Mikhail spared you when I gave him a direct order to kill you.”
Her eyes widened, flicking to Mikhail, who stood stone-faced in the background. Then they snapped back to me, a mixture of fear and confusion darkening her expression.
“What matters is that you’re here now. And you will do exactly as I say if you want to keep breathing. I always wanted a living toy. Here you are.”
She blinked, her fear palpable now, but still, that thread of curiosity lingered in her gaze. “What do you want from me?” Her voice was steadier this time, but there was a note of desperation beneath the surface.
“You see, Anna… I don’t want anything from you. It is you who should want something from me. And that “something’ is your life. You are not supposed to be alive. Mikhail defied my orders. Yet here you are. Standing in front of me. And I want to give you the opportunity to live, but you will live here from now on,” I said, my voice calm, measured. “Your silence in exchange for your life. You belong here now. You belong to me.”
She recoiled, her lips parting in disbelief. “What?” she breathed, shaking her head. “I don’t… I don’t belong to anyone.”
I chuckled darkly, leaning forward and resting my hands on the desk, closing the distance between us. “You’ve always belonged to someone, Anna. Whether it was Rossi or your sweet little adoptive family. You’ve never been free.”
Her breath hitched, and I saw the flicker of defiance flare brighter for a split second. “I didn’t ask for this,” she whispered, her voice shaking with the effort to stay strong.
I straightened, watching her carefully. She was trying so hard to stay composed, but the cracks were already forming. It wouldn’t take much to break her.
“You don’t have to ask,” I said coldly. “It’s the way things are. The world you’ve been hiding from doesn’t care about what you want.”
She stared down at the contract, her hands trembling as she reached for the pen. But just before she could pick it up, she froze. Her eyes flicked back up to mine, and for a moment, I saw something that almost resembled resolve.
“What if I don’t agree?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper, but the challenge was there.
I smirked, feeling the dark satisfaction settle in my chest. “Then I kill you, lapochka .”
Her breath caught, and I could see the fear flickering back to the forefront. But there was something else too. She wasn’t entirely cowed. She was trying to process what was happening, trying to figure out her next move. She was smarter than I had given her credit for.
“Why?” she asked softly, her gaze never leaving mine. “Why keeping me alive? I am not worth anything to you.”
I stared at her, my jaw tightening. The question wasn’t unexpected, but the way she asked it—like she was trying to see something deeper, something hidden beneath the surface—unnerved me.
“It’s simple,” I said, my voice cold and distant. “You were spared once, when I wanted you killed. Now you owe me. You’re mine.”
She shook her head, the desperation creeping back into her expression. “You are confused. You can’t just?—”
“I can,” I interrupted, my voice sharp. I stepped closer, invading her space, watching as her breath quickened. “And I will. You signed away your freedom the moment you stayed alive when you should have died. Thank Mikhail for that.”
Tears welled up in her eyes, and for a moment, I thought she might break. But she blinked them away, biting her lip hard enough that I thought she might draw blood.
There it was again—that defiance. She wasn’t going to go down easily.
Good.
I liked the idea of breaking her.
My body reacted again, my blood surging with heat as I imagined how easy it would be to make her bend to my will. To crush that spark of resistance until all that was left was submission.
She stared at me, the silence between us thick with tension. “Even if I agree to this, this will just be it. Do you understand? I might be your captive but my heart and my soul and my thoughts will never belong to you. You are the Devil himself, Maxim,” she hissed.
I froze, my breath catching in my throat. Her tone was unexpected, and for a brief second, I didn’t know how to respond.
I wasn’t sure.
“I don’t care for your hear or your soul,” I said slowly, carefully. “You’re just a pawn in a game called life, little girl, and that’s bigger than you could ever understand.”
She flinched, the pain in her eyes clear. But she didn’t break. She didn’t crumble the way I expected her to.
“I understand more than you think,” she whispered, her voice trembling. “I know what it’s like to lose everything. I know what it’s like to live despite everything.”
I stared at her, my mind racing. I had wanted to break her, to make her submit, but now… now I wasn’t so sure. There was something about her, something I hadn’t anticipated.
I clenched my fists, forcing the desire back down. She was just a pawn. Nothing more.
“Anna, if you do not agree,” I said, my voice cold and final, “you won’t live to see tomorrow.”
Her head turned to the window, and for a moment, I thought she might refuse. But then, with a shaky breath, she nodded her head. Defiantly so, even though she was accepting her new fate.
It was done.
I brushed my fingers against her face. Her skin was soft, warm, and that primal desire flared up again, making my blood burn with a heat I hadn’t felt in years.
I gritted my teeth, pushing the sensation down. She was mine now. She was my captive.
And soon, she would know exactly what that meant.
“Good girl,” I murmured, watching as her breath hitched at my words.
I turned away from her, walking back to the window, my heart still racing with the strange, unsettling tension that had settled between us.
“You will live here,” I said, my voice distant. “You don’t leave this building unless I say so. Do you understand?”
There was a long pause, and for a moment, I wondered if she would push back. But she didn’t. I heard her voice, soft and resigned. “Yes.”
The single word was filled with a weight that tugged at something deep inside me, something I couldn’t quite place. I didn’t turn around to look at her. I didn’t need to. The tension between us hung in the air, thick and heavy, but I refused to acknowledge it. She was under my control now, and that was all that mattered.
Mikhail stepped forward, his presence a quiet reminder that we weren’t alone. He had done his job, bringing Anna back, but I could sense the unease radiating from him. He knew the stakes; he understood the game we were playing. But even he couldn’t fully grasp what was brewing beneath the surface. He couldn’t know she had affected me in ways I hadn’t anticipated.
“Take her to her room,” I said, my voice clipped, still facing the window. “She’s not to leave until I say so.”
Mikhail nodded silently, and I could hear Anna’s soft intake of breath as she realized what was happening. She wasn’t a guest here. She was a prisoner.
“Come with me,” Mikhail said, his voice as cold and distant as ever.
I listened to the soft shuffle of her footsteps as she followed him out of the room, the sound of the door closing behind them echoing through the silence.
Finally, I was alone.
I exhaled, running a hand through my hair, the tension in my body refusing to dissipate. I should’ve been satisfied. I had gotten exactly what I wanted. Anna was under my control. She was mine.
But instead of feeling triumphant, I felt… unsettled.
She wasn’t supposed to get under my skin like this. I had spent years building this empire, working to erase every trace of Rossi and his legacy, and now I was so close to finishing the job. Anna was the final piece, the key to securing everything Rossi had left behind. But the way my body had reacted to her, the way my mind kept circling back to that moment when she looked at me with those defiant eyes, unsettled me in ways I couldn’t explain.
I wasn’t a man ruled by emotions. I wasn’t someone who let desire cloud his judgment. But there was something about Anna—something I hadn’t anticipated.
I could still feel the warmth of her skin against mine, the way her breath had hitched when I had called her a “good girl.” The raw, primal need that surged through me whenever I looked at her was unlike anything I had felt in years.
It was dangerous.
I clenched my jaw, forcing those thoughts out of my mind. I couldn’t afford to be distracted by her. Not now. Not when I was so close to completing my mission.
Anna was a means to an end, nothing more. I would break her if I had to, use her to achieve my goals, and then discard her when the time came. That’s all this was. Power. Control. The same game I had been playing for years.
And yet…
I couldn’t shake the feeling that this time, the game was different.
I wasn’t sure if it was curiosity, desire, or something darker, but whatever it was, I knew one thing for certain. Anna wasn’t going to be as easy to break as I had thought. And somehow, that only made me want her more.