24. Sofia
24
SOFIA
M y phone buzzes against the mahogany desk in Nikolai’s study, where I’ve been catching up on gallery emails. Tash’s name flashes across the screen.
“Sofia, you need to hear this.” Her voice carries an edge I rarely hear. “Two men came into the gallery asking about you. Not the usual art collector type.”
My stomach drops. “What did they want?”
“They claimed to be interested in acquiring pieces, but their questions concerned you. When you’d be back, your schedule, that sort of thing.” Tash pauses. “One had a neck tattoo. The other kept his hand inside his jacket.”
Ice slides down my spine. “Did they leave a card?”
“No. But they lingered outside for almost an hour. I had security do a sweep after they left.” Papers rustle on her end. “Should you call Nikolai?”
“No!” The word rips free before I can catch it. I lower my voice, glancing at the door. “I mean, it’s probably nothing. Just some opportunists.”
“Sofia...” Tash’s tone carries a warning.
“If I tell him, he’ll never let me leave this place.” I twist a strand of hair around my finger. “You know how protective he is.”
“Letting someone else take the lead might be exactly right.”
“I can’t live in a gilded cage forever, Tash.” The declaration sounds firm despite my hands trembling. “Just... keep security on high alert. Let me know if they come back.”
“Fine. But if anything else happens, I’m calling him myself.”
After we hang up, I stare at the phone. The smart thing would be to tell Nikolai. He has resources and connections, but the thought of giving him another reason to keep me locked away makes my chest tight.
I delete the call from my phone’s history, hating myself for the deception even as I do it.
The study door slams open. Nikolai fills the doorway, his jaw tight and eyes blazing. My heart stops—I know that look.
“Trying to hide things from me is foolish, malishka .” His voice carries that dangerous silk-over-steel tone. “Especially when it concerns your safety.”
I rise from the desk, anger flaring. “You tapped the gallery phones?”
“Of course I did.” He steps closer, towering over me. “Just like I have eyes on every entrance, exit, and street corner within three blocks. I know exactly what kind of men were asking about you.”
“I can handle?—”
“Handle what?” His hand grips my chin. “Two armed Calabrian soldiers doing reconnaissance? You think your gallery security can stop professional hitmen?”
I jerk away from his touch. “Stop treating me like some porcelain doll that needs to be locked away. I have a business to run.”
“A business that means nothing if you’re dead.”
“Then let me go back with proper security! I won’t hide here while thugs terrorize my staff.” I tilt my face to him, refusing to bow before the dangerous intensity in those winter-gray eyes. “Either let me return to the gallery with whatever protection you deem necessary, or I’ll find my way out.”
His nostrils flare. “Is that a threat?”
“It’s a fact. I won’t be caged, Nikolai. Not even by you.”
His fingers curl into fists at his sides, knuckles white. The muscle in his jaw ticks as he stalks toward me, backing me against the desk.
“You think I’ll just let you walk out there? Into their crosshairs?” His voice rises with each word. “Not happening.”
“Why are you being so?—”
“Because I can’t lose you!” The words explode from him, raw and ragged.
I freeze, watching as something cracks in his carefully controlled expression. His hands grip the edge of the desk on either side of me, caging me in.
“I watched my father die because he trusted the wrong people,” he says, voice dropping to barely above a whisper. “I was fifteen. They made me watch as they put two bullets in his head.”
My heart squeezes. I reach up, touching his face. “Nikolai...”
“Every time I close my eyes, I see you in that gallery. Only instead of those thugs running away, they...” He breaks off, pressing his forehead to mine. “The thought of anything happening to you...”
“Hey.” I cup his face in both hands, forcing him to look at me. “I’m right here.”
“You don’t understand what these people are capable of.” His fingers brush my cheek, surprisingly gentle given his fierce expression. “If they hurt you...”
“Then we figure it out together,” I say. “But you can’t lock me away forever. That’s not living.”
He closes his eyes, shoulders dropping slightly. When he speaks again, his voice is rough. “I’ve never felt this... out of control before. Not being able to guarantee your safety...”
I slide my hands down to his chest, feeling his rapid heartbeat beneath my palm. “I get it now. Why you’re so...” I search for the right word, “intense about protection.”
His jaw clenches. “You think I’m overreacting.”
“No.” I trace the line of his collar. “I think you’re carrying wounds that never really healed. But Nikolai, there has to be a middle ground.”
His fingers flex against the desk. “What are you suggesting?”
“Come with me to the gallery. Work from there if you want.” I meet his steel-gray gaze. “Your security teams can sweep the building and set up whatever protocols make you comfortable. But I need to be there. It’s my life’s work.”
He studies me for a long moment. “You’d allow that? Me being there?”
“Better than being locked in here climbing the walls.” I offer a small smile. “Plus, you might actually enjoy watching me work. I’m quite good at what I do.”
Something shifts in his expression—a subtle softening around his eyes. “I know you are. It’s one of the first things that drew me to you.”
“So... is that a yes?”
His thumb traces my lower lip. “Two security teams minimum. Full sweep before you enter each morning. And you don’t go anywhere without telling me first.”
“I can work with that.” I lean into his touch. “See? Compromise isn’t so terrible.”
“Don’t push your luck, malishka. ” But there’s a hint of warmth in his voice now. “We’ll try it tomorrow. One sign of trouble and?—”
“I know, I know. Back to the fortress.”
His arms wrap around me, pulling me against his chest. “You’re infuriating, you know that?”
“Part of my charm.” I let my head fall against his shoulder, inhaling his familiar scent. “Thank you for meeting me halfway.”
He kisses me, and all thoughts of security and compromise dissolve. My fingers curl into his shirt as he deepens the kiss, one hand tangling in my hair while the other presses against my lower back.
The realization hits me like a thunderbolt—I’m falling in love with him. This dangerous, brilliant man who once invaded my privacy, who watched me through hidden cameras, who orchestrated his way into my life... has somehow become essential to my existence.
“What are you thinking?” he murmurs against my mouth.
I pull back slightly, studying the sharp planes of his face, the intensity in those steel-gray eyes. “That I should hate you for everything you did at first. The cameras, the stalking, drugging me, the manipulation...”
His jaw tightens, but he doesn’t look away.
“But instead...” My voice catches. “Instead, I find myself understanding you more each day. The way you think, why you do the things you do.” I trace the scar through his eyebrow. “And it terrifies me how much I...”
“Say it,” he breathes, pressing his forehead to mine.
“How much I’m falling for you,” I murmur.
His grip on me tightens, and he claims my mouth again with devastating intensity. I taste his need, his possession, but also something deeper—a vulnerability he shows to no one else.
When we break apart, both breathing hard, I see the raw emotion he usually keeps so carefully hidden in his eyes. My heart races, knowing I’m one of the few people who get to witness this side of him.
“You’re mine,” he growls softly, brushing his thumb across my swollen lips. “Every piece of you. Even the parts that want to run from me.”
“I’m not running anymore,” I whisper, and I mean it.
I trace my fingers along Nikolai’s jaw, marveling at how this dangerous man can be so gentle with me. His steel-gray eyes soften as he leans into my touch.
“I never thought I’d feel this way,” I whisper, pressing closer to him on the leather couch in his study. “Especially not after discovering the cameras.”
He captures my wandering hand, bringing it to his lips. “I was obsessed. Out of control. But now...” His kiss travels to my inner wrist, sending shivers down my spine. “Now I need you to see me. All of me.”
“I do see you.” I shift onto his lap, straddling him. “The control, the darkness, the way you try to protect everything you care about.”
He bunches my dress in his hands. “And you’re not afraid?”
“No.” I roll my hips against him, drawing a sharp breath from his lips. “I’m falling for every piece of you, Nikolai. Even the parts that terrify everyone else.”
He grips my hips, stilling my movement. “You’ve undone me, malishka . Made me break every rule I set for myself.”
I lean forward, brushing my lips against his. “Good. I like it when you lose control.”
His mouth claims mine with fierce possession, but a tenderness underneath makes my heart ache. I melt against him, fingers tangling in his hair as he deepens the kiss.
When we break apart, he rests his forehead against mine. “ Ya obozhayu tebya ,” he murmurs in Russian.
Though I don’t understand the words, the emotion in his voice makes my breath catch. I’ve never seen him this vulnerable, this open.
“What does that mean?” I ask softly.
Instead of answering, he pulls me closer, burying his face in my neck. His arms wrap around me like steel bands, protective and possessive.
Some feelings are too raw, too real for words. So I hold him back just as tightly, letting my body say what our voices cannot.