Chapter 6 - Fyodor #2
“You should make noise,” I continued. “You should make it very difficult for anyone to move you without your consent.”
Her lips parted slightly, unsure of what was even happening.
“Because if it isn’t me,” I said quietly, “it will be someone else.”
Silence dropped heavily inside the car.
She swallowed once. “You’re not making sense.”
“I will.”
“When?”
“When we’re somewhere more secure.”
Her laugh was sharp and disbelieving. “Secure? You dragged me into your car.”
“I could have done worse.”
Her eyes flashed. “Don’t.”
“I won’t,” I said evenly, and I meant it. The city lights blurred past as I drove, and to my surprise, she didn’t scream or reach for her phone, but her body was rigid, coiled.
“You followed me.”
“Yes.”
“Are you working for another bratva?”
“Maybe.”
She inhaled sharply. “Is this about my family?”
I didn’t answer immediately, but for someone like her, that was an answer enough. Her face drained slightly of color as she realized she was probably walking into trouble.
“I wasn’t sent to meet you.”
“Am I supposed to feel reassured?”
“No.”
“Then what exactly am I supposed to feel right now?”
“Alert.”
She turned toward the window, jaw tight, and we continued to drive in silence for several blocks.
I could see she was thinking and calculating an escape route.
She hadn’t panicked once, and I admired that about her.
It was enough to tell me everything about her upbringing.
When we finally pulled up in front of a nondescript concrete building near the water, she looked at me like she was preparing to fight.
“Are we at the penthouse?” she demanded.
“Yes.”
She didn’t move, and I stepped out first, came around to her side, and opened the door, but she remained seated.
“Do not make me carry you,” I said quietly.
Her eyes flashed dangerously. “You wouldn’t dare.”
I leaned in slightly.
“Try me.”
Her jaw set, she stepped out on her own.
“Good choice.”
“Stop talking to me like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like you own the situation.”
“I do.”
Her hand flew up in exasperation. “You’re unbelievable.”
I took her wrist, not roughly, but firmly, and guided her toward the entrance.
She struggled once, instinctively.
“Elle,” I warned.
“What?”
“If you scream right now, I will still get you inside. The difference will be how gentle I am about it.”
Her breath caught as she searched my face for cruelty, but didn’t find it. Despite that, she still found resolve.
“You’re not hurting me,” she said finally.
“No.”
“You’re not turning me over to someone.”
“No.”
“Then what are you doing?”
“Keeping you ahead of a war you don’t even know is starting.”
The building door opened with a keycard.
She had been here before, and she knew exactly how everything worked.
Inside, the lights flicked on automatically, revealing an expansive, empty interior, industrial but secured.
Surveillance monitors along one wall and reinforced glass on the other.
I took her inside the private elevator. This was not my home, but a secondary location I used when I wanted to be away from home.
She had noticed that too the last time I had brought her here.
She turned to face me as we reached the top.
Her eyes weren’t scared but furious instead.
“You have five seconds,” she said quietly. “Then I start calling my brothers.”
I stepped closer. Close enough that she had to tilt her head slightly to maintain eye contact.
“You can call them,” I said, making her breath falter slightly. Her eyes widened at the challenge in my voice.
“You’re insane,” she whispered. “If they find out you have kidnapped me and brought me here, they will kill you.”
“No,” I said. “They will not.”
She stared at me for a long, suspended moment.
“You slept with me,” she said slowly.
“Yes.”
“And then you followed me.”
“Yes.”
“And now you’re telling me my life is about to become leverage and somehow it is important for me to be here with you.”
“Yes.”
Her hands trembled with barely concealed rage.
“You do not get to decide what happens to me,” she said.
“You’re right.”
“Then why am I here?”
Because I’d already decided. Because I couldn’t let Kliment weaponize her, and because dragging her into my car was the only option that didn’t end with someone else doing worse, I simply didn’t answer. Instead, I stepped even closer, lowering my voice.
“You felt it too,” I said quietly, and her breath caught. “At the masquerade. You felt the connection between us.”
“That doesn’t give you the right—”
“I know,” I interrupted. “It doesn’t.”
Silence stretched between us, raw and volatile. “You’re not my enemy,” I said finally.
“Then stop acting like one.”
I studied her face, which was filled with anger, confusion, and silent strength. This was the moment, or what I called the fracture. The line that would decide everything, and I had already crossed it.
“Welcome to the war, Elle,” I said quietly.
Her eyes blazed.
“I have no idea what war you are talking about. I don’t even know who you are.”
I almost smiled.
“You will know soon enough.”