7. Chapter Seven
CHAPTER SEVEN
M y malen'kiy angel was driving me insane, testing the limits of my control at every turn. Since her rescue, I hadn’t exactly been subtle about what I wanted, what I needed. I made it clear in every lingering glance, every brush of my hand against hers, every deliberate moment I forced her to acknowledge me. But she kept rejecting me, her defiance only stoking the fire burning in my chest. It wasn’t just about taking her, I could have done that anytime. No, I wanted her to give in, to bend to me, to see that fighting me was pointless.
Just for a little while, I wanted her to stop pretending she didn’t feel it too. That pull between us, raw and undeniable. I didn’t want to keep her. At least, that’s what I told myself. She was too good for someone like me, her light too blinding, her presence too pure.
But then it would happen; these fleeting moments where she slipped, where she’d let me in. Like when she allowed me to hold her hand, her slender fingers hesitant but warm in mine. That brief surrender was everything. It didn’t last long, because she’d always pull away, her face hardening like she regretted it. But for me, it was enough to seal my fate .
It was in those moments I realized the truth: she wasn’t just some girl I’d rescued. She was mine. Whether she wanted to be or not.
It all clicked into place. Her poise, her grace; it wasn’t just learned, it was bred into her. This woman wasn’t ordinary; she came from power, the kind that demanded respect, and carried weight. If she’d been at The Academy, then she wasn’t just running from anyone, her family searching for her, desperate to get their precious angel back.
But she wasn’t theirs anymore. Not really.
She didn’t know it yet, but she belonged to me. Every time she pushed me away, it only made me want to pull her closer, to drag her into my world and keep her there. Her resistance was intoxicating, a challenge that made my blood sing. I wanted to crush that defiance, to make her see there was no point in fighting me.
I leaned back against the chair, fingers drumming on the armrest, as I stared at her from across the room. She pretended not to notice me watching her, but I saw the way her body tensed, the way she avoided meeting my gaze.
Good. She should feel it; the weight of my stare, the inevitability of what we both knew was coming. She could reject me a thousand times, but I wasn’t going anywhere. I’d already decided. If the world came looking for her, they’d have to pry her from my cold, dead hands.
Because she wasn’t just some passing obsession. She was mine. And I didn’t share.
But I didn’t care.
I knew she was mine. I needed to know everything there was to know about her. If I was going to claim her, to make her mine officially, I couldn’t afford to leave a single detail unchecked. Her full dossier sat on the table in front of me, a wealth of information just waiting to be consumed. Every fact, every secret, every piece of her life was there, and I’d devour it all. She might think she could keep herself locked away from me, but there wouldn’t be a single corner of her existence I didn’t uncover.
Reading that dossier wasn’t just curiosity, it was preparation. If I was going to Viktor, if I was going to stand in front of him and demand what I wanted, I needed to be armed with the full truth. Viktor didn’t give his blessings lightly, and he sure as hell wouldn’t hand her over to me without a fight. But I wasn’t asking. Not really. She was already mine; I just needed him to see it.
I flipped the first page, my eyes scanning every line with cold precision. The details of her life unfolded in front of me, piece by piece, until I felt like I could see the shape of her soul. Every hardship, every triumph, every scar, physical or otherwise, was laid bare, and with each word, my resolve hardened.
By the time I finished, there was no doubt in my mind. I would go to Viktor, I would claim her, and I wouldn’t take no for an answer. If he wanted to stand in my way, he’d learn quickly that nothing could stop me from getting what was already mine.
I rose from the table with the dossier clenched tightly in my hand. This wasn’t just about knowing her anymore, it was about owning the right to protect her, to keep her exactly where she belonged. By my side. For good.
The Pakhan had the right to refuse this arrangement, however, he wouldn’t.
After helping Roman out, and losing my eye, the Brotherhood leader owed me, and he knew it. I never made a fuss about losing my eye, because I knew there might be a day that I would need to cash in.
I hadn’t expected it to be so soon.
I walked to my temporary office. This wasn’t my home base. I owned property in Karelia, which was close to the Finnish border. It was a remote location, and once I went back, I wouldn’t be easily accessible. It was why I was an excellent spy.
No one could navigate all the traps I’d laid down in the forest, river, and lake surrounding the property. And that was where I was going to steal my soon to be wife away to. As soon as the ink dried on the marital paperwork, we were leaving to go on an extended honeymoon.
Of course, I had to deal with Viktor first. Which meant knowing my malen'kiy angel inside and out, so I wasn’t surprised. I bet she would think it was an invasion of privacy.
But I could see her fight dimming.
She needed a reset. She wasn’t ready for the cruel world of The Brotherhood, and for once in my life, I wanted to protect someone from the darkness of my life. I don’t know how, in such a short period, she had imprinted herself so deeply to me.
Her dossier was crumbled in my hand and I opened it again. Name, age, I already knew these things. I needed to see what her secrets were.
Isadora Paéz would have to marry Eduardo Herrarra, a powerful capo in the Venezuelan Cartel. That was a big red flag. I kept going, realizing her hospital records showed she wouldn’t be safe from the Cartel.
No child fell that much as a toddler.
I scrolled through, and saw that she was supposed to marry Eduardo this year, but with The Academy burned to the ground, the Cartel was probably looking for their lost bastard princess.
Their line of succession depended on her survival, since her father couldn’t have any more children. I’d figured out my angle with Viktor. I checked the time, and it wasn’t too late.
The Pakhan would be in his office.
I walked toward it, saluting a few of the soldiers on the way, and waited for the one protecting his office door to announce me .
“Let him in,” Viktor called back.
I went inside of his office. “How’s your ward?” Viktor asked, as soon as I stepped foot inside.
“She’s doing well, Pakhan.” I waited for him to give me the signal.
He motioned for me to sit down, and I adjusted my suit jacket and followed directions. “Well, what brings you here? I mean, you don’t usually even stick around the compound. I assumed you’d be going back to your home.”
I cleared my throat. “I had some unexpected business creep up.”
“But?” Viktor narrowed his eyes on me.
“The girl.” I cleared my throat again.
Viktor cut in. “Isadora?”
“Yes, that one. I want her as my wife.”
Viktor leaned back in his chair. “Who are her people?”
“She’s engaged to a Herrarra Capo, and her father is the Jefe .” Saying it out loud sounded like asking for my enemy to be in my bed, but the men in this family had a thing for toxic women.
“Do you think they will give us problems?”
Not that I’d looked into it, but we were the Brotherhood. Our power knew no bounds. “They would need a powerful army to take us on.”
Viktor nodded, his eyes flashing darkly. “Then claim her, but as you know-”
“She is now my responsibility,” I finished for him. A claim was serious in The Brotherhood. It was more than just marriage. It was a bond. To claim a woman, in an organization that typically killed them, was to tell The Brotherhood that the woman was worthy of our protection and trust.
Something most women weren’t.
“Take ownership and make sure she’s tamed immediately. We have a meeting in less than a month with many organization heads. I don’t want this negotiation to be some dark dealings in a back alley. I want to see these men, look them in their eyes, and take what’s most important to them.”
Viktor could stand to take a vacation. He seemed to grow more hungry for power as time went on. “I will be here for that.”
“I’ll contact Stefan, the family priest. It’s been a while since he partied with us at the main house.”
I nodded. “It doesn’t have to be too big.”
Viktor shot a smile at me, which was unexpected. “Not if my wife has anything to say about it. Tiffany loves a party.”
I grimaced. The parties these two were known for always ended in a bloody massacre. I could only hope my wedding day wouldn’t turn out the same. I nodded my head.
“Thank you, Pakhan.”
Viktor nodded, already working again, probably to get as much of the wedding prep out of the way, so he could get back to business. I got up, thankful that the meeting had been short. I hadn’t even needed to throw my new disability in my Pakhan’s face.
I headed back to my room, needing to change now that business had been taken care of. I wanted to find my malen'kiy angel, and see what she was getting up to. I hopped in my shower, ignoring my hard cock. No more masturbating for me. My new fiancée would take every single load.
I couldn’t wait to slide a ring on her finger.
I hopped out of the shower and threw on sweatpants and a shirt. I wasn’t planning on going anywhere else. I was going to spend some quality time with my malen'kiy angel .
I grabbed my phone and sent the information to my jeweler. Isadora’s dossier had all the information I needed on her, down to her genetic screening at birth. I knew her inside and out. The only information I was missing was her time at The Academy.
I headed down to the kitchen, but I didn’t see my soon-to-be wife. I went to the rec room, but she wasn’t there. I walked all the way to the other side of the compound to the first theatre room, but she wasn’t there either.
I headed to her room.
Her door was closed. I turned the knob, letting out a sigh of relief that it was unlocked. I didn’t have my lock picking kit with me. It wasn’t hard to get in, I just wasn’t prepared.
There, in the center of the bed, was a human sized lump underneath the covers.
My shoulders slumped when I realized she was sleeping. I closed the door behind me, and slid underneath the covers. Isadora moved around until her arm smacked my chest.
“W-wha?” Her confused, sleepy voice turned me on.
“I wanted to spend time with you and, since you’re in bed, I figured I should be in bed with you.” I couldn’t help my need to be around her. It was an itch beneath my skin, that was only quenched when she was in the vicinity.
She didn’t argue, she just wrapped her arm around my stomach and cuddled into my side. This was a new side of her I hadn’t seen before. A sweet side. This was why she was my angel. Almost like that commercial about the sour gummy candy.
First, they were sweet and then sour. Or maybe it was vice versa? It doesn’t matter. That was the way my new fiancée was. I squeezed her tight, imagining what our future would look like.
Her small snores were even adorable.
I lay there for hours listening to her breathing, syncing my breaths with her breaths. If any of the men saw me, they’d call me a simp. But I remembered the day Isadora was rescued.
She’d been found with that fucker.
I couldn’t tolerate anyone else hurting her. I would kill for her. I had killed for her. I wasn’t sorry about those kills either. One day soon, I would trust her and she would trust me .
Once we went back to our home, and I could learn about her in a soothing setting, that was. It was only a matter of time before she was submissive and giving me an heir. Then I could feel what Alexie, Viktor, and Roman felt.
I’d understand.
The night hung heavy around me, thick and suffocating. Isadora’s soft, steady breaths should have been enough to lull me to sleep, but they weren’t. They never were. She lay beside me, warm and small, her body curled in a way that felt fragile, as if the weight of the world pressed on her, even in her dreams.
She didn’t belong here; not to this life, not to me. But she was here anyway. Bound to me, claimed by me. And no matter how much she fought it, no matter how much she resisted, there was no changing the fact that she was mine. Every breath she took, every tear she cried, every inch of her; it all belonged to me. Whether she wanted it or not.
I turned my head to look at her; the moonlight filtering through the curtains casting a faint glow over her face. She looked peaceful, her long lashes resting against her flushed cheeks, her lips slightly parted. She looked untouchable. Perfect. And it made something dark coil in my chest, possessive and dangerous. She wasn’t untouchable. Not anymore. Not with me.
My fingers twitched with the urge to touch her, to brush the hair from her face, to feel her warmth under my hands. But I didn’t. Not yet. Instead, I let my gaze roam over her, taking in every detail, burning it into my mind. She was here. She was mine. And I’d kill anyone who tried to take her from me.
The thought should have comforted me, but it didn’t. It wasn’t enough. Because even now, lying beside her, I could feel the distance between us. She was here in body, but her mind… her mind was still somewhere else. Trapped in the shadows of her past, in the hands of someone who should have never touched her. Someone who wasn’t me.
My jaw tightened at the thought, my fists clenching against the sheets. I’d killed him. I’d torn him apart for what he’d done to her. But even death hadn’t been enough. He still lingered, his ghost poisoning her dreams, dragging her back to a place I couldn’t reach.
Her body shifted suddenly, a soft, restless movement that snapped me from my thoughts. I sat up slightly, my eyes narrowing as I watched her.
“Isadora,” I murmured, my voice low, cautious.
She didn’t respond. Instead, she swung her legs over the edge of the bed, her movements slow but deliberate. My chest tightened as I watched her stand, her bare feet silent against the floor. Her head tilted slightly forward, her arms slack at her sides, and she started walking.
Sleepwalking.
Again.
“Isadora,” I called, louder this time, my voice sharp.
She didn’t stop. Her steps were steady, her movements fluid but detached, as if she were being pulled by something unseen. Her murmurs reached me then, soft and trembling.
“I’ll be good,” she whispered, her voice breaking, “I’ll be good. I’ll be good…”
The words sent a chill down my spine. They weren’t just words; they were a plea, desperate and broken. My stomach twisted with anger as I pushed the blanket aside, swinging my legs over the edge of the bed.
She was heading for the hallway, her murmurs growing louder, her steps taking her toward the large bay window at the far end. My pulse spiked as I moved after her, my steps quick and heavy against the floorboards.
“Isadora!” I barked, but she didn’t stop.
Her hands were on the latch by the time I reached her, her fingers trembling as she fumbled with it. “I’ll be good,” she whispered again, tears streaming down her cheeks. “I’ll be good…”
The latch clicked, and she pushed the window open just as I grabbed her waist, yanking her back with enough force to make her gasp. Her body slammed into mine, her warmth stark against the cold fury burning in my chest.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” I growled, my arms locking around her as she struggled weakly.
Her head lolled back, her eyes unfocused, her lips still moving. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’ll be good…”
Her words hit me like a punch to the gut, the raw desperation in her voice slicing through me. My grip on her tightened, my hand sliding to the back of her neck, as I forced her to look at me.
“Stop saying that,” I hissed, my voice rough. “Stop.”
But she didn’t. Her lips kept moving, the words spilling out in a broken chant. My hand cupped her face, my fingers digging into her skin just enough to keep her still.
“Look at me,” I demanded. “Wake up, Isadora. Look at me.”
Her eyes fluttered, her lashes wet with tears, as her gaze slowly focused on mine. “Benedikt?” she whispered, her voice small, trembling.
“Yes,” I snapped, my tone sharp. “And you almost fucking fell out of a window. What the hell were you thinking?”
“I… I don’t know…” she choked out, her tears spilling faster.
“Yes, you do,” I growled, my grip on her face unrelenting. “Who did this to you, Isadora? Who made you like this?”
Her lips trembled, her eyes darting away, as if she could hide from the question. My fingers tightened on her jaw, forcing her to meet my gaze.
“Tell me,” I demanded, my voice low and dangerous. “Who made you think you had to beg to be good? Who made you think this was the only way?”
Her tears spilled faster, her breathing shallow as she whispered, “the headmaster…”
The rage that tore through me was instant, hot and all-consuming. My jaw clenched, my chest heaving with the force of it. That bastard. That fucking bastard. Even in death, he still had a hold on her. Even after we’d killed him, he was still here. Poisoning her. Haunting her.
I wanted to kill him all over again. I wanted to rip him from whatever hell he was rotting in and destroy him, piece by piece, until there was nothing left.
“He’s dead,” I growled, the words rough and guttural. “Do you hear me, Isadora? He’s fucking dead. He can’t touch you anymore.”
She nodded weakly, her sobs breaking into quiet whimpers.
“You’re mine now,” I continued, my voice dropping to a harsh whisper. “Not his. Not anyone else’s. Mine.”
Her body sagged against me, her tears soaking into my shirt, as I carried her back to the bedroom. When we reached the bed, I dropped her onto the mattress, my hands gripping her shoulders as I pinned her there.
“You stay here,” I ordered, my voice sharp. “You don’t move unless I tell you to. Do you understand?”
She nodded frantically, her wide eyes locked on mine.
“Say it,” I demanded, my grip tightening. “Say you’re mine.”
“I’m yours,” she whispered, her voice trembling.
“Louder,” I barked, leaning closer.
“I’m yours!” she cried, the words breaking into a sob.
Satisfied, I pulled the blanket over her, my hand brushing against her cheek as her breathing evened out.
“I love you,” I whispered. I wasn’t good enough to tell her to her face. I vowed to tell her every night in her sleep, until she was receptive, and believed it. A subtle manipulation, but I didn’t feel bad about it.
I climbed into bed beside her, wrapping an arm around her waist, and pulling her tightly against me. She was stiff at first, but as the minutes passed, she softened, her exhaustion finally dragging her back to sleep.
I stayed awake, my eyes fixed on the ceiling, the rage burning in my chest like a dark, smoldering fire. I couldn’t kill him again, couldn’t rip his ghost from her mind. But I’d bury him, smother his memory until there was nothing left.
She was mine, and no one, living or dead, would ever take her from me again.