Chapter 16 Alexei
Alexei
Seven days without Mila feels like seven years, and I hate admitting it.
I pull through the gates and park in front of the main house. The security team has done its job, with new cameras lining the perimeter, thermal sensors, and motion detectors. Everything I ordered and more.
I head inside to find her in the kitchen making tea. She’s wearing jeans and one of my sweaters that hangs off her shoulder. Her hair is pulled back in a messy bun, and she looks exhausted.
When she sees me, something moves across her face. Relief, maybe. But she hides it quickly behind crossed arms and a scowl.
“You’re back,” she notes with zero emotion.
“I’m back,” I confirm with a nod, taking care to match her nonchalance.
“You said it would just be a few days. It’s been a week.”
“The situation required more time than I anticipated.” I set my bag down and walk closer. “How have you been?”
She sputters her lips and chuckles. “Trapped. Bored. Going slowly insane. The usual.”
I tilt my head and notice the dark circles under her eyes. “Have you been sleeping?”
“Not well. Turns out being held prisoner doesn’t promote restful sleep.”
“You’re not a prisoner,” I grumble.
“Then I’m free to leave?”
“You know you’re not.”
She turns away and pours hot water over her tea bag. “Then I’m a prisoner. Let’s not pretend otherwise.”
I want to tell her this is all for her protection. The defiance in her shoulders kills the words.
“We need to talk about the security situation,” I tell her instead.
“Of course we do. Because that’s all we ever talk about. Security and threats and danger and how I need to stay locked away forever.”
“Mila—”
“Just tell me what new restrictions you’ve come up with,” she interrupts, waving me off. “What other aspects of my life you’ve decided to control.”
I lean against the counter and watch her doctor her tea with honey. “Maxim Novikov has organized a coalition, and they’ve placed bounties on you and Irina. Forty million rubles each for capture.”
Her hand freezes on the honey jar. “Capture?”
“They want you alive. To use as leverage against your father and to demonstrate that my protection is ineffective.”
She sets the jar down and holds onto the counter like she needs it for stability. “So, what does this mean?”
“We need to relocate you to a more secure location. Somewhere even more isolated.”
She snaps her head up to look at me with defiance burning in her eyes. “No.”
“It’s not negotiable.”
“Everything with you is non-negotiable.” She throws her hands in the air. “I’m tired of running. Tired of hiding. Tired of living in fear because some criminal families are playing their stupid power games.”
“Those stupid power games could get you killed.”
“Or they could keep me trapped forever while you and my father use me as a bargaining chip in your alliance negotiations.”
“Is that really what you think this is about?”
“What else would it be about? You’ve made it very clear that everything is strategic. Everything serves some larger purpose. Including me.”
I stalk closer, eating up the distance between us. “You’re not a bargaining chip.”
“Then what am I, Alexei? Your responsibility? Your obligation? The woman you feel guilty about because you took her virginity without knowing?”
“You’re—” I stop myself before I say something I can’t take back.
We stare at each other across the kitchen. All the frustration and confusion and unwanted attraction crackles between us like electricity.
“I need normalcy,” she says when it’s clear I’m not going to finish what I started. “I need to feel human again, not like an asset under lock and key. I have a presentation this week and it’s thirty percent of my final grade. I’m going. In person.”
“Absolutely not.”
She knits her brows together. “I wasn’t asking permission.”
“You can present virtually. I’ll arrange—”
“No. I am going in person. I’m seeing my advisor. I will have coffee with my classmates. I’m living my life for one afternoon.”
“The risk is too high,” I counter.
“The risk of my going insane locked up here is higher. I’m done arguing about this, Alexei. Either you take me to the university, or I’ll find my own way there.”
I drag a hand through my hair, forcing my temper down while I think through the logistics.
A college campus is a fairly controlled environment. I could arrange for heavy security if I grease a few palms. It could work if I plan it correctly.
“Fine,” I relent through gritted teeth.
“Fine?”
“You can attend your presentation. But we do it with the precautions in place that I see fit. No arguments.”
She blinks at me like she can’t believe I’m agreeing. “Really?”
“Really. But Mila? If anything feels wrong, if I say we’re leaving, we leave immediately. No questions.”
“Deal,” she concedes with a quick nod.
“This isn’t a regular occurrence. One outing. One afternoon. Then we reassess based on how things go.”
“Better than nothing.”
I pull out my phone to text Boris. Within minutes, we’re forming a security plan. Six men. Two vehicles. Secure routes. Everything I need to keep her safe for a few hours outside the estate.
“When’s your presentation?” I ask.
“Thursday at two.”
“I’ll have everything arranged by then.”
She picks up her tea and takes a sip. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me yet. You might hate how much security I bring.”
“As long as I get to leave this house, I’ll take what I can get.”
Thursday arrives faster than I’d like.
I’ve spent the past four days planning every detail of this outing. Routes. Backup routes. Emergency protocols. Secure locations on campus. I’ve imagined everything that could go wrong and figured out how to prevent it.
Mila emerges from her room wearing dark pants and a cream-colored blouse. She looks professional and put-together. Nothing like the exhausted woman I found in the kitchen a few days ago.
“You look nice,” I tell her.
The faintest blush spreads across the bridge of her nose. If I weren’t so familiar with every detail of her face, I might’ve missed it.
“Thanks.” She glances at the ground. “I feel human for the first time in weeks.”
We head outside where two black SUVs wait. Boris and Nikita are in the first vehicle, and Denis and Anton are in the second. I guide Mila into the back of the first SUV and slide in beside her.
“This seems excessive,” she comments as we pull away from the estate.
“It’s necessary.”
“Six armed men to escort me to a class presentation?”
“I’m doing what I need to do to ensure you aren’t kidnapped by people who are willing to pay eighty million rubles for you and your sister.”
She falls quiet and stares out the window. I watch her take in the scenery, trees, and buildings. The normal life happening outside her protected bubble.
“I missed this,” she admits. “Just seeing the world. Being part of it instead of watching from a distance.”
“I know.”
“Do you? Because sometimes I wonder if you understand what isolation does to a person.”
“I understand better than you think.”
She cranes her neck to look at me. “How?”
“My father kept me and Dmitri locked away for six months when I was sixteen. Security threat. Someone wanted us dead. We lived in a compound with guards and no contact with the outside world except through monitored channels.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“Most people don’t. My father kept it quiet. But I remember what it felt like. The walls closing in. The desperate need for any taste of normalcy.”
“How did you survive it?”
I shrug. “Books, mostly. And knowing it was temporary. That eventually the threat would be neutralized, and life would return to normal. Though normal is relative in our world.”
We arrive at the university and park in a secure lot near the building where Mila’s presentation takes place. I scan the area while the team forms a protective formation around us.
“Stay close,” I tell her. “Don’t wander off. If anything feels wrong, tell me immediately.”
“I know the drill.”
We enter the building and head to the third floor. Students fill the hallways. Backpacks. Laughter. The energy of people who don’t live under a constant threat.
Mila lights up as we walk. Like she’s tasting freedom for the first time in months.
She greets classmates and smiles at professors. For a few minutes, she’s a graduate student preparing for a presentation instead of a protected asset.
We reach the conference room where her presentation will take place. I position Boris and Nikita at the entrance while Denis and Anton take posts at alternate exits. I remain inside the room near the back.
Mila sets up her materials, connects her laptop to the projector, and runs through her slides. She’s so confident. Completely in her element.
Then, I see him.
A young man enters the room. Mid-twenties. Expensive clothes. The kind of confidence that comes from money and status. He heads straight for Mila with a smile that makes my hands form fists.
“Mila? I’ve been trying to reach you for weeks.”
She whirls around, and her face goes totally blank. “Nikolay. Hi.”
Nikolay.
The name registers immediately. Novikov. One of Maxim’s younger cousins. Part of the family that’s been threatening Mila and organizing bounties for her capture.
From the looks of it, she knows him. Personally.
“I was worried about you,” he continues. “You stopped answering my texts. Your father said you were staying with family friends, but that didn’t sound right.”
“I’ve been dealing with some family situations. Nothing you need to worry about.”
“But I do worry.” He reaches out and grabs her arm. “Come on. Let’s talk in private for a few minutes before class starts. There are things we need to discuss.”
He starts pulling her toward a side door. Away from the main room. Away from the security I’ve positioned.
Away from me.
I move before conscious thought registers. I cross the room in four strides, grab Nikolay’s wrist, and twist until I feel bones snap.
He screams and drops Mila, scrambling to get free.
I don’t let him.
My fist connects with his face. Once. Twice. Three times. Blood sprays across the floor. He collapses, but I follow him down and keep hitting him until someone grabs my shoulders.
“Alexei, stop. He’s done.”
Boris’s voice penetrates the rage. I look down at Nikolay. His face is a mess. Blood everywhere. He’s not moving.
I release him and stand. Every person in the room gawks at me with horror. Students, professors, and the security staff who showed up when the screaming started.
And Mila. Standing frozen with shock.
“He’s a Novikov,” I snarl. “One of the bastards hunting you.”
“I know who he is,” she whispers. “He’s also my ex-boyfriend.”
Time comes to a screeching halt. Ex-boyfriend. She dated a Novikov? Mila was romantically involved with someone from the family that’s trying to abduct her?
“You dated him?” I ask.
“Two years ago. Before everything with Irina. My parents approved. They vetted him and thought he was safe at the time.”
“Safe?” I bark out a laugh. “He’s a Novikov.”
“At the time, our families were… not friendly, but not enemies, either.”
Campus security pushes through the crowd. Someone called an ambulance. The room erupts in chaos while I stand there covered in another man’s blood.
Mila’s ex-boyfriend’s blood.
“We need to leave,” Boris urges. “Now. Before police arrive.”
I nod and reach for Mila, but she jerks back.
“Don’t touch me.”
“Mila—”
“You just beat my ex-boyfriend unconscious in front of my entire graduate program. Don’t touch me. Don’t talk to me. Just get me out of here.”
The look on her face wrecks me. Devastation, not fear. Like I just destroyed something she still cared about.
I’ve ruined everything.
Again.
“Security will be here in minutes,” Boris whispers to Mila. “If you want to avoid being questioned by police about what happened, we need to leave now.”
She looks around the room at her classmates and professors, who are staring at her with shock and fear. Her academic reputation is already destroyed; staying now will only make it worse.
“Fine,” she seethes through gritted teeth before glaring at me to add, “But I’m sitting in front with Boris. Do not talk to me.”
We make it to the parking garage, and Mila sits rigidly in the passenger seat while I’m relegated to the back. Only when we’re away from witnesses do I pull out my phone and start doing damage control.
“Legal cleanup, university incident,” I tell our contact. “Administrative silence, security footage scrubbed, and student devices confiscated if necessary.”
I hang up and dial another number. “Medical situation at the university. One injured student needs private transport to our facility. No police reports or media attention.”
The third call goes to our campus contact, who helped me set this whole thing up. “The dean needs to understand that discretion regarding today’s incident would be greatly appreciated. A generous donation to the engineering program should help clarify his priorities.”
Nikolay will talk, but his word against our resources won’t matter if I throw enough cash around.
Boris turns to check on Mila. “Any injuries? Did anyone grab you during the chaos?” She shakes her head but won’t look anywhere but the road.
By the time we reach the estate, I’ve dismantled any official record of what happened today. But looking at Mila’s reflection in the window—broken, humiliated, trapped—I realize that some damage can’t be erased with money and influence.