9. Viktor
VIKTOR
Wren and I settled into a routine.
It wasn’t a structured, tidy pattern that we followed for the sake of having some guidance to my unconventional approach of keeping her captive in my house.
But we fell into a rhythm.
Every night, she would give me her back as she sat on the sofa in my room instead of getting into bed with me. Except for that first night. She thought she could slip out and stay in a guest room, where I found her and carried her right back to my room.
Each morning, I would join her for breakfast and shrug at her request to know why she was still a prisoner in my house.
Then the rest of the expected interactions would follow suit.
She’d try to ignore me as her “captor-slash-roommate,” which was how she referred to me when Maksim questioned her.
I’d test the limits of my patience, asking her about anything that could pertain to that night of almost death.
We’d eat together.
My brothers and cousins would come over to ask what she knew.
And still, her story stayed frustratingly the same.
Before I would consider giving up completely, I had to plan to seduce her for intel.
But the more that we cycled about this simmering chemistry that bubbled up between us, I got hooked on the idea of seducing her for the sake of my sanity.
I couldn’t be there every day for that first week.
I still had to manage all the other things that fell on my shoulders.
And I did. I was able to leave my house and know that Paul and the other guards would keep her there.
I was able to focus on all that I supervised and know that my brothers and cousins would try to get answers out of her too.
“Look, all I’m saying is that her story doesn’t change,” Nikolai admitted when I came home.
“And the more that you just… live with her like this,” Maksim said, “it seems like a waste of time to expect her to have anything useful for us.”
I shook my head, watching her clean up the kitchen from where she’d made dinner. It might have been a trick of the eye, but I could’ve sworn I saw Paul’s mouth move, like he was helping her clean up and actually talking to her.
“I beg to differ. She could still unknowingly hold onto the critical intelligence we need.”
My brothers shared a glance and didn’t comment.
“And because we’re being so careful not to mention Gregori specifically when we ask her anything, it’s a slow approach to getting answers,” I said.
We’d all agreed not to mention him by name because if she was at all involved with any bribes from him or his leaders within the network he’d formed, it would be giving away what we knew about his activities.
They left, and I wondered if I was dragging this out too long. If I liked having her here and was duping myself to see her not as an agent who’d have to go back to being the enemy again, but an ally.
She asked daily for clarification as to why she was my prisoner, and I ceased acknowledging her question. But as I stood out on the patio in the dark after my brothers left, I studied her cleaning up the kitchen. She acted like she just fit here, like she could belong here.
She’d met all my brothers and cousins, which should have felt like a risk, letting her see and meet the top of the Bratva leadership, but it hadn’t. It felt more like introducing her to my family and seeing how she’d get along with them.
She’d gone along with me to their houses, which should have seemed like an awkward test. Instead, she’d merely accompanied me and acted like a friend reluctantly tagging along on an errand.
“What the hell am I going to do with you?” I muttered aloud.
No one had posted anything about her being missing.
Not a single member of the agency had acted like she was gone.
Why?
How?
I shook my head, impatient with the questions.
I entered the house, sliding the door shut after me.
“I demand that you let me go.”
She stated it like she was tired of hearing those words out of her mouth.
I glanced at her as I steered her to go upstairs, done with the kitchen.
“Viktor, I’m not going to change my story. I don’t know any answers that you want or need.” She climbed the stairs, my hands on her shoulders as I guided her to call it a night. “I can’t change my story.”
I was running out of ways to ask her the same things over and over again.
According to her, she’d been looking into Rico Johnson, tracking him from a financial angle only.
She didn’t have any guesses about how Smithson could be corrupt but wouldn’t claim that it was impossible as part of human nature.
In my room, she moved to the sofa she was claiming as her bed.
Even that compromise was wearing on me.
She sat on it while I lowered to sit on the edge of the coffee table in front of it.
“I had nothing to do with anything that anyone was investigating about your family.” She raised her brows as if curious whether this hundredth time of saying it would work.
I set my hands on the edge of the table and stared at her.
“What are you looking for?” She shook her head, exasperated. “What do you think I can know that you’re keeping me here for?”
I tilted my head, studying her. “You think you can turn the tables and ask me the questions?”
“Haven’t you, all of you, asked me the same things over and over again already? It’s not getting you anywhere.”
Maybe not. But having her live with me in this confusing co-inhabitance was getting me more closer to losing control.
“You think you’re in any position to ask the questions?” I repeated.
She smirked, shaking her head.
“Fine.”
I’d play this game.
“What?” She furrowed her brow, wary.
“You ask me whatever you want.”
She opened and closed her mouth. “What?”
“Gotta be more specific than that.”
“No, I’m— Viktor. That’s what I’ve been telling you.
I wasn’t on any case that involved you. I didn’t have any cases of my own at all.
I just started that day. I only know a little about Smithson being the one to keep tabs on all the crime families, but I don’t have any questions I need you to answer for me.
” She huffed, like she couldn’t believe it was hard for me to understand that.
“You did just ask me questions, though.”
She nodded. “Okay. Here. When will you release me? Why won’t you release me? There. That’s what I want to know.”
I shook my head. “You can ask me a question once you’ve earned it with a kiss.”
She lowered her gaze for a moment. “Oh, so now you want to play games like that?” She rolled her eyes.
“I’m not playing at anything.” I gripped her hips and slid her to the edge of the sofa.
“From now on…” I cupped her face and smoothed my thumb over her cheek.
“If you want to ask me something…” I tucked her red hair back behind her ear on the opposite side of where I held her face.
“Kiss me and earn the right to ask me whatever you want.”
She exhaled a long breath through her nose. “Whatever.” She leaned in and pecked a chaste kiss on my cheek.
I didn’t budge, holding her head as she reared back and gave me a smug look.
“I kissed you.”
“That wasn’t a kiss.”
“You didn’t specify what kind of a kiss.”
“Oh.” I lunged forward, sitting next to her and shifting her onto my lap. Before she could protest, I gripped her chin. “My bad. Like this, Red.”
I slammed my mouth to hers, taking the instant hit of lust like a punch in the gut. She stole my breath, stunning me with the primal need that singed me from the contact of her lips against mine.
She gasped in surprise, and I took advantage, tilting my head to ensure a better fit.
I pulled back and watched her.
“Viktor…” She licked her lips and didn’t retreat. “Do you really think your idea to seduce me can work?”
“That’s your question?” I mocked. “That’s what you want to know?”
She frowned. “No. That’s not…” She pressed her lips shut.
“Because I know I can seduce you.”
She narrowed her eyes.
“I’m not interested in playing games,” she insisted.
“What are you interested in?”
“Getting out of here. Returning to my normal life. Working in the field I will always be passionate about. As an agent.”
I didn’t back down, getting addicted to the idea of keeping her on my lap all night long. I’d humored her long enough, letting her sleep on this fucking couch. She belonged in my bed.
“What answers are you looking for to want to keep me against my will here?”
I smirked. “A kiss for a question.”
She sighed and leaned in to press her lips to mine. It wasn’t a too-quick, chaste peck again. She lingered, sagging against me for a moment.
“I’m looking for any intel that can help keep my family safe from enemies.”
She frowned. “You mean in keeping Adrik safe from another hit? I don’t know anything about that hit. I don’t know much about any of the cases this branch has going on. What enemies are you referring to?”
“A kiss for a—”
She silenced my request, laying her lips against mine again.
I threaded my fingers up into her glossy hair, so thankful that she’d switched to the contacts I’d ordered for her.
I was sure she had more at her apartment, but since all her things were in boxes yet, I bet that it would’ve been a mess to have men find them. Ordering new ones was easiest.
She let out a breathy sigh when she pulled back.
“All of them, Red. I intend to find out whatever I can about anyone trying to bring us down. Even you and your agency.”
“What are—” She groaned, anticipating that I’d correct her about the order, a kiss for a question.
When she sealed her lips to mine this time, I held her there and parted her lips.
She didn’t back up, letting me slip my tongue in and taste her.
Pure lust consumed me, heating up my blood and making my heart race. My dick ached, getting hard under my pants, under her legs as she sat there.
“Viktor, I—” She sucked in a breath, lowering her tumultuous gaze to my lips as I slid my hand up her skirt. “That’s not part of the agreement.”
“Agreement? We didn’t make an agreement. We set up a barter system. A kiss for a question.”
“But that’s—” She flinched, her lips parting again as I tugged her panties aside and stroked over her pussy.
“Oh, fuck, Red. You’re soaked.”
“I… I know what you’re doing…”
“Yeah?” I grinned, kissing under her ear. “Been a while though, right? Because you’re fucking tight.”
“I… I know… that…” She panted, parting her legs on my lap.
“It has been a while?” I growled as I kissed her neck. “You should’ve told me.”
“No!” She gripped my forearm, but I didn’t take my hand from her. “That’s not what I meant.”
With her fingers wrapped around my arm, I resumed stroking her entrance.
“I meant I know what you’re doing. Trying to seduce me for answers.”
“Oh. So it hasn’t been a while?” I kissed her neck and sucked on her flesh. “Because I’m not fond of the idea of anyone else having a chance to feel you like this.”
“It’s none of your business if it’s been a while!” She gripped my hair and wrenched my head up so I’d face her glaring at me.
I had to give her credit. She’d lasted longer than I thought she might.
“Why do you think you have to seduce me to get any answers when I’ve already told you what I know?’
I licked my lips and tried to hide a smile. “A kiss for a question.”
She was fuming, caught with my finger near her pussy and my mouth inches from hers.
I moved my fingertip back toward her wetness, keeping my eyes on hers.
She didn’t fight. She didn’t say anything as I pushed in.
With her fingers still gripping my hair, I leaned in to kiss that sweet spot under her ear.
Then next to it. And again. Kissing along her jaw and getting addicted with the chance of tasting her everywhere, I worked my finger into her a little deeper.
Then more. Aiming for her mouth as I felt her sink into my touch, I tried not to force her.
But to give her enough rope.
Enough slack in the tether.
So she’d succumb to me.
I kissed her cheek, next to her mouth, and she let out a sexy sigh.
Turning her head toward mine, she kissed me back as I wedged my finger in all the way, massaging her smooth inner walls.
Got you.
She clung to me, kissing me back as I fingered her faster. Her grip on my hair loosened as she slid it back, cradling my head as I lowered her to the couch.
I got you, Red.
And you’re not going anywhere.