Cruel Paradise - A Mafia Romance Chapter 129

“So FaceTime her.”

“I know this is a foreign concept to you, but I need human contact. Some in-person, face-to-face, I-can-see-her-and-she-can-see-me contact. So I thought I’d invite her over here one day. I just wanted to run it—”

“I don’t want anyone coming in or out of the estate unless they’ve been vetted first.”

“So vet her.”

“The process takes two months.”

I have no idea if that’s true or if he’s just being an ass but I decide to put on my problem-solver hat and give him another option. “Fine. Then can I get my car keys back? I’ll go meet her outside the estate.”

That suggestion at least gets me a little eye contact. I’ve forgotten how obnoxiously beautiful those amber eyes are.

Who am I kidding? Of course I haven’t forgotten.

“No. Out of the question.”

“Why the hell not?”

“Did you not hear a word I just said? It’s not safe out there. You really think I’m gonna send you out into the world where you’re vulnerable?”

My heart quivers just the tiniest amount. If I squint and turn my head to the side and sort go cross-eyed a little bit, it almost looks like he cares about my safety.

“You’re pregnant,” he adds. “I’m not about to let you carry my heir into harm’s way.”

Well, there goes that theory. And since he’s just shot my request down, I have no reason to be polite anymore. “So what you’re saying is that I’m your prisoner?”

“At least until the baby is born.”

“That’s months away, Ruslan.”

“Lucky for you, this is a big estate. Go explore it.”

“Let me take Kirill with me then,” I suggest. “He can protect me. He can be my personal bodyguard, if that’s what it takes to get me out of—”

Ruslan slams his palms down on the desk and rears himself up to his full height. I’m not quite sure which part of that suggestion ticked him off the most, but suddenly, he looks very pissed. His nostrils flare, his eyes shoot daggers at me, and he’s wearing a violent scowl that shows off his sharp canines.

“No one will be escorting you anywhere.”

“You escorted me to the doctor’s.”

“I am different.”

“By that, do you mean you’re a complete and total asshole?” I yell. “Because if so, I completely agree! You are different.”

“This is about your safety!”

“No! This is about your fetish for control.”

He rounds the table, his chest rising and falling heavily. “Oh, I don’t presume to think I can control you. You’re the one pulling the strings, aren’t you, little kiska?”

I can’t lie—hearing him use that word on me again sends a shooting thrill up my spine. But I’m too pissed off to care. Much, much too pissed off.

“Right,” I spit, getting right up in his face before he gets in mine. “Because I’m just the devious whore who seduced you in order to use you and then sell you out to the highest bidder. That’s the narrative you’ve created in your head, huh? Maybe I should just freaking lean into it.”

His eyes flash—with anger? Or excitement? I really don’t know.

“You don’t want to fan that fire, kiska.”

“Or maybe I do,” I hiss. “Maybe I should just be your whore. Get on my knees and make the big, bad CEO happy, just for the chance to invite my friend over? That’s what you expect of me?”

“Emma…” There’s a clear and obvious warning in his voice but the adrenaline is pounding hard. So is my vagina. It doesn’t help that he’s so close that I can feel his heat, his scent. My body remembers how it feels for him to move inside of me.

“You want me to be your whore again?” I push. “Is that it?”

“Stop it.”

I don’t even know where to start with processing what I’m feeling right now. There’s so much to unpack. The first and most dominant layer is longing. Then there’s desire. Anger. Resentment. Sadness. Fear.

After that, more longing.

So much longing.

My eyes connect with his. That fire-bright stare makes me feel like I’m in real danger. I’ve been burned before but that look has the power to do so much more damage.

If I let it.

“I’m leaving,” I announce.

I turn to run from this very bad decision when his hand shoots out and grabs my arm. He pulls me backward until my ass hits his desk. Then he plants himself in front of me, snuffing out any chance of an escape.

“You think you get to decide when you can leave?” he growls. “You think you can just tease me and walk out?”

I shiver as his breath tickles my cheeks. He keeps a vise grip on my gaze, refusing to let go of it.

Or of me.

Or of all the fragile parts of my heart he’s owned from the very beginning of this adventure that I still can’t quite bring myself to fully regret.

“You’re not the one pulling the strings, kiska. I am.”

23

RUSLAN

It’s not like I don’t already have a lot on my plate.

Sergey is still missing.

My team managed to pilfer one of Adrik’s samples of Sopernik and, coincidence of coincidences, it happens to be chemically identical to Venera. Which only confirms what I already knew to be true: that unoriginal bastard not only abducted my lead chemist; he’s also ripping off my moneymaker drug right before my eyes.

If that weren’t enough, I have a moron for an assistant who I can’t bring myself to get rid of, just in case she’s replaced with an even bigger moron.

And now, she’s here.

Prime time for Emma to start fighting back. Right when I’m too fucking weak to resist her. To resist this.

All those weeks of keeping my distance, all those times I turned away from her—all those little moments have built up and I can feel the dam start to crack. I should have let her run out of this office like she clearly wanted to.

But I didn’t.

So now, she’s trapped between me and the desk, her blue eyes fixed on mine with a fire that makes me think she’s not all that mad about it.

“Maybe I should make you my whore again. Is that what you want?” I murmur as I move in on her.

She pushes her shoulders back and her chest out. It’s a fighting stance. But honestly, she doesn’t really need it. Everything about her right now tells me that she’s more than ready to do battle if she needs to.

“I would tell you what I want,” she says. Her tone is cold and focused. “But you wouldn’t understand.”

I lean in towards her, grazing my lips from her ear to her cheek. “I understand that you’re good at this game.”

“That’s exactly the difference between us: this is not a game to me.”

I pull back a little and make the mistake of meeting her eyes. They’re so bright right now, shining with whatever you call the thing that comes before unshed tears.

“No?” I ask. “Tell me something: why did you really come in here, kiska?” She flinches. I wonder idly if I’ve stumbled on something here. Curious, I dig my heels in and place my hands on either side of the desk, locking her in. “Tell me.”