His eyes narrow. “And then?”
I suck in my cheeks. “Dina cooked me lunch, and we chatted a while. And then she showed me to your entertainment room, where I watched a movie.”
His fingers flex tighter around my throat, making it even more difficult to draw in oxygen. “Are you lying to me, Anya?”
“No, why would I lie?” I ask, unable to understand what exactly he wants from me.
“Because I may have kidnapped you, but I don’t trust you aren’t a spy.”
It feels like a punch to the gut, as I laugh humorlessly. “A spy? Are you fucking serious?”
Valery tilts his head. “Why is that so funny to you? After all, you are the daughter of Grigory Lebedev, my sworn enemy.”
Anger replaces the hurt I’d felt as I glare at the man in front of me. A man I slept with only last night. It’s ridiculous how elation can quickly turn sour. “Because I was practically a prisoner of my father’s most of my life. He doesn’t let me do anything, and you think that I’d spy for him?” I shake my head. “I hate that man.”
“That is a sentiment we have in common.” His eyes narrow. “Prove it.”
“How?” I ask.
Valery drags his tongue over his lip. “Explain your father’s ledgers to me.” He holds up the folder.
I stare at him wide eyed, unable to believe that Valery risked his life for some stupid folder. “That’s why you wanted to break into my home?”
“Yes,” he says simply.
“You have a death wish going after my father like this.”
I realize in an instance that I said the wrong thing as rage flares to life in those almost black eyes of his. He pulls me against his hard body. “Don’t underestimate my power in this godforsaken city.”
His arrogance is laughable because while Valery and his bratva do well, they don’t have any influence beyond Zelenograd. “Your power doesn’t stretch past the okrug of Zelenograd.”
His grip tightens, making me panic as I claw at his fingers. “If you are trying to piss me off, then you are doing a good job, printessa.”
I frown at him, but know when to keep my mouth shut. Valery clearly has a lot of pride and doesn’t like his ego being bruised. Instead, I hold his gaze without cowering away. He may be trying to intimidate me, but the thing is I’ve grown up around men ten times worse than him.
“You may have kidnapped me, but all you did was move me from one prison to another,” I say, knowing that the reason I’ve reacted so calmly to being kidnapped is because this makes a pleasant difference to the prison I’ve spent my entire life in.
His grip loosens. “Your father didn’t imprison you.”
His assumption angers me. “You don’t know what he did. I was never allowed to leave the house unless I had an armed escort, and even then, my outings were limited.” I glare at him with all the anger I feel for my father. “I wasn’t even allowed to finish high school because he got paranoid as I got older that I’d sleep with a boy and ruin his chances to get a high price for my hand.”
A small smile twists onto Valery’s lips as he tilts his head. “Oops, I think you’ve been devalued by me,” he murmurs, his voice dropping an octave as he slips his hand to the back my her neck, pulling me even closer. “And I intend to devalue you every fucking night.”
As if like a flick of the switch, I feel the desire rise inside of me as I drag my tongue over my bottom lip, desperate to feel him inside of me again, even though I’m still sore. “Good.”
Valery yanks me viciously against him, our lips crashing together as he thrusts his tongue deep into my mouth, swiping frantically around it as if he wants to consume me. The way he makes me feel is addictive.
I moan into his mouth as I relax against him, all the tension I felt a moment ago melting away.
After a minute, he breaks away. Eyes dilated with a longing that matches my own. “Let’s take this to my bedroom, printessa.”
I can’t seem to resist him when he calls me that. And all my anger from a moment ago is completely forgotten. “Okay.”
He looks a little surprised at my willingness, but grabs my hand, yanking me down the corridor with haste and then up the stairs as if he has no patience whatsoever. That electric connection I feel he clearly feels, too.
He bypasses the room I’ve been staying in and opens the door to the next room. Before it has even swung shut, he pulls me against him and kisses me with such desire it makes me weak at the knees.
I claw onto his shoulders for support as he starves my lungs of oxygen with the passion of his kiss. After a long while, I pull away in an effort to draw oxygen into my lungs.