“You know what you did. You left me after I gave everything to save your innocence. But in the end, I was the only one instead of a long line of Chernov made-men, so that’s something.” He tutted at my expression. “You never did know the bratva your father owned money to, did you? Spoiled little rich Molly, living on dirty money with no clue where it came from. It came from me, my family, my father . . . my legacy. Because of you, I returned home,” he said roughly. “My father would have sent you a thank-you gift if only I could have found you.”
“I didn’t want to run away! I fought my father—”
“Henry Madison will pay for what he did, like you will, Molly. Loving you cost me a future – but I’ll still have you till the end of your days,” he said darkly.
He was so close I could feel his blood pulsing. I tried to pull from the manacle he’d made of his hands but didn’t move him an inch.
A shocked, wild laugh left me. “What are you going to do? Kill me? Is that the kind of thing you do nowadays?”
I immediately regretted the question when Kirill’s grin darkened.“If killing you is the worst thing you can imagine, Molly, darling, you’re more naïve than I thought. But you’re not wrong . . . killing is very much the kind of thing I do nowadays. Don’t worry. I don’t want to killyou.”
“Then what do you want?”
“I want to rewrite my name right here. Ink it so deep you’ll never get it out,” he breathed, tapping a finger over my heart and making it leap under his fingers. “I want to own you, but don’t worry, I take good care of my possessions.”
I didn’t have a single word to counter his statement.
He suddenly let me go, and I sagged to the floor halfway beneath his desk as my knees refused to hold me. I rubbed at my wrists where he’d gripped them as he leaned back in his chair and stared at me, kneeling by his feet.
“I like you on your knees, Molly. Although, I might prefer you cowering and begging for your freedom more than your blow job skills. But I’m not complaining. What you lack in experience, you make up for in enthusiasm, Princess,” he said with a smirk.
An incredulous laugh left me. “You think I’m going to feel bad because I’m not good at giving you head? I wish I’d bitten it off,” I spat, eyeing him as if he were crazy.
A loud, booming laugh filled the room.He ran a hand through his hair and shook his head. “Fuck. I missed you, Mallory Madison. I’m glad your shitty life hasn’t broken your spirit too much. I want to be the one to do that.”
He stood suddenly, and I tensed.My head was swirling, and I couldn’t catch my breath. The stunning U-turn had left me reeling. “Why are you doing this now? Why pretend at all?”
“Because I’m not the man you loved, and I couldn’t risk you running from me again. Besides, it was amusing to see your elation at finding your long-lost love again . . . and best of all, he’s rich and powerful. You thought you had it made, didn’t you?”
“You’re sick,” I muttered, flinching as he crouched beside me.
He reached out to touch my hair.“I am what you made me,” he said quietly. “Don’t worry, you’ll have plenty of time to get to know exactly what that is. All the time in the world. We are going to have so much fun together.”
I gulped cool air and tried to think, watching him cautiously as he stepped over me and headed for the door.
“You can stay in here today if you want. Familiarize yourself with all I know about you. Don’t try to phone anyone. All calls go through the front desk, which my men run. You’re living in my world now, Princess.”
He opened the door, and I watched, dumbfounded, as he stepped into the corridor.
“I don’t understand any of this,” I called out to him, my voice imploring. “What do you want from me?”
Kirill stopped shy of closing the door and met my eyes. Contrary to his twisted smirk, his eyes were so dark I felt like they were pulling my soul out through my eyeballs. Waiting to devour me.
“Everything.”
24
MOLLY
Icouldn’t sleep once I’d checked that Kirill really had locked me in the study.
I opened the blinds and wandered around, absorbing what had happened. It seemed so obvious now that something had been off. The cold, distant way he’d treated me. His remoteness when we were intimate. I thought it was awkwardness because we’d been apart for so long, but it was anger. Fury.
Whatever had happened to Kirill that night, he blamed me for it. He blamed me for running, and he was looking for payback. I swallowed down the memory of clinging to him only hours before, telling him I loved him and trying to find a way through his walls. I thought of my ridiculous happiness in finding him again. I’d been such an idiot. Kirill Lewis, the boy I’d loved, the only person in my life guaranteed to make me happy, was gone. A cold, vicious stranger had stolen his face and memories.
I cried alone in the dark, where he couldn’t see. Kirill used to hate my tears, but this incarnation of him might enjoy them. I cried for his cruelty and the crushing disappointment filling me. I cried for myself, like the selfish bitch I could be. Most of all, I cried for him, the boy I’d loved so much. My bright and shining future. What had happened to that boy? I stuffed a blanket in my mouth and screamed into it.
I’d used up all my tears by early afternoon and finally fell asleep. Luckily for me, the office had a private bathroom, or the potted plants would have gotten a different kind of watering.