He waves her in, and she disappears into the bathroom. Soon the sound of running water fills the room, followed by steam and the rich, earthy satin aromas of eucalyptus, lavender, argan.
“If Sacha touches me again,” I hear myself saying, “I will claw his eyes out and leave him too blind to shoot.”
Maxim watches me, his expression untroubled. Does he see the girl he slept with three years ago? The one he thought was innocent, wholesome, in need of a strong man with strong arms and generous love to give?
Or does he see the Snake’s Daughter, an access point, and nothing else?
“It’s ready,” says Lilly softly. Maxim waves her in and she comes to my side, taking in the blood on my face and the red, rapid swelling at my throat before helping me up. Even though I don’t want to, even though it makes me look weak, I let her. “Come.”
“I’ll see to it what you need is ordered.”
“There’s more,” I say, so sharply Lilly startles. “Come.”
Maxim narrows his eyes at me, hesitating.
“It’s nothing you haven’t seen before,” I taunt, wanting, suddenly, to break that cold face wide open and discover what, if anything, remains beneath. “Come.”
This time he doesn’t hesitate, perhaps chagrined by the challenge, but follows us into the beautiful, sprawling tiled bathroom. I lift my arms, holding Maxim’s eyes as Lilly begins to undress me.Don’t look away, you coward,I think bitterly. He doesn’t.
“I want clothing,” I say, as Lilly slides my blouse over my head. “Comfort. I want everything I am accustomed to having.”
“You are not who you were,” he says, and for a breath-hitching second, I think he means the girl he met in a Moscow bar all those years ago. But his hard eyes gleam, and he continues, “You were living modestly in America.”
“Yes. And I’ve tired of it.” Lilly directs me to step out of my trousers, stripping my stockings. Maxim’s shoulders stiffen, but his eyes don’t leave my face.Come on. Flinch, Maxim. Let us see who really has the power here.“I want to live the way I lived in Russia. Clearly you can afford it.” I look around the splendid, lavish bathroom with pointed eyes. “I suspect none of this will be a problem.”
Lilly unhooks my bra, and finally, Maxim looks away, red creeping into his cheeks.Victory.I suppress a smile and turn my back on him, stepping deftly into the hot water and sinking low. It almost takes my breath away how delicious it feels, corroding days of travel, exhaustion, horror, pain, and history from my skin.
“So long as you do as you’re commanded,” Maxim finally answers, “this will not be a problem.”
“Good.” I extend a hand to him. “I look forward to our…partnership.”
He meets my eyes, his own twinkling. “Yes,” he says. “I’m sure you are.” Without another word, he turns his back, and leaves us alone.
Chapter Five
Maxim
“She is dangerous,” Sacha says, stalking along the walled perimeter of Roza Dom.
The beautiful old manor, handed down through a Russian family for over a century and a half, was one of my more strategic purchases. At the time, it was practically derelict, but much of the finery required only money and skilled labor to repair. It’s become something of a stronghold, posted outside of the city in the green-glowing mountains, surrounded by dense forests and creeks that freeze to black to ribbons in the winter. The opulence, once only an illusion, is the foundation of many valuable alliances. And, of course, with its walls and seclusion, it works well as a luxury prison.
Although I’ve never had such a…well-suitedguest. “She is useful,” I finally reply to Sacha. We wend through the snow, breath pluming. His looks up at her windows, face black with hatred. “We can contain her, Sacha. She is not a fire-breathing dragon. This place is more than equipped to keep her to heel.”
He looks the posted guards over when we pass them, eyes scathing. “They are still in contact, her and her father.”
“She maintains they aren’t.”
“And you believe her,” Sacha says with a bitter laugh. “Because she would fuck you if she thought it meant getting the upper hand?” When I say nothing, he looks back at me, searching my face with narrowed eyes. “You have already fucked her.”
“I didn’t know who she was. It was years ago.” I pull out a cigarette and lean against the wall, looking up at the grand old place and wondering, not for the first time, what it’d be like if it were just a house. No—a home. Filled with children, with memories made. Like her little home in Seattle, where photos covered the walls.She really thought she’d escaped. She really thought she was free.I light my cigarette.
Sacha paces, a brutish, massive black shadow. He runs a hand over his mouth. “Her claws are into you.”
“They’re not.” I blow smoke, looking up at her window. The drapes are closed. “But it is good if she believes they are.”
“No. No. It is a slippery slope.” Sacha jabs a finger back at the building. “She will sell you her pussy and then she will sell you her allegiance, and you will buy wholesale. When you think she’s in love with you, she’ll put a bullet in your back, just as her father did to Alexei.”
“I’m not a starry-eyed boy looking for love,” I say, taking another deep drag and kicking snow off my heels. “And she is not a virginal maid seeking to be rescued. We each know what the other is. These games can’t be played.”
