Chapter 16 – Nik
She’d been avoiding me like the plague.
At first, I thought it was just the aftereffects of being intimate with her “jailer”—the man she claimed to loathe so much. I made up excuses for her behavior, telling myself that she was probably too embarrassed to face me after what we did.
But weeks had gone by now, and each time she spotted me from afar, she’d look away and turn in the opposite direction. The plan was to ignore this attitude; however, it was becoming suspicious.
Her sudden behavior got me thinking, wondering if this withdrawal started after we had sex, or after she went into the restroom that night at the gala. If memory served me right—and it did—she was doing just fine at the table before she excused herself.
She laughed so hard that night, and even when I dared to be naughty and touch her secretly, her body didn’t reject me. We exchanged hidden glances and shared deep, unspoken words. I thought we had a thing—some kind of connection that night.
Everything turned sour after she returned from the restroom. Her smiles seemed forced—plastic. Her attention was divided, as if she had something on her mind, something powerful enough to keep her distracted. She tried so hard to mask it, but I caught glimpses of fear and guilt in her eyes.
I refused to read any meaning into all of those signs, and if she weren’t acting all shady these days, I wouldn’t have dug up that memory. She left me with no choice but to evaluate her behavior and keep an eye on her.
I had one of my most trusted men, Boris, monitor her movements in the house whenever I was away. And from hisreport, it appeared she’d been spending a lot of time with the maids—especially the one called Katerina.
According to Boris, she’d developed a habit of cleaning and helping out in the kitchen. As expected, the maids were against her involvement in their jobs, but she didn’t give them a choice.
It seemed like a harmless gesture at the beginning, and I thought maybe she was just bored and decided to pass the time. But when Boris mentioned the suspicious movements with the maid Katerina, it piqued my interest.
He said he’d seen Katerina sneaking in and out of myDikaya’sroom more than once. Boris claimed he suspected those two were up to something—he just couldn’t prove it.
That explained why the maid, Katerina, always seemed nervous around me these past few days. I used to think it was because I scolded her for spilling wine all over my document weeks ago. But it made sense now. Her nervousness in my presence wasn’t about the wine incident; it was because she was hiding something.
I could easily get the truth out of the maid—all I had to do was ask. The fragile little thing might faint at this point if I summoned her to my office. Out of fear, she’d snitch on myDikayaand tell me everything she knew.
But where was the fun in that?
This was a game, and Katerina was merely a pawn—her role here was insignificant. If I needed answers, I knew exactly where and how to get them.
Tonight, I’d just gotten home from a late-night outing with my older brother, Roman. He’d been out of the country for a while, taking care of some Bratva business overseas.
Roman wasn’t just feared; he was seen as inevitable. He was the kind of man who didn’t need to raise his voice to command silence. The forty-year-old son of a gun wasdisciplined to the point of obsession, rarely letting emotion break through his iron control.
However, beneath his cold exterior was a fierce loyalty to family that no one had yet conquered.
Roman’s quiet laughter trailed off, his relaxed form sinking deeper into the couch. He lifted his glass of vodka to his lips and took a sip. “So, tell me, brother; the rumors about the girl…are they true?”
I heaved a sigh, crossing my legs as I leaned back on my couch across from him. “Depends on what you heard.”
He held my gaze, swirling the glass in his hand. “Nothing tangible,” he said, his voice low and even. “But it’s got people talking.”
“People always talk, Roman.”
We were relaxing on the rooftop of one of the tallest buildings in the city, surrounded by softly glowing string lights. Above, the full moon reached its peak, its ethereal glow illuminating everything it touched. Below, the city throbbed with a soft hum, the distant lights of buildings and cars blending into a stunning blur of color and motion.
“Do you know anything about this girl, Nik?” he asked me, his jet-black hair catching the moonlight.
“She belongs to me,” I answered. “I bought her.”
“I don’t doubt that. But did you run a background check on her?”
I reached for my glass and took a sip.
“You didn’t, did you?”
“I will,” came my response. “For now, I’m just enjoying this little game.”
