I can’t bear the thought of being locked up here. I don’t care how beautiful this room is.I want to go home.
“I have no choice,malyshka. Which means neither do you.”
“You do have a choice. You can let me go and I won’t say a word. I’ll disappear, I’ll?—”
He plants a finger over my lips to quieten me. "You will learn to stop asking."
Again his words terrify me, and I clamp my lips shut.
"And as for an escape, any attempt will be futile. My men patrol the perimeter. There are alarms on every possible exit. Every window." His eyes narrow a fraction."Do you understand what I'm telling you, Holly?"
Yes, I’m fucked.
“So I’m expected to just stay in this room?”
“Tomorrow you will come down for breakfast.”
“And if I don’t?”
"Then I'll come get you myself." He lets that hang in the air between us. "And you won't like how that conversation goes."
He's standing close and I'm acutely aware of how much bigger he is, how easily he could break me.
“And if I try to escape?”
"Don’t," he says, his voice dropping lower. "Save your energy for more... productive activities."
The way his gaze drops to my mouth for just a second sends a shiver through me that definitely isn't fear.
I should be terrified.I am terrified. But there's something else too, something I don't want to examine, something that makes me very aware of his proximity, his heat, and the way he's looking at me.
I’ve been kidnapped by the most handsome man in the fucking world.
I clear my throat and take a step back, breaking whatever spell was starting to weave around me. "Then I’ll say good night."
A ghost of a smile tugs at his lips. Amusement at my attempt to dismiss him. "Good night." He moves toward the door but pauses at the threshold. "This door is lockable only from the inside if it makes you feel safer.” His piercing gaze meets mine. “Although we both know it wouldn't stop me if I wanted in."
He turns away and pulls the door closed behind him.
I stand frozen for a long moment, staring at that closed door, my heart hammering against my ribs.
It’s a test. To see if I’ll do as I’m told. And even if I did make it to one of the doors or windows leading out of the lodge, he probably wasn’t lying when he said they were all alarmed.
After all, he probably has a lot of people wanting to kill him.
I’ve known him only a few hours and I’ve already imagined twenty different ways to off him.
Feeling dazed, I sink onto the edge of the massive bed to contemplate my next move.
Five hours ago, I was trying to dodge my cheating ex-boyfriend and cold-hearted boss. Now I’m trapped inside this remote mountain retreat with a man I saw kill someone in front of me.
I drop my head into my hands and try to steady my breathing as I think.
I don’t have many options.
I will have to comply with Nikolai’s demands.
Or face the consequences.
