I heard her inhale.
Shallow. Controlled.
The kind of breath someone takes right before they do something irrevocable.
She didn’t leave.
She walked toward me.
Three deliberate steps.
Her eyes—God help me—went molten.
She stepped into my space, so close I could see every fleck of gold in her irises, the rapid flutter of her pulse at the base of her throat.
“Don’t underestimate me, Mr. Dmitri,” she whispered.
Not a threat—a promise.Cold, quiet, absolute.
“Touch my son again,” she spat, voice shaking with fury, “and I swear to God I’ll end you myself. Hurt me if you want—just stay the fuck away from my child.”
Something inside me snapped so violently I saw white.
I was on my feet before the thought finished forming, fury roaring in my blood.
I towered over her—and still she did not back down.
Not an inch.
“You don’t get to threaten me in my own home,” I snarled. “And maybe teach your son to stay in his room. He came to me, Pen—asking questions you clearly planted in his mouth.”
I didn’t remember grabbing her.
I only knew my hands were already on her arms—hard, unrelenting—and then her back hit the CCTV desk with a thud that made the monitors rattle and papers explode in a snowstorm onto the floor.
She didn’t gasp. Didn’t flinch.
She stared up at me like I was nothing but an obstacle in her way.
I pressed forward, pinning her there—chest to chest, hip to hip, my body caging hers with terrifying ease.
Her scent hit me like a punch: jasmine, warm skin, and something wild and uniquely Penelope. Something that haunted me for five fucking years.
“I don’t know how they raised you in Greece,” I growled, my lips almost brushing her cheek, “but in my territory you show respect. With your words. With your actions. With your silence when I tell you to shut up.”
She spat in my face.
Warm. Sharp. Shocking.
I didn’t move.
Her nails dug into my forearms as she tried to shove me off, but I pressed harder, boxing her in completely until her breath came fast and furious against my throat.
“Get away from me!” she snarled.
“No.”
I leaned in until our noses almost touched, until I could feel her breath fan across my lips.
