When he’s done, he doesn’t move. His palms remain against my hips. Familiar. Possessive. Unwelcome.
Or at least that’s what I try to tell myself.
Because my eyes flutter shut the moment he touches me. My body doesn’t care how wrong this is. It only knows his hands, what he makes me feel.
“Aleksei…” I breathe, trying to step forward, to break the spell.
But his arm snakes around me, dragging me back into him like I’m his to hold.
“This was a mistake. All of it.”
He hums, low and unbothered, his mouth skimming along the side of my neck. “Is that what you tell yourself after every time you scream my name?”
His words cut deeper than I want to admit. Because he’s not wrong.
“You beg for it, then pretend it didn’t happen.” His exhale fans down my throat, and I feel it everywhere. “You act like fighting me makes it less real. Like losing to me doesn’t make you wet.”
My cheeks burn. My stomach twists. Disgrace twines inside me, but not for the reasons it should.
Because he made me feel wanted. Desired. Worshipped and defiled in the same breath. And I loved it. I loved it all.
Even now, I want to lean into him. Let him fuck me again. But I won’t.
“I don’t want you,” I whisper. “I’m using you.”
He laughs under his breath, then flips me around so fast I stumble. That large, masculine hand wraps around my throat, caging me, making me ache all over again.
“Either way…” he says, rough and possessive. “You belong to me, detka.” His lips slowly drop to mine, teasing them slowly. “You can hate it. You can fight it. But I’ll always be in control. You will never be rid of me.”
My pulse slams against his palm.
“You haven’t won,” I grit out. “You haven’t won a goddamn thing, Marinov. Trust me.”
His smile is crooked. Poisonous. Like he knows something I don’t. And the chill that slips down my spine tells me he might.
“Hope you got your fill. Because I’m done. With this. With you. With all of it. And I mean it this time.”
My words don’t waver, gaze sharp.
He drops his hand away and simply watches me. That same maddening smile. Like he’s already rewritten the ending I’ve yet to read.
“Oh, Ms. Clark…” His eyes gleam. “You have no idea how wrong you are.”
The words hang in the air long after I rush out, impossible to shake. And for the first time, I’m not sure if I’ve just ended something…
Or if I’ve walked straight into a trap I’ll never dig out of.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
ALEKSEI
The door closes behind her,but I don’t move. Not right away.
Not when my blood is still thrumming with the taste of her. Her scent rooted in the air. Her sounds echoing in this room like a memory I’ll take to the grave.
I see it all. Feel it again like it’s happening now. Every twitch. Every tremble. Every war she waged and lost.
She will pretend it meant nothing. She will lie because she has to. It’s the only way she survives this.
