Beautiful and utterly without mercy.
I could barely breathe as he reached into the breast pocket of his jacket, his movements deliberate, unhurried. Like he had all the time in the world to destroy me.
My knees trembled, and tears built behind my eyes.
Was he reaching for a gun? A knife? Some instrument of torture he was going to use to make me suffer for his amusement?
Instead, he pulled out a diamond necklace.
CHAPTER 6
ANNA
My eyebrows furrowed as I stared at the beautiful piece of high-end jewelry, confused.
Was it a bribe?
A gift?
Some sick joke?
I didn't understand what was happening.
A large center teardrop diamond was flanked by a few small clusters, all placed on a beautiful, polished platinum choker. The diamonds caught the firelight, throwing rainbows across the cream walls.
It was stunning. The kind of thing you'd see behind bulletproof glass in a jewelry store, the kind that cost more than my entire life.
He shifted back only an inch—not far, not nearly far enough—and his hand that was on the wall flew out and wrapped around my throat, his fingers spanning the width of it easily. His thumb dug in just under my jaw, forcing my chin up, exposing the vulnerable line of my neck.
My hands immediately went to my throat, covering it, hiding it from his gaze like I could somehow stop him from choking the life out of me.
My fingers clawed at his wrist, trying to pry him off. "What are you doing?"
"Put your hands down," he demanded gently. My stomach twisted at the contrast between the softness of his words and the steel in his grip.
"No, tell me what you're doing," I ordered, but it came out more like a pathetic plea. Breathless and broken.
"Lower your hands," he said again, his voice dropping an octave.
Not louder, but somehow more commanding. More absolute.
I shook my head. If I obeyed, my life was forfeit. The moment I gave in, the moment I stopped fighting, it was over.
His gaze darkened at my small defiance, and I tried to shrink against the wall, tried to make myself smaller, less threatening, lessthere.
There had to be a way out, something I could do. Some move I was missing.
"Maya soloveyka, do not make me repeat myself again."
My hands slowly lowered, fear filling my eyes with tears as my bottom lip trembled. I couldn't stop it, couldn't stop the shaking that took over my whole body.
If I obeyed I'd die, but if I didn't, I'd die slowly.
And I was a coward.
God help me, I was a coward who didn't want to suffer.
His warm fingers brushed my skin as he placed the necklace around my throat, the metal cold against my overheated flesh.
