She belongs to us.Go to her.Make her understand.
I stayed in the shadows for a long moment, watching her breathe.Watching the pulse flutter in her throat.Letting myself imagine all the things I could do to her in this dark, private place.
Then I stepped into the clearing.
“Ms.Hughes.”
Her eyes flew open.She was on her feet before I finished speaking, her body tensed for flight.Recognition dawned a second later, and fear followed close behind.
Good.She should be afraid.
“Mr.Antonov.”Her voice came out steady.Impressive, given how fast her heart was racing.I could hear it from here.Could smell the spike of adrenaline beneath her skin, sharp and bright, mixing with that maddening sweetness underneath.“What are you doing here?”
“I’m a guest of the hotel.”I moved closer.Slowly.The way you approach a cornered animal.Let her feel the trap closing.“I heard about your father.I wanted to offer my condolences.”
“Your condolences.”She didn’t retreat, but I could see the effort it cost her.Her hands had curled into fists at her sides.“You’ll forgive me if I find that hard to believe.”
“Why?”
“Because I know who you are.”Her chin lifted.Defiance underneath the fear.Magnificent.“I’ve seen you on the news.Volkov Capital.Billion-dollar deals.Men like you don’t offer condolences to strangers.What do you really want?”
Smart girl.Brave girl.Stupid girl, standing her ground when everything in her body was telling her to run.She had no idea how close she was to the truth, how carefully I’d hidden my connection to her father’s debt behind layers of shell companies and corporate veils.
“I’m here because I knew your father.”I stopped a few feet away.Close enough to smell her properly now.Close enough to see the rapid rise and fall of her chest, the way her pupils had dilated in the darkness.Fear or arousal.Sometimes the body couldn’t tell the difference.“We had business dealings.He helped me once, years ago.I’d like to return the favor.”
Her laugh was brittle.“Return the favor how?I’ve seen the debt notices.Twenty million dollars to some company called Apex Lending.Unless you’re planning to write a very large check, I don’t see what favor you could possibly offer.”
“That’s exactly what I’m offering.”
Silence.The night air hung between us, thick with lilac and the intoxicating scent of her fear.Her pulse hammered against her throat.I watched it jump, imagined pressing my mouth there, feeling her heartbeat against my tongue.
She was scared of me.But she wasn’t running.
She feels it too,the wolf said.The pull.She knows she’s ours even if she doesn’t understand it.
“You expect me to believe a stranger is offering to pay twenty million dollars out of the goodness of his heart?”She crossed her arms, but I caught the tremor in her hands.“I wasn’t born yesterday, Mr.Antonov.”
“No.You were born June twenty-sixth.Twenty years ago.At four-seventeen in the morning, two weeks early.”I watched her face go pale.“Your mother almost died in childbirth.They kept her in the hospital for a week afterward.Your father brought you home alone.”
“How do you know that?”
“I know everything about you, Lena.”I let the words settle between us.“I know you haven’t slept more than four hours a night since your father’s stroke.I know you’ve been running yourself into the ground trying to save a sinking ship.I know you turned down Joe Bishop’s proposal before the stroke, and I know you haven’t told anyone why.”
Her breathing had gone shallow.“You’ve been watching me.”
“I’ve been waiting for you.There’s a difference.”
“There’s no difference.You’re a stalker.”
“I’m the man offering you a way out.”I stepped closer.“The question is whether you’re smart enough to take it.”
Her chin lifted, defiance flashing through the fear.“I don’t need your help.I’ve increased occupancy by four percent this month.I’m renegotiating the food contracts.I’m handling this.”
“Four percent.”I let amusement curl through my voice.“At that rate, you’ll pay off the debt in approximately forty-seven years.Assuming the interest doesn’t compound.Which it will.”
“I’ll find other investors.”
“You’ve already tried.Chase Manhattan said no.First Republic said no.The Whitmore Group laughed you out of the meeting.”I watched her face crumble, just slightly, at each name.“You’ve been to eleven banks and fourteen private investors in the past two weeks.They all said the same thing.The debt is too large, the collateral too uncertain, the risk too high.”
