Dmitri watches me with those calculating eyes, trying to read the shift in my demeanor.
"You seem... recovered," he says carefully.
"I am." I take a slow sip of wine, letting the silence stretch. "That was fun."
His eyebrow twitches. "Fun."
"Mmm." I set down my glass.
I lean forward slightly, lowering my voice.
"Sooner or later, you're going to fuck me, Dmitri. We both know it." The words come out steadier than I feel. "Iwantyou to. I'm not going to pretend otherwise."
His grip tightens on his wine glass. The only crack in his composure.
"But." I hold up one finger. "You're not going to win that easy. You think sending me a toy and making me come in public means you've got me figured out?"
I stand, smoothing down my dress.
"You haven't even scratched the surface."
I turn and walk away, feeling his stare burn into my back with every step.
Your move, Baganov.
Dmitri
I sit at the table like a man who's been shot but hasn't noticed the wound yet. The waiter approaches, takes one look at my face, and retreats.
Her words loop through my skull. The confidence in her voice. The way she walked away without looking back, spine straight, chin lifted, that fucking dress clinging to curves I can still feel under my palms.
She's wrong. I've figured her out perfectly.
What I miscalculated was myself.
The controller sits heavy in my pocket. Useless now. I pull it out, turn it over in my fingers. Rose gold. Completely inadequate for the woman who wore its companion piece to dinner with her bodyguard three feet away.
Vittoria Sartori looked me dead in the eyes and told me I hadn't won.
Blyad.
I drain my whiskey. The burn does nothing to settle the heat coiling low in my gut. Her moans still echo in my ears—those desperate little sounds she tried to swallow, the way her body arched into mine, her nails digging into my forearm hard enough to leave marks.
The waiter reappears with the check. I sign without looking, leave enough cash to buy his silence, and pull out my phone.
Yuri answers on the first ring. "Boss."
"Where is she?"
"SUV just passed the Lake Forest exit. Heading to the compound."
Home. Safe behind walls and guards and brothers who would gut me if they knew what I just did to their sister in a restaurant bathroom.
"Keep eyes on her until she's inside."
"Understood." Another pause. "Everything went well?"
I laugh. It sounds hollow even to me. "She's going to be the death of me, Yuri."
