As we’re pulling through the gates of my estate, she finally speaks. “When I get out of here, I’m going to the U.S. Embassy. Interpol. Any politician I can get on the phone. Whoever the hell will listen to me about all of this. You’redone.”
I lean back in my seat, smiling faintly. “I don’t fear Interpol, Ivy. I have their lunch schedules. And I also don’t avoid politicians. They send me Christmas cards every year like clockwork. You think you’re holding a grenade, but sweetheart, you’re standing in the blast radius.”
Her face pales.
I add, “I’m not telling you this to scare you. Though if it keeps you out of my business, good. I’m telling you so you understandthat this isn’t a game you’re going to win. You walked into something you can’t undo. So whatever choice you make after today, make sure you keep that in mind.”
Her throat works around the words she doesn’t have the guts to say. Finally, she breathes, “You’re insane.”
“I’m pragmatic.”
The car slows and then rolls to a stop, the tires crunching over the gravel of the circular drive. I throw it into park harder than necessary, the jolt making the frame shudder. I don’t move to get out yet, forcing us to sit in the heavy silence. The only sound is the steady rush of heat blowing from the vents, wrapping us both in air that feels almost suffocating.
Her voice breaks the stillness, a whisper that almost vanishes into the hum of the heater. “Let me go.”
I turn my head slowly, savoring the moment she’s managed to gather the courage to beg. My arm hooks over the back of the seat as I face her fully. “No.”
That single word sets her spine stiff, the fire sparking back in her eyes like I knew it would. She lifts her chin at me. “So, what, are you going to kill me?”
My brow arches. I can’t help the faint trace of amusement curling at the edge of my mouth. “Why would I do that?”
Confusion flickers across her face, knocking her off balance. She expects monsters to be predictable, sharp teeth with no morals while they rip through their victims. She doesn’t understand that the most dangerous predators don’t always need to bite.
“I’m not going to kill you. I’m going to take you back to Sergei’s estate after I tell him what you’ve been up to. If he doesn’t decideto fire you and ship you back to whatever state you came from, then I’m sure you’ll go back to teaching Yulia vocabulary words and pretending this whole week never happened.”
Her hands curl into fists in her lap, the nails digging into her palms hard enough that they pale.
“It would bewisefor you to pretend none of this ever happened,” I add, softening my voice, letting it slip into something that could almost pass for kind if I were a better man. “Very wise.”
Her jaw tightens.
“And if I don’t?” she spits, stubborn and defiant to her last dying breath, it seems.
I lean closer, letting the space between us vanish inch by inch. The car is already small, but I make it smaller, make the air heavier, until she presses herself back into the seat as if the leather could swallow her whole.
I keep my voice low, intimate enough that the words graze her like a lover’s touch. “Then I’ll remind you why no one says no to me twice.”
Her throat bobs as she swallows, the sound loud in the silence. “You can’t do that.”
I give her a razor-sharp smile. “Of course I can. I’m the Antonov Bratva’sPakhan. I can do whatever the hell I want.”
11
IVY
Istare at him.
I’m the Antonov Bratva’s Pakhan.
It takes a full second—maybe longer—before I remember how to breathe again. My lungs seize, and I suck in air like I’ve just been yanked from underwater. The heat from the car vents is suffocating, pressing down around me until I feel like I might throw up.
He said it so casually.
So goddamncalmly.
Like he’s sharing a detail from his LinkedIn profile.Hi, I’m Maksim Antonov, fluent in Russian, excellent leadership skills, responsible for managing an entire criminal empire.As if being the head of the most dangerous gang in the country is just a bullet point under “relevant experience”.
My brain stalls, refuses to compute. There’s a loud, roaring silence in my ears that blocks out everything but the echo of that one word. That one title.
