Page 20 of Captured Obsession

Then again, it's easier to be self-righteous and brave in my head when I'm literally about to piss myself with fear.

My voice creaks again, but I try to say as calmly as possible, “Being the fearless man that you are … I assume you're jumping in with me?”

His eyes darken, and the fear gripping me twists into something more devastating.

No, I shouldn’t be feeling attraction toward this man, especially in these circumstances.

“Are you asking me to hold your hand through this,mishka?”

“I don't see the point of me proving anything to you if you're not willing to do the same.” I'm lying through my fucking teeth, but I'm well aware that I won’t leave this room unless I’m scared to a level of his satisfaction.

But I refuse to be broken again. I've had far too much experience with that already.

Jesus fucking Christ, Sienna, is this truly the moment you want to be correcting your mindset in life?I’m still trying to cling to this bullshit, instead of admitting to myself how fucking scared I am.

This isn't who I am. I've never wanted to take risks like Romi. Or terrify men in the way that Ara can. I can't speak calmly and negotiate in the way that Lily always has, offering a calm presence. And I've never had the silent power that Elanee projects.

Nikolai smirks. Then, to my surprise, he begins to unbutton his shirt. I look away quickly.Why the fuck is he stripping?

“Calm down, little doll. I'm sure it's not the first time you've seen a man's body. However, perhaps not one as well-defined and polished as mine.”

“You're so fucking full of yourself,” I growl. And when I look back toward him, my mind goes blank. Jagged scars run over his chest, cutting through old tattoos. His entire body is riddled with black ink, but it’s the two serpent heads on either side of his neck that stand out the most.

Thorns and roses bloom amongst them in a beautiful but scathing contradiction. The scales are defined but marred by scars. His body seems to come alive as he moves, as if the heads are a part of him, ready to slither away. The scales I saw beneath his collar make up the tip of the nose of each snake head.

It’s beautiful and terrifying all at once. Both the scars and the artwork. But it’s veryhim.

“Take off your dress,” he orders.

My jaw drops.

“What's the difference between underwear andbikinis? You’ve posed on covers of magazines and billboards wearing much less.”

But you weren’t there, in front of me, for any of those.

I grab at the bottom of my dress as I say furiously, “Yeah, but in none of those shoots was I forced to go into a tank with a fucking shark.”

His lips tilt up as I sweep the dress up and over my head. When the garment is off and I meet his eyes again, I notice the fire in them. His gaze roams down my body and then it whips back to my face. He takes a step closer, bringing his oversized dress shirt around my shoulders and then buttoning it up.

“I thought I needed to be undressed.”

“I don't want anyone else looking at you,” he replies gruffly.

My heart skips a beat, and I become uneasy that my instincts tell me to trust him, even though he's the motherfucker who’s forcing me to do this.Is he doing this so my dress isn’t wet for … afterward? Is there going to be an afterward?

He buttons the shirt almost to the top. “You can't back down now,mishka.”

No witty comeback comes to mind as I glance over his shoulder at what looks like a personalized torture aquarium. The rest of the basement is covered in metal, giving it an industrial, clinical feel.

Red lights glow from the corners, creating an infernal atmosphere and giving the tank a purple hue. I note the grates in the floor and the few brooms andmops leaning against a wall. My gaze lands on a dark stain on the cement, and I immediately look away, sensing that someone who was here previously wasn't fortunate enough to walk away, at least not with all their appendages.

A door in the corner opens to a small room. When I peer inside, I can see a sofa, table, and bar. A tinted window faces out toward the tank. I wonder how many spectators have sat in there and watched a live show.

Nikolai isn’t really going to let me be eaten by a shark, right? And how stupid am I for falling for his antagonization in the same way he falls for mine? But there’s something about Nikolai that makes me take the bait and step up to the challenge.

We walk behind Andrei, who is adjusting a camera inside the metal cage. He climbs down the ladder, and his eyebrows pinch together when he notices Nikolai is shirtless, but he says nothing.

Nikolai extends his hand to the ladder. “Ladies first.”