Great. He’ll probably give me some ridiculous lingerie with a bow on the ass and call that clothing. Maybe that would be true in a technical sense, but not exactly something I can get comfortable in.
A fantasy of me dressed in red lingerie and writhing on Rafail’s lap like a stripper flashes through my mind. Ruthlessly, I suppress it and step into the shower. He brings out my dirtiest fantasies. Always has. Cold water hits my skin with stinging force. My entire body trembles with pent-up exhaustion, hunger, and adrenaline. I need to eat. More than that, I need to figure out how to escape.
There’s no window in this bathroom. Isn’t that my luck? It must be after four in the morning by now. I’m tired, especially after working a grueling ten-hour shift, yet I’m so wired I can’t imagine falling asleep.
Where would I sleep? Tied to a chair again? In a bed, next to my captor? What would he do to me?
How the hell am I going to tell him I’m still a virgin?
I drop my forehead against the glass shower wall and groan. The water decides to warm up right then. Scalding hot water has me lurching for the knob and trying to get the temperature right. I find shampoo and conditioner, cheap drugstore brands like Mom used to buy when we had no money, and aggressively scrub away the memory of Rafail pulling my hair. I can’t believe I liked that.
I wonder how he knows me so well, when I hardly know myself.
6
RAFAIL
Hailey takes her time in the shower. I leave a black T-shirt and a white bathrobe next to the door, on top of a pair of slippers I found in the bedroom closet. Then, I retreat to the bedroom, lay on the bed, and scrub my face with both hands.
Too much, too fast.
What started as obedience has become an obsession.
My father ordered me to “keep an eye on her” and make sure Hailey was safe from our rivals. The bratva is a brotherhood in name only. Rival factions vie for territory like feral cats. Only our common enemy, the government, binds us together—until the riches become too great to resist.
That was Dmitri’s mistake. He met a woman. Fell in love. Turned soft. If I hadn’t slipped that security fob to my then-stepsister the night of her sweet sixteen party, we would have lost billions of dollars in accumulated assets. Did he thank me?
No. He dressed me down for putting Hailey in danger.
At first, I was annoyed that he tasked me with tracking her down. Witness protection isn’t worth much. I was therefore frustrated that it took me three years to locate her.
She vanished.
I finally tracked Hailey down when her mother died. The obituary gave Baltimore, Maryland as her last residence. Then I needed to find the right girl. That took time.
Once I knew where my former stepsister and the keeper of that passkey was living, I began stalking her. The promise of beauty when she was a teenager still playing dress-up had blossomed into full flower. My jaw dropped when I finally found her again.
Suddenly, I understood why my father fell so hard and so fast for her mother.
The Bennett women are made for us.
Now, Hailey is the only one left. She is mine. She has been since that day I found her again; she just didn’t know it yet.
What we did together back there proves that she wants me as badly as I do her. I kept my distance while she grieved her mother, but I watched her every move for months while I was stalking her. I saw her resilience. I saw the way she held herself apart from others. I know she yearns for a family of her own.
For permanence. A real home. Not that hovel my boyevik cleaned out while she was at work.
I need to be patient a little longer. I don’t want to scare her. I want her to?—
I cut the thought like an enemy’s finger. Slice. Gone. Bratva do not think about silly things like love. Not if they want to survive.
I intend to live. With Hailey as my wife and the mother of my children.
My cock twitches at the thought. Yes. I want that. Badly. She will, too, once I am done with her. I won’t give her a choice.
Hailey slams into the room, looking like an angry queen with her long hair wrapped in a towel and the fluffy bathrobe covering everything from neck to knee. Only her calves poke out the hem.She glares at me, but I’m not fooled. Her gaze lingers on my bare chest. Casually, I tuck one arm behind my head.
“You look comfy.” She begins opening drawers and slamming them closed again when she finds nothing inside them.
