Page 12 of His Contract Queen

“Ah,” he says, tilting his head slightly. “Defiant already. This is not at all what I was promised.”

“Disappointed?” I ask sharply.

The moment it leaves my mouth, I nearly wince.

You idiot.

I have always had the unfortunate instinct, a reflex, really, to put men in their place. Titles don’t impress me. Power doesn’t intimidate me. My father surrounded me with generals,ministers, ambassadors, oligarchs, and foreign dignitaries since childhood. I grew up watching men who controlled entire legions of armies fold under the right kind of pressure. I learned very early that most “powerful” men are like balloons, puffed up with their own importance and embarrassingly easy to puncture.

His eyes, almost indigo now that he’s closer to me, glint with something I can’t decipher. Not anger like I’m expecting. Not even annoyance for being this openly hostile.

It’s interest. “I haven’t decided yet,” he says.

I swallow.

Under normal circumstances, I would relish giving it right back to him. A cocky bastard like Aleksandr Volkov practicallybegsto be challenged. He looks like the type who enjoys prodding just to see who bites.

And me? Ialwaysbite back.

But this is not normal circumstances.

I am not here to satisfy my pride or sharpen my wit on his ego. I am here to infiltrate. I am supposed to charm him with softness, with obedience couched beneath femininity. I am supposed to be agreeable and pleasantly naive in that palatable way men like him expect from a young wife bred for social function rather than strategy.

Unchecked curiosity is too threatening for an operation like this one. I’m supposed to be the kind of woman who listens more than she speaks, who nods at the right times and laughs politely even when she doesn’t understand the joke. Someone easy to overlook, easy to underestimate. Someone who blends into the background until she’s all but forgotten about.

Not a woman who meets a Bratva kingpin’s smirk with a raised chin and a verbal blade.

My instinct to challenge and natural defiance are qualities that won’t gain me Aleksandr’s trust. If he sees me as oppositional, as someone who pushes back instead of yields, he won’t let me close enough to gather anything of value.

Men like Volkov don’t confide in adversaries. They confide in their wives. In the soft, devoted women who make them feel untouchably superior.

Ones like my mother.

Dangerous men are predators. Yes, they look for weakness, but more than that, they look forusefulness. For devotion from those who will not bite the hand that feeds them. Why would he ever expose his operations to a woman who bristles at every word he says?

He wouldn’t.

Which meansIneed to be careful going forward. Very careful. I must be agreeable while being observant. I must be soft while sharpening my mind in silence. I must play the role written for me, no matter how much it chafes my ego to do so.

That’s how this works.

I school my expression, smoothing the irritation from my face, and temper the spark in my eyes before it gives away too much. I inhale slowly, letting the breath settle the instinctual urge to bare my teeth. This isn’t about pride or proving that Aleksandr Volkov can be rattled or pushed to break.

This is about control.

Mine, not his.

I lower my head, bowing slightly at the waist. Not dramatically because God forbid I overplay it, but just enough to signal the kind of gentle, cultivated submission a man like him might expect from the woman arranged to be his wife.

“I’m very sorry I gave you the wrong impression of me. I’m a little tired from my trip here, so forgive me if I’ve said anything that offends you,” I say softly.

For a long moment, he’s deafeningly quiet.

The only thing I can see from this angle are his shoes, polished, expensive looking leather. The kind made to look understated until you notice the impeccable stitching. They shift slightly as he transfers his weight. It’s a small movement, almost imperceptible, but it tells me everything.

He wasn’t expecting that. He expected the girl who met him a moment ago with her chin raised and her spine straight.

Not this.