Page 24 of Hunted Bride

Reeling, I rack my brains trying to think of everything I know about my parents’ business partners. The Orlovs operate out of Las Vegas. My parents are in San Francisco running a tech company that provides plausible deniability for money laundering operations. There are four Orlov brothers. My captor isn’t the eldest, Maxim. Nor, apparently, is he the youngest, Nikolai. The middle two brothers were twins, which means I have a fifty-fifty chance of guessing the identity of my khishnik.

Ilarion Orlov. It has to be him. Luka, the other twin, was said to be shy and quiet. The man who’s been following my every move for years has a playful sense of humor.

He would have every reason to hide the fact that he’s attracted to the mousy youngest Morozov sister. Shame scorches through me.

He’d never love me out in the open even if people like us were allowed to choose our romantic partners. He doesn’t want me. He just wants to have his fun. Get his rocks off playing power games. All I am to him is a toy.

I had convinced myself that he actually cared about me. I was ready to have his baby!

I try the knob and find the door locked.

Fucking hell.

He wants a fight? He likes to chase and hunt? Ilarion Orlov is going to find out that two can play at that game. I’ll find a way out—and then I’m going to bring that man’s world crashing down.

Finally, I’ve figured out how to win.

Abruptly, footsteps thud toward the door. I jerk upright, shake off my self-pity, and bolt down the stairs just in time to see the door crack open and his muscular frame fill the space.

“Come out and play with me, Little Mouse,” he drawls.

13

RION

Panicked breathing, barely audible, comes from underneath the stairs. A smile touches my lips. Milena is here. Scared. Waiting for me to find her.

Perversely, the danger that my own family will discover what I have done and hand me over to the Morozovs to torture to death only heightens my arousal. But some things are worth possessing no matter the cost.

“I can hear you breathing, Milena.” My footfalls echo in the empty space. In the dim light, I can make out the shape of a dining banquette. It’s eerie to see half a fish hung on the wall, the front end empty. Likely a prop left over from one of Alisa’s film projects.

The breaths quicken. Milena scuffles as if she’s moving along the wall.

“D-don’t kill me,” she pleads.

“I told you, I want to play.” My blood heats. Kill her? That isn’t remotely what I want.

Something has shifted between us. I pause on the steps. I should turn around. Come clean with Max. Beg for forgiveness.

But there are secrets you can’t tell even your closest family. Even my twin, Luka doesn’t know I’ve coveted Alisa’s shy younger sister, for years. She is an addiction I can’t shake.

Now, she’s trembling in fear. That’s not the reaction I want from her.

“I’m changing the rules, Mouse,” I say, staring into the pitch-black space below the stairs where I’m sure she’s hiding. I have to keep her out of sight until I can get my own family out of here.

A shape swings out of my peripheral vision. That damned mermaid tail smacks me in the face. Glitter puffs in a shimmering cloud that stings my eyes and makes them water.

“Fuck you, Ilarion Orlov,” a woman seethes, her footsteps already on the stairs.

Fuck. She knows my real name.

Fear shoots through me, straight to my dick. If she gets up there, I’m dead. I tackle her midway up the steps.

“Is that an offer?” I grit out. Her curvy body quivers beneath mine. Trembling with fear, or… I dip my right hand downward between her thighs, while pinning her wrists in my left hand. No panties. Only her bare pussy beneath that skirt. “Just as I thought. Soaking wet.”

“I hate you,” she spits.

“Good.” I kiss her hard. She bites my lower lip, drawing blood. I chuckle like the maniac I am. “You liked this before you knew who I was. You’re already growing my baby. I’m going to keep you forever.”