“Who did you say came here?” I pause in the middle of the jog to stare at my running partner, Ilya.
Nikolai was with us when we took off from the house, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he got bored and decided to sleep under a tree.
He didn’t need to come along in the first place, but he’s been acting worse than my mother since the fire last night.
Granted, I almost died, but I didn’t. Despite having a closet fall across my middle, I got out of the incident with a few scratches, a gash on my stomach, and lacerations.
The doctor said I should recuperate, so jogging is the last thing I ought to be doing, but fuck that noise.
I need to purge the energy that’s been tearing me open worse than the injuries.
The wound burns, and the pain spreads all over my skin and splashes the ticking sound in my brain.
I’ve always considered myself assertive, efficient, and highly unaffected, but my resolve and the very marrow of my control have been tested over the past few days.
So when Ilya just relayed the piece of information, I forget all about my attempts to calm down.
My guard jogs in place, sweat glistening off his pale skin that appears pasty in the cloudy daylight.
Ilya straightens and nonchalantly wipes his forehead with the back of his hand. “In the midst of the chaos, right after you were taken to the East Wing to recuperate and when we were putting out the fire, Miss Knight showed up at the gate. She asked the front guard about Miss Volkov and then about you.”
I narrow my eyes, absolutely loathing the heartburn flowing through my chest. It’s the injury. My doctor will be hearing about his incompetence in putting me back together.
Also, what the fuck is Cecily playing at now?
That night, the night I smeared her blood all over my cock and fucked her like a seasoned whore instead of an innocent virgin, I planned to abandon her on the deck and leave.
We weren’t lovers and I don’t even like her. I only fucked her because we both cater to the depravity of pretending to be primal strangers in the dark.
Nothing more. Nothing less.
But the thing is, I couldn’t.
She looked so vulnerable and small, her pale skin serving as the perfect bait for predators that lurked in the dark. I simply was not allowing another predator besides me to touch her.
My courtesy should’ve stopped the moment I carried her to the house. But no, I went to further lengths.
I have no fucking clue what came over me when I warmed water and wiped her from head to toe. I massaged her muscles, too, especially when I felt her turning catatonic.
I shouldn’t know that state is possible, even during sleep, but I do.
Very fucking well.
So I massaged her cunt with my tongue, partly because I wanted to, and partly because I figured it could loosen her muscles.
And it did.
She was slowly relaxing and releasing low, pleasure-filled sounds that hardened my cock and toyed with the beast inside me.
I was so ready to claim her again, strap my mark on her, and forbid her from leaving.
But she did something.
Something that I nearly killed her for.
She called me by that fucker’s name.
She was probably dreaming about him and wishing he was the one who chased and fucked her like an animal, per her initial plan.
I can still feel the quickening of her pulse and the quivering of her flesh beneath my fingers when I choked the fuck out of her.
It’s a miracle I managed not to kill her at that moment.
Or any of the other moments that followed.
“What are your orders?” Ilya asks when I remain silent. “Should I continue to keep an eye on her?”
“For now.” I glide my forefinger along the side of my sweatpants.
The wisest thing to do under the circumstances is to drop the subject, ignore her as I’ve been attempting to the past couple of days, but the fucker of a beast who has been craving her since that first taste refuses to let go.
I meet Ilya’s gaze. “What else did she say?”
“She refused to leave until we told her about your state, and when I did, she complied and got off the property without incident.”
She wasn’t supposed to be here in the first fucking place. What does she want after the ‘Lan’ episode?
My fist clenches with the need to find the fucker and erase his features. She won’t be thinking about him if I somehow transform him into an ugly monster.
How are you any different from him?
I internally shut down that voice and start walking again. Ilya falls in step beside me, vehemently refusing to leave me unguarded, despite the fact that I told him I prefer to do this solo.
He also said I could have complications since I refuse to rest, so he’s here in case he has to take me to a doctor.
“Boss.”
“Hmm?”
The sound of birds and other small forest creatures swirl in the pause Ilya takes to speak up.
So I throw him a glance.
He clears his throat. “She looked worried and had tears in her eyes. Miss Knight, I mean.”
I slide my finger against my thigh, back and forth, back and forth. Like a cryptic language.
Fuck if I care.
That’s what I should say, and mean it, but I don’t.
This is the part that didn’t go according to plan. The part where I could’ve and should’ve been able to cut ties with her the moment we were done on that deck.
The part where I should’ve erased her from my life as if she were never there in the first place.
But it took my beast one taste to develop an obsession with her.
Or maybe the obsession has been there for some time now and it only just grew.
“She was most likely worried about Annika,” I say.
“I don’t think so.”
“That’s not important right now.” We walk for a few more silent beats. “We need to plot payback for last night’s fire.”
Our security team was able to gather footage of some men in masks who managed to infiltrate the property.
And while we couldn’t get identities, Ilya was able to pinpoint one of them as an ex-colleague from the Serpents by his tattoos.
The part that caught my attention, however, isn’t foolish painted masks or tattoos. It’s not the audacity of those fucking snakes to come to our property, breach our security, and set us on fire.
It’s how they got here.
Through the forest.
We’ve had a few infiltration attempts in the past, but they all came through the gate or over the walls.
No one would even consider coming through the forest, considering its thick and mystic nature, not to mention the cameras.
Which brings me to suspicion number two. How the fuck did they manage not to get caught by our cameras?
Only one got a shot of them, and that was newly installed.
It’s as if they knew exactly where the cameras are. And that’s impossible unless there’s a traitor in our ranks.
“Did someone say payback?” Nikolai sprints in our direction wearing only shorts and then punches the air. “With fists and mayhem and burning down the whole fucking island?”
“We can’t act rashly when we haven’t gathered enough info yet,” Ilya says, forever the mediator.
Nikolai lunges forward and pins Ilya with an elbow to his throat. Ilya isn’t a small man, but my friend is similar to a titan. “I say how about you admit that you’re the one who gave the Serpents inside intel? Confess now and I’ll only skin you after you’re dead. If you don’t, I’ll do the opposite.”
I touch his shoulder. “Let him go.”
“This motherfucker is suspicious, Jer. It’s no coincidence that our inner security was leaked to the Serpents after he defected from their ranks and pretended to be your loyal servant.” He stabs Ilya’s trachea with his elbow. “Speak before I murder you.”
“I didn’t do it,” Ilya mutters even as his eyes bulge. “I wouldn’t have sold them out and revealed their identity if I had.”
I grab Nikolai by the nape and wrench him back, forcing him to release Ilya.
“This isn’t the time for inner conflict.” I stare at my friend. “If Ilya wanted to give them something, he would’ve handed over the mansion’s blueprint, including the newly installed security cameras. And he wouldn’t have stayed during the fire or saved Gareth.”
“The motherfucker could’ve been faking it.”
“Enough.” I exert pressure on Nikolai’s neck. “We should focus on making them pay your way.”
Light shines in his usually dead eyes and he smirks. “You can’t take that back. We’ll do it my way and you’ll tell those fuckers Kill and Gaz to obey me.”
“After I plan it.”
“Do your thing. But I’ll use explosives.”
“Explosives will get the authorities’ attention. No.”
“You said my way.”
“Anything but explosives.”
I’m sure he’ll come up with an equally screwed-up method, and I’ll allow it.
Those fuckers deserve whatever wrath Nikolai has planned.
And I will watch as their blood stains the streets.
After we get home, I stop at the front of the mansion to look at the fully burned east side. Some workers are already moving like bees, cleaning the space in preparation for renovating it.
We came out of the incident unscathed. Yes, I almost died, but something worse could’ve happened. Like losing my sister and the only friends I’ve had my whole life.
After taking a shower and changing my clothes, I go to my Annika’s room and knock on the door. This is a temporary one since her purple princess room is being cleaned.
“Come in,” she says with utter boredom from the other side.
I stroll in to find her lying on the bed on her stomach, legs in the air and phone in her hand.
Annika is the spitting image of Mom. They have the same long brown hair, petite features, and an elegant aura that it feels like I have a mini version of my mother with me.
Their similarities end on the physical level, though. Where Mom is soft-spoken and demure, Annika is extroverted to a fault, never stops talking, and has the energy of a bunny on crack.
Upon seeing me, she jumps up, throws her precious phone away, and inspects me. “Are you okay? Should you be moving? And why did you go jogging when the doctor said you should be resting?”
“Breathe, Annika.” I clutch her by the shoulder. “I’m fine.”
She narrows her eyes, observing me further, definitely not believing a word I said.
Since she was born when I was six, I’ve considered it my mission to protect her with my life. The fact that I couldn’t last night has been chipping away at a part of me.
“Enough about me. Are you okay, Anoushka? Do you need anything?”
“Aside from being set free of my Rapunzel tower? I don’t think so.”
I ruffle her hair. “It’s for your security.”
“Oh, please. You just like locking me up.” She swats my hand away. “And stop treating me like a kid.”
“No,” I say point-blank, and she makes a face.
“Come on, Jer.” She takes my hand in hers. “At least let me go to the dorm. I miss the girls so much, and they’re worried sick about me after they heard about the fire.”
The girls. Including, but not exclusive to, Cecily.
“No.”
“Jer!” she whines. “Please. You know how hard it was for me to make friends, and these girls really like me despite my status as a mafia princess and my last name. I can’t just lose them.”
“There will be no going back to the dorm temporarily.”
“You’re so heartless.” She drops my hand as if it’s an expired object. “I pity the girl who will have to marry you.”
“I was going to let you have lunch with your friends, but since I’m heartless…” I shrug.
“Oh, don’t be silly. You know I was kidding!” Annika laughs and lunges at me with a koala embrace. “Thanks, Jer!”
“You’ll be escorted by guards,” I tell her with a hand on her back.
“Okay!” She jumps down and disappears into her closet, probably to pick a dress from the hundred purple ones she owns.
Shaking my head, I step out and pause when my phone vibrates.
The name on the screen shouldn’t be there.
It should’ve been deleted, but it wasn’t.
I shouldn’t have been reading and rereading her last text about the manga that I stole from her room that night.
It’s that fucking obsession that I can’t shake.
Cecily: I heard about the fire. Are you okay?
I stare at her words or, more like, glare at them.
Why the fuck would she act so worried when she’s obviously hung up on someone else?
But then again, since when do I care about that?
I gave her a chance to escape me, but she didn’t take it.
If I want to own her, I will.
When I’m done with her, no other fucking man will be on her mind.
