I want more. Want everything. Want to replace her hand with mine and hear my actual name when she comes instead of whatever fantasy she's playing out alone.
Want to see that viper again. Pull it out. Make it permanent.
The phone on my desk buzzes. Mikhail.
Marco's people have received the message. They’ll pay the original terms.
Good. Business handled. Message sent.
I should feel satisfied about that too.
Instead, all I can think about is Valerie twenty feet away, probably still trembling from orgasm, definitely still clueless that I watched every second.
I pull up her file again. Study her face in the photo Marina Petrov sent over.
Innocent. Sweet. Exactly the kind of girl who shouldn't be in my world.
But she's here anyway. Gathering intel for someone. Lying to my face. Playing a game she doesn't have the skills to win.
And I'm going to make her pay for it.
Not with her life.
With everything else.
I close the laptop and head to my room. But I stop at the wall we share. Press my palm against it.
On the other side, she's sleeping. Dreaming. Completely unaware that I'm standing here thinking about all the ways I'm going to corrupt her.
Sleep well, little mouse. Tomorrow, the real game starts.
I head to bed, mind already planning.
More tests. More pressure. More opportunities to see if that darkness will surface.
Because I've made my decision.
She's not leaving. Not alive. Not intact. Not unchanged.
She's mine now.
And I'm going to own her.
I’m going to own her spirit, soul, and body.
Chapter seven
Valerie
Three weeks.
I've been living in this fortress for three weeks, and every day I feel the walls close in a little tighter.
Every morning I wake up at 6:04 and wonder if today's the day Lev figures out what I'm doing. Every night I lie in bed listening to him move around on the other side of the wall and wonder if he already knows.
I can’t breath.
Patrick calls every three days like clockwork. Demands more. Better intel. Faster results.