Rodion dragged me back toward the mirror, leaving the shower running. My body heaved with panicked breaths. I looked like prey caught in a beast’s jaws. And Rodion was the predator holding me captive.
Blood dripped from the hand clamped over my mouth, warm droplets sliding down his palm and streaking my chin. The sharp, metallic taste filled my tongue, my teeth had broken skin.
Someone slammed against the door. Rodion’s gaze burned into mine, daring me to scream. Surprisingly, he withdrew his hand from my mouth.
The urge to scream burned in my throat, but I swallowed it down like poison. I could end this right now, but I knew this would end in blood and violence that wouldn’t stop until someone was dead. Rodion didn’t need permission. He moved like someone who took what he wanted without mercy. And if a war started in this mansion, I wouldn’t survive it. I would be collateral.
“Alessia!” The door rattled again.
My voice leapt ahead of my mind. “I’m taking a shower.”
Silence stretched before Leonid growled, “Why didn’t you say something?” He cursed under his breath. “Be downstairs. Ten minutes.”
His footsteps receded, and the bedroom door slammed shut. I sagged against the sink, my entire body shaking. My reflection mocked me, lips smeared with Rodion’s blood. My fingers twitched toward the faucet, desperate to wash it away, but before I could reach it, Rodion moved.
In a blur of motion, he grabbed me and spun me around. Hecrashed his lips against mine. I gasped into the kiss, but he didn’t stop. It was rough and demanding. He kissed me like he owned me, like he was branding me.
A psychopath. I hated him. I didn’t kiss him back. Hell, I couldn’t fall into this trap again. He tore away, seized me and pushed me backward. My butt collided with the sink, the edge biting into my skin.
“I hate you,” I seethed.
His lips twisted into a wicked smile. “I like it that way,” he said. I didn’t even get the chance to breathe before his hand slipped beneath my dress, fingers gliding higher with deliberate ease. His mouth hovered over mine, the heat of his breath teasing my skin.
“There’s something we didn’t finish,” he murmured.
“You sold me to him, so why are you here? To remind me, you can take whatever you want whenever you please?”
His gaze dropped to my lips as he pushed against my locked legs. I couldn’t let him touch me, because one touch and I would lose the last piece of myself I had left. One touch and I would forget the monster he was.
“Why?” I sobbed, clutching his wrist, trying to stop him even as his fingers pried against me. Rodion looked straight into my eyes as his fingers moved their way past my guard. “You know I don’t deserve it. I didn’t even deserve it then—” My words broke when he shoved his knee between my legs and spread them. “Why?”
“We made a deal,” he said, like that was all that mattered.
“No, I never agreed to this. You know I didn’t.”
“Weren’t you ready to die for your parents?” His hand slid my panties aside and touched where I was weakest. I choked on my breath, tears escaping as I closed my eyes. “A deal is a deal, Little Gem.”
“I’m tired.” The words left me in a broken whisper, my body betraying me under his touch. “You sold me. So just disappear. Idon’t want to see you.”
“Is that so?” His breath ghosted over my lips. “Then look me in the eye and say it.”
I forced my eyes open, blurred from tears. I stared into him and whispered, “I don’t—” but the moment his finger slid inside me, the rest of the sentence withered into nothing. My knees buckled as I stood on my toes, gasping his name. “Rodion.”
“What was that?”
“I hate you,” I bit out, trembling against the rhythm he controlled. He thrust deeper, and I gritted through the sensation. “I hate you so much.”
“I know, Little Gem.”
And then he crushed his mouth against mine, his finger moving faster as he pushed deeper. I didn’t kiss him back. I kept whispering how much I hated him. But when he shoved two fingers in and curled them just right, my voice caught, and his name slipped out again like a prayer I never meant to say. He chuckled, then bit my lower lip before shoving his tongue into my mouth, tasting me like I was something he owned. The kiss turned possessive.
Cries broke in my throat as my legs gave in. I saw stars. I felt nothing but him, and for one goddamn second, I allowed myself to feel again. I whimpered, chasing that release, but he pulled out just before I could reach it, his lips leaving mine as he stepped back.
He watched me with a smug smile. “So you want it?” He lifted his fingers to his mouth, tasting the proof.
I swallowed the scream in my throat. He backed away, leaving me slumped against the sink.
“Rodion,” I breathed.