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I crouched down to her level, taking her jaw between my fingers.

"Don't move." My glare ensured she understood. "If you run, I will find you. And when I do, I'll start by breaking those pretty fingers one by one. And do not swallow. We are not done."

I traced my thumb across her lips once more, their tremble fluttering against my skin. "Remember, Alina. You belong to me now. The sooner you accept that, the easier your life will become."

I stood and straightened my clothes before turning and striding through the empty office, yanking the door open to address whatever demanded my attention.

This had better be the news I awaited, and it had better be quick.

My new pet needed training, and I had only begun to show her what her future held.

CHAPTER 6

ALINA

The taste of submission lingered in my mouth long after Pavel was gone.

I had a minute—seconds, maybe less—before he returned to finish what he'd started.

The moment the door closed behind him, I collapsed forward to my hands and knees.

My stomach heaved as I spit all of his come from my mouth, wishing I could purge the degradation just as easily.

The violation had sunk deeper than flesh.

It had branded me, marked me in ways soap could never wash away.

I coughed and gagged, trying to rid my tongue of the bitter taste of powerlessness. The bile and stomach acid made it worse, a brutal reminder of what he'd taken from me—what I'd surrendered to survive.

What terrified me most wasn't just the violation; it was my body's betrayal.

Beneath the fear and disgust, a traitorous heat hadflickered when he called me “good girl” with his fingers twisted in my hair.

That unexpected response horrified me more than the gun against my skin had.

What kind of person did that make me?

My confusion only amplified my panic as I struggled to process what had happened, what it meant. My body quaked in the aftermath, my lungs fighting each inhale, my throat raw, my jaw aching from being forced open.

I wanted to curl into a ball, to disappear beneath the humiliation.

I would have.

Any woman would yield to such crushing degradation.

But I couldn't.

Pavel would return.

That monster would come back to either use me again or kill me now that he'd taken what he wanted.

I needed to move.Now.

Survival had to overrule trauma. I could break down later, if there was a later.

I stood on unsteady legs and scanned the room.

No sign of anyone.