Page 4 of Jewel of the Assassin

Below me, the ocean rages, the wind howls, and waves crash against the cliffs, but my weather gear shields me from the elements. This climb is nothing. Strength, precision, silence—I was forged for this. Every motion calculated, every risk weighed and conquered.

I reach the apex, settling onto the crest of the rocky outcrop where trees surround me—the perfect vantage point.From here, I see everything. The glow of her bedroom light spills against the glass.

Valentina steps into her room, notices the vase, and makes a beeline to the table where the roses await, thanks to my discreet courier on the inside.

She lifts a violet rose. At some point, I will tell her I commissioned the exact color to mirror her eyes. She looks up, glancing beyond the window. Yes, she feels me watching.

The hunger inside me sharpens, raw and primal.She is mine.

I haven’t spent the darker part of two decades doing my father’s dirty work just for him to hand my reward to my goddamn brother. Anton.Fucking mudák.The golden heir. The so-called future face of Alaska’s underworld. I am the mask hiding in the shadows.

Valentina Volkov was always meant for me.

Anton is charismatic. I am cunning.

He’s the diplomat, the polished heir who trades politics over cigars with my father and his associates.

I am the blade. The rope. The poison.

Whatever the job requires, I am the weapon that delivers.

Too good a weapon for my father. Once I became too valuable, he rescinded his original agreement. “She would be a distraction for you, Roman,” Sergei had explained. “Znai svoe mesto.”

Know my place.Know my fucking place.

I’ve known my place for thirty-seven goddamn years.

Valentina Volkov will never belong to Anton. My brother wouldn’t know what the fuck to do with a woman like her.

But I do.

And soon, she’ll know it.

I smirk as she finds the black pearls and reads the note. Blood surges to my cock at the glimmer of a smile on her face. Boredom is not the only reason she conceals the notes and accepts my gifts. No, she has too much spirit. Too much passion. Too much…hunger.

She applies herself. For the past six years, since she was nineteen, I’ve watched her.

Her father curated her education for one purpose: to perfect her. Beauty and breeding. Private tutors drilled her in etiquette, literature, music, and ornamental skills to make her a more enticing possession.

But Valentina is more than just a prize. She is a creator, a dreamer, an artist of hidden things.

So, she found a way. With her brother’s help, she enrolled in private online courses, devouring literature, writing poetry, sketching, and painting the Alaskan wilderness. If she couldn’t live freely, she could at least create her own escape.

I’ve hacked her computers, discovering the pieces she composed, meant for only her ears. I’ve recorded her playing the piano when no others were present.

Valentina is a force of nature. Whether calligraphy or sculpting, she mastered it and moved on. In the shadows of her captivity,she experimented with stolen oils, blending perfumes that whispered stories against her skin.

Her father never knew. Or he never cared to see the fire inside her.

Oh, those rare nights when I’ve managed to fuck with the estate system, I didn’t simply drop a note or two. Instead, I watched her sleep, breathing in her unique scent, luscious yet feral. Like midnight saffron and smoldering musk, laced with the ghost of black hemlock, stolen opium, and the dark promise of something unseen.

Valentina is insatiable, uncontrollable, but I will be the first man she begs to control her. She may resist at first. Oh, I’m looking forward to her resistance, but she will grow to love my chains, recognizing their true freedom.

V samykh blagorodnykh sem’yakh byvayut skandaly.And in the noblest families there are scandals.Oh, what an eager scandal I will bring to her family! And our fathers will writhe like worms on a hook.

I tap my wrist, summoning my smart chip program, grinning as I survey her body from nearly every angle. She faces the window, her violet eyes shimmering. I zoom in on the window, and my jaw clenches when she slips the gold dress from her shoulders. Fuck! My dick throbs.

This is an escalation.