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If I had known the direction Daniil was going to take our arrangement, I would've fought harder to either set real terms or at least have everything agreed upon more professionally.

I didn't realize he intended to forge ahead right away without any warning, and I certainly didn't think I'd be treated so coldly.

He was lugging me through the house like I was barely even human—like I wasn't someone he intended to marry for business's sake.

While he hadn't exactly been the most chivalrous before, it still felt like he had done a one-eighty since the moment I confirmed the deal. The moment I decided to put my budding empire above my own wants.

Even if Daniil's grip on my bound arm sent an oddly warm sensation through me, I couldn't keep a tight enough restraint on my irritation. It bled through the cracks while he pulled me up the stairs and steered me through the somewhat cold, yet nice-looking home.

He was hardly showing me the respect I felt I should've been given, especially with our arrangement in mind. But that didn't seem to stop Daniil while he ushered me to a room at the end of the hall and pushed the door open.

Despite how much I wanted to fight back, I knew it would be useless given my size. He could overpower me in a heartbeat. I entered the room with my teeth gritted, stopping once his hand left the small of my back.

I did everything in my power to ignore the faint shiver that went up my spine at the contact.

"I'm sure you already think I'm a monster," Daniil murmured while his fingers ghosted over my wrists while he went to undo the irritating cuffs. He released them and let go of me unceremoniously before leaning in, hissing his words against my ear. "But I can be so much worse."

The implications were enough to make my heart clench as both fear and irritation ripped through me.

I knew he was just doing it to scare me, to make me seem weaker than I was. But at the same time, I had every reason to believe he was as cruel and brutal as he claimed to be.

Still, I didn't want to give in to his intimidation. I certainly didn't want him to continue thinking he could orchestrate the entire arrangement and not face any pushback from me.

Once I was free from the cuffs, I turned around and gently massaged my wrists. I held firm in my gaze. "What about my phone?"

He lifted a brow, looking at me almost like I just asked a stupid question. "What about it?"

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Aren't you going to give it back?"

The absence of my phone in my back pocket had felt uncomfortably strange ever since his men jumped me and hauled me to their warehouse. Of course, I wanted it back.

Daniil blinked back at me, then huffed out an amused sound. "You really think I'm that incompetent?"

"If you want my honest answer..."

He rolled his eyes, less than amused. "Of course I'm not giving your phone back."

"That's my only way to communicate with my team—"

"I know. That's why you're not getting it back," he returned coldly, pointing to my wrists. "You're lucky I even took the cuffs off. Now cooperate and get some rest. You'll need it."

I didn't know what he was implying, but either way, I knew the uneasiness coursing through me was completely warranted.

Before I could try and argue, Daniil refused to hear any more and went through the door, closing it behind him with a firm click.

Left alone, I only stood there for a moment, left to try and wrap my head around what the hell just happened—the fact that I not only agreed to, but proposed a marriage pact with potentially the worst Novikov.

I didn’t know much about them on an individual basis, but from what I could already tell, Daniil was the last one I should’ve appealed to with the arrangement.

As much as I wanted to scream and lose my mind about being trapped in that room, I knew full well I was the reason I was there. I chose to do the right thing, and that landed me in the grasp of someone who hated me the most.

Besides, after everything, I was far too exhausted to fight. After being told I had a potential rat in my ranks, being abducted by Novikov men, and later interrogated by Daniil, I didn’t have much left in me.

I hated to admit it, but I only had the energy to drift over to the bed dressed in dark covers, and to my dismay, it was far too comfortable to resist while I lay out across it and dropped my head in the pillows.

Given that I was in a place I didn’t know—in the house of a man who wanted to teach me a lesson—I told myself I wouldn’t fall asleep. I’d just rest my eyes for a moment so I could stay up and remain as alert as possible.

While he didn’t trust me, I didn’t trust Daniil, either.

But the longer I stayed like that, the harder it was to resist the allure of sleep, and before I knew it, I was melting completely into the mattress.

***

So much for staying awake….

My eyes peeled open the moment the first rays of light hit my face through the window, allowing me to get a better view of the room compared to the night before. My chest felt heavy at the reminder of where I was and the mess I’d walked myself into.

It certainly looked like a spare room. It didn’t have any personal touches, yet was nice in a minimal luxury way.

I didn’t remember falling asleep under the blankets, but when I woke up, they were draped over me, shifting as I sat up, bunching at my waist. Rubbing at my eyes, I regained more awareness and eventually pulled myself out of bed.

With the slightest courtesy, Daniil had at least managed to put me in a room with an ensuite.

Walking back out, realizing I would likely be stuck in that room for a while, I paced for a moment with my arms crossed over my chest while I tried to think. To brainstorm how I could get out of it all—both the house and out of the pact.

Fleeing somehow and reuniting with my cousins and men sounded tempting above all else, if I could even manage it. But I knew the Novikovs had the Levovs backing them, which meant they likely shared resources whenever necessary. Daniil would have every opportunity under the sun to track me down and make me pay the hard way.

Even if I did escape, they would never stop. They would keep looking for me, and I’d be as good as dead.

No, as much as I didn’t want to, I had to stay. I had to get to him little by little until he would be willing to work with me in a way that suited us both.

I wanted a truce while he wanted revenge, and at that moment, we were leagues apart from any kind of mutual benefit.

After pacing for some time and growing more restless, I eventually paused and looked above the bed at the faintest hint of red light as it crossed my vision. Narrowing my eyes, I looked closer until I noticed the smallest camera strapped to a picture frame on a shelf that had been pointing at me the entire time.

Scoffing and gritting my teeth, I went up to the shelf, grabbed the frame, and dropped it onto the bed, obscuring whatever view he had.

“Idiot,” I muttered, feeling frustrated all over again at the thought.

So not only did I have no access to my phone, no means of reaching Gabriel or anyone else from my side, but he had been monitoring me within the room. Stuck here alone, I couldn’t lead like I should’ve done.

If Daniil hadn’t been hasty by sending his men after me, I would’ve had the chance to get to the bottom of who was betraying me in my ranks. I could’ve figured it out at least before getting stuck in that damn room, and I wouldn’t have it burning in the back of my mind.

The thought of anything happening while I was physically unable to be with my people made my nerves short-circuit and my anger pulse even stronger than before.

I made myself a willing participant in the arranged marriage, but I was being denied my freedom, and every part of me was completely over it.

Impatient, I moved to the door and tried it, surprised when I didn’t face any resistance. After opening it, I paused, confused by the fact that it wasn’t locked.

I was sure Daniil would’ve latched it to keep me caged up—surely that would’ve amused him. But instead, I found myself able to walk into the hall.

The house was big, and if there was any noise, it seemed to be swallowed up by just how vast the place was. Navigating through the second-floor hallway, I took in my surroundings, making a mental note of the layout and the rooms I was able to see on the way to the stairs. Before long, I was in the front foyer, and before I could even consider trying the front door, one of his guards was already there, throwing me a warning glance.

Rolling my eyes at the lack of faith even he had in me, I turned and kept moving.

The kitchen was also huge, but no part of me believed Daniil spent much time in it. He was certainly rich enough to have a personal chef, and given how spotless the room was, that seemed to be the case.

While I looked around, I almost froze the moment I heard steps behind me. Wheeling around, I watched as Daniil entered the room with a shirt thrown over one shoulder while his bare torso gleamed with an almost picture-perfect sheen of sweat. With compression shorts and sleek trainers on, it was clear he had just finished a workout.

I blinked back at him, unable to miss the fact that almost every muscle in his body seemed to bulge from the strain of his exercise, and the slight flush of his skin only accentuated how goddamn sculpted he looked.

As infuriating as he was, regardless of how enraged I was with him, he was walking sin.

Daniil spared me a single glance while moving to the fridge and pulling out a chilled bottle of water. He undid the cap, giving me a momentary show of those prominent veins and the slight jostle of his tattooed biceps from the movement, then swallowed some back before meeting my gaze again.

Realizing I hadn’t said anything yet, I snapped out of my trance and silently urged myself to focus.

Remembering what I had been so annoyed about, I pinched my brows at him.

“You’re treating me like a prisoner, monitoring me, guarding me…and you’re finding the time to work out?” I asked incredulously, growing more irritated the longer his expression remained neutral.

With his longer hair pulled back out of his face, Daniil swallowed more water and looked completely unfazed. “Yes, that’s exactly what I did.”

Narrowing my eyes at him, I dug in deeper. “What the hell are you doing with me, then? Why am I here?”

“You know exactly why you’re here. I shouldn’t have to spell it out for you,” he muttered, leaning his palms against the countertop in front of him. “You’re a bright girl, aren’t you?”

The condescension in his tone was both cold and excruciatingly arrogant. Immediately, it inflamed my anger even more.

I had the feeling he really was prepared to make the arrangement my personal hell.