Page 56 of Twisted Pact

“The situation required more time than I anticipated.” I set my bag down and walk closer. “How have you been?”

She sputters her lips and chuckles. “Trapped. Bored. Going slowly insane. The usual.”

I tilt my head and notice the dark circles under her eyes. “Have you been sleeping?”

“Not well. Turns out being held prisoner doesn’t promote restful sleep.”

“You’re not a prisoner,” I grumble.

“Then I’m free to leave?”

“You know you’re not.”

She turns away and pours hot water over her tea bag. “Then I’m a prisoner. Let’s not pretend otherwise.”

I want to tell her this is all for her protection. The defiance in her shoulders kills the words.

“We need to talk about the security situation,” I tell her instead.

“Of course we do. Because that’s all we ever talk about. Security and threats and danger and how I need to stay locked away forever.”

“Mila—”

“Just tell me what new restrictions you’ve come up with,” she interrupts, waving me off. “What other aspects of my life you’ve decided to control.”

I lean against the counter and watch her doctor her tea with honey. “Maxim Novikov has organized a coalition, and they’veplaced bounties on you and Irina. Forty million rubles each for capture.”

Her hand freezes on the honey jar. “Capture?”

“They want you alive. To use as leverage against your father and to demonstrate that my protection is ineffective.”

She sets the jar down and holds onto the counter like she needs it for stability. “So, what does this mean?”

“We need to relocate you to a more secure location. Somewhere even more isolated.”

She snaps her head up to look at me with defiance burning in her eyes. “No.”

“It’s not negotiable.”

“Everything with you is non-negotiable.” She throws her hands in the air. “I’m tired of running. Tired of hiding. Tired of living in fear because some criminal families are playing their stupid power games.”

“Those stupid power games could get you killed.”

“Or they could keep me trapped forever while you and my father use me as a bargaining chip in your alliance negotiations.”

“Is that really what you think this is about?”

“What else would it be about? You’ve made it very clear that everything is strategic. Everything serves some larger purpose. Including me.”

I stalk closer, eating up the distance between us. “You’re not a bargaining chip.”

“Then what am I, Alexei? Your responsibility? Your obligation? The woman you feel guilty about because you took her virginity without knowing?”

“You’re—” I stop myself before I say something I can’t take back.

We stare at each other across the kitchen. All the frustration and confusion and unwanted attraction crackles between us like electricity.

“I need normalcy,” she says when it’s clear I’m not going to finish what I started. “I need to feel human again, not like an asset under lock and key. I have a presentation this week and it’s thirty percent of my final grade. I’m going. In person.”