Page 105 of Twisted Proposal

"I did that to?—"

"You know, if this is some kink for you, I will tell you right now. I will never call you Daddy."

Another deep breath in as my control over my rage frayed even further. A muffled laugh came from the other room, a reminder we were not really alone.

"Do you know what almost happened to you today?" I asked, ignoring her earlier statement. We could go over the things she could call me when riding my cock later, when we were alone.

"I almost got free of your control? I almost tasted fresh air?" Her unbothered attitude was the single most infuriating thing I had ever encountered, and I grew up with Pavel and Kostya.

"You almost got caught," I said, clenching my teeth.

"No, I did get caught. One of your thugs grabbed me in the woods and dragged me here to you." Viktoria crossed her arms in front of her chest and tilted her head, daring me to do something she was going to regret.

I sucked in a long, deep breath through my nose and thought about what Marina had told Kostya.

Viktoria didn't understand why I was protecting her. She thought it was about control, not about keeping her safe.

Telling Viktoria that she was in danger wasn't enough.

She simply didn't believe me.

Why should she?

Almost every other man in her life had used her, beaten her, and lied to her.

Hell, her professor had been in the middle of manipulating her into a situation where he could coerce her into fucking him.

Why would she believe anything I told her?

I had handed her tuition with strings attached and just assumed that I had bought her trust.

Normally my reputation preceded me and delivered the trust, respect, or fear I needed someone to feel. I had no idea what aspects of my reputation she was familiar with.

"I have told you I have been protecting you. Yet you simply don't believe me. Let me prove it." I tilted the monitor back toward me and sent a few videos to the bank of screens behind me.

We were in a second temporary, makeshift office I had in a little cabin that was used strictly for security. Gregor knew that some of the work that I needed to handle would require sensitive conversations, and some possible bloodshed.

I wasn't sure if he knew I wanted to keep Viktoria separate from that, the same way he kept Samara separate from it. Or if he was worried about me getting blood on the hardwood floors in the lake house. Either way, it was convenient.

I started with the video of her creeping through the tunnels. Of course, we knew about the tunnels. We left them as emergency escape routes, which meant they were constantly monitored in case they became a point of vulnerability.

"I still don't see how I was in danger. From a spider bite, maybe?”

I was so done with her flippant tone and attitude.

Ignoring her, I fast forwarded to the point where she breached the end of the tunnel which let out between two large boulders. It really was a very impressive hiding spot. It looked completely natural in the woods, already part of a larger rock formation, and no one would want to get too close because who knew what kinds of snakes or spiders called that crevice home?

The video cut to another feed in the forest. Gregor had several cameras mounted about seven feet high in the trees, hidden by foliage but with completely clear views. I believed hunters often used them and they ran on motion sensors.

Usually, that meant that his men were scouring hours of footage of scurrying chipmunks and the occasional fox or bunny hopping through the undergrowth.

Today, it caught Viktoria sneaking around, as well as two of Solovyov's men.

"There." I stopped the video, and it showed her ducking behind a tree as two men came lumbering by. Talking more to each other than paying attention to their surroundings. "Those are not my men. They don't work for my cousin either. They work for our enemy. Do you understand what could have happened to you if they caught you?"

"I don't believe you." She had no idea how close she had come to dying.

I played more of the video, showing her almost being caught by two more groups.