Page 50 of Twisted Proposal

He was so casual, sitting on the sofa, his arms slung over the black leather as he watched me with a destructive focus.

It was one thing to be hit, to be yelled at and suffer the abuse I had at my family's hand. But to be looked at like I was nothing? It broke something inside of me. Something that held back years of pent-up rage.

Tears of frustration burned, but I wouldn't let them fall.

Never let them see you cry.

"I'm talking about that study group you pulled me out of. It's required to pass that class. Why would you spend all this money on my tuition just to watch me fail? Is this some sick little game to you? You want to watch me work for something, struggle for it, just to take away any chance of success? Or do you want me to fail so you can punish me again?"

Artem gave me a heated look, his eyes darkening to the color of storm clouds. I knew he was thinking about the spanking he had given me, how my skin had bloomed red beneath his palm.

I ignored the flood of heat that rushed between my thighs, the way my pulse quickened at the memory.

"That study group isn't required. You were incorrectly assigned. That group was for underperforming students. You're not underperforming. There should be a new schedule sent to you next week. The new group is only women and meets twice as often."

That should have satisfied me, but it didn't. It just stoked the fire raging inside me.

"What makes you think you get to decide what kind of study group I should be a part of? How do you even have the authority to change my schedule with the school?"

"They listen to the people who pay the bills." He gave me a deadpan look and I had to fight the urge to rake my nails down his face just to see if he'd finally show some real emotion.

I wasn't that stupid.

Instead, I started pacing again, my heels clicking on the marble floor as I went back and forth in front of that window.

His eyes stayed on me, tracking my movements like a killer sizing up his next victim, and it drove me insane how my body responded to that attention, heat pooling low in my belly.

"I don't want to live in that apartment," I said, pointing to the floor.

"Okay, you don't want to live there. Your objection has been noted." His lip curled into the barest hint of a sneer. "But it changes nothing. That is where you're going to live. Deal with it. If I find out that you're not in that apartment every night by nine p.m., then I'll have my men hunt you down and drag you back to me where I will punish you again and again until the message finally sinks in."

"And what message is that? That you're losing control over your empire, that men like my father are whispering about how the Ivanov blood has run thin, so you're controlling me instead?" I regretted the words the moment they flew out of my mouth.

He was on me in a second.

His hand wrapped around my throat as he pressed me against the cold window glass, the city lights twinkling far below us.

"That is enough." His breath was hot against my face. "The last person who dared talk to me like that is dead. My patience with you is not infinite, so let's clear the air. You're wrong. I didn't move you into that apartment to amuse myself. It was to protect you. Your father had enemies, and he owed a lot of people money. They may decide that his debts are now your responsibility."

He tightened his grip on my neck, making my lips tingle and my heart race. Or maybe it was the steely ice-gray of his eyes as they seemed to stare into my soul, stripping me bare.

He was pressed against me, his hard body flush against mine, trapping me between scorching heat and frigid glass. It was overwhelming; my head spun and my thoughts scattered.

"No one is?—"

"Shut that pretty mouth of yours," he barked, his free hand coming up to grip my jaw. "You had your chance to speak. Now you will listen. I have no interest in fucking with your education, so long as your life is not in danger. You will obey my orders. You will do as I command."

"And if I don't," I mouthed, unable to speak with his hand at my throat, but unwilling to back down.

His eyes flashed with something that could have been pride, or maybe just excitement at the challenge.

His thumb caressed the underside of my jaw in a gesture so tender, my knees went weak.

"There is no 'if you don't,'" he growled, his lips so close to mine I could feel the heat of them. "You will step in line. Even if I have to punish you every single day until it sinks in."

He leaned in next to my ear, his breath sending shivers through my body. "Good girls go to school,” he whispered. “Bad girls get stripped and chained to my desk. Don't make me your enemy, Viktoria. You won't like it."

His hand around my neck and his dark words should not have caused heat to swell in my core, or my nipples to tighten against my blouse, but they did. My body was a traitor to my pride.