Chapter 6

Nikolai

"Y ou and Miss De Luca sure seemed friendly," Endo grins at me waggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"She is not my friend, she is my captive," I reply pointedly.

"Seems like you'd like her to be a whole lot more than that, my friend. If you ask me, I'd say you've got a little thing for Miss De Luca."

"I didn't ask you," I growl. "Did you bring me in here to gossip like broads or do you have useful information for me?" I snap.

Endo knows when to drop it. The last thing I want to talk about right now is her. How she's making me feel. How crazy being near her drives me. From the moment she woke up with my name on her lips I've wanted to make her scream it. Having to carry her again, to hold her close to me in my arms and feel how perfectly she fit in them ignited all of my caveman instincts. I wanted to beat on my chest and declare, she is mine . Then she had to spoil it all and remind me that she isn't my bride. The thought of her in another wedding dress, this time for me, flashes through my mind. I can't have thoughts like this, she was right to remind me. She's here so I can assess if she's a threat.

Mind you, I could still have some fun with her in the process. Seeing her cut that dress ripped away the thought of how she almost married another man today; like she was severing more than just the dress. As much as I liked her in it, seeing those sinfully long, toned legs had me imagining burying my face between them, licking the soft warm mound until she writhes and orgasms for me. I'd almost thrown caution to the wind and done it right there and then. That is until Endo interrupted us. I don't know if I'm pissed, or pleased with him for it.

I realize that Endo's started updating me, so I force myself to focus on anything other than thoughts of the delectable Arianna.

"So, after they realized that Arianna was gone, they sent men out searching for her. Butso far, they don't know who took her. Though I'm sure you're high on their list of suspects. It's probably no coincidence to them that only a week after pissing you off, his daughter has gone missing. Once we let him know that we're the ones who have his precious daughter then we can…"

"No. We're not going to claim the kidnap as ours," I growl.

Confusion crosses Endo's face, "But that's the plan. We kidnap her, find out what information she has—torturing her if we have to. We use the information and her as leverage against De Luca and Lucchese. Then, we kill her or give her back in exchange for something from them."

I know Endo is just saying what we'd discussed when we first decided to kidnap her. But that's changed now. She's changed things. The inner lion in me rages against its cage at the thought of anyone hurting Arianna. I curl my fists and try to calm myself against the red mist of rage that descends upon me. Endo might be my best friend and most trusted man, but I'll be damned if I let him or anyone else touch her.

"Nobody touches the girl! She will come to no harm here." I roar.

"Woah, okay, Boss. Nobody will harm a single hair on her head. But we still need her to tell us what we need to know. She didn't seem too willing to cooperate before, even if she promised she'd tell you, now she's making demands for more," he points out.

"Oh, she'll tell me everything. I'll make sure she does."

"As much as I believe in your sexual powers of persuasion, what if she still doesn't, boss?"

"Let me worry about the girl, Endo. You just do your job. Manage security and keep an eye on De Luca and Lucchese, they so much as take a shit I wanna know. Got it?"

"Sure thing, Boss. Why don't you go speak to Miss De Luca now?" he suggests, knowing that's exactly what I want to do.

"That's your first good idea yet, Endo. Go get some sleep, it was a long drive."

"Sure thing, Boss. You should too," he replies.

Although he's right, I'm far too hyped up to sleep. I have too much to do, and I need to find out what Arianna wants, one way or another.

***

I don't bother to knock, Arianna needs to know this is my house, she's here because I decided to bring her. Not because she asked it of me. I need to remind myself of that too. Treating her like a guest will blur the already muddied line between us. It feels strange enough as it is allowing a woman into my inner sanctum. Very few have, and never anyone I've been attracted to. My sex life is purely that. Sex, no commitment, no strings. Anyone I've dated has been purely for show or political alliances and gains. Having Arianna here feels like an intimacy, an invasion of my privacy, and it puts me on edge. The last thing I want is for her to feel too comfortable here, like it's her home.

I stride in only to find myself encountering a sight that immediately tests my resolve. She's evidently just come out of the shower, and all she's wearing is a towel.

Her still-wet hair is coiled around itself on the top of her head. The towel she's wrapped around herself rests high on her thighs, showing off her shapely legs. Beads of water still cling to her skin and I momentarily contemplate licking them off her.

"What the fuck, Nikolai?" she yelps, pulling the towel close to her chest. "Don't you know how to knock?"

"If I'd knocked then I wouldn't have had the pleasure of seeing you like this."

She flushes scarlet, "That's the point!"

I ignore her, instead asking, "I trust the room and the facilities are to your liking. Do you have everything you need? I see you already found the shower," I add, raising an eyebrow.

"They're fine, thank you," she replies, clearly accustomed to having to be polite even when enraged. "The shower helped. You could use a shower yourself," she adds, nodding at my bloodstained shirt.

"Is that an offer to join you?" I tease, stepping closer to her.

Her breath hitches and her eyes widen with surprise and desire. It would be so easy to close the small amount of space between us, drop that towel, and fuck her until she told me everything I want to know.

"No, it's not," she snips, adjusting her towel.

She might be saying no, but the way she flushes pink and squirms under my gaze makes me think she's denying herself what she really wants. That she can feel the chemistry between us as much as I can.

"I don't mean to be rude or ungrateful, but why are you here?" she asks, eyes narrowing suspiciously.

"I came to check on you, to see how you are feeling after today's… events," I reply.

I sense that I'll get more out of Arianna with honey than venom at this point, asking about her wellbeing and being kind is a means to an end. I don't care how she feels either way, as long as I get what I want. At least that's what I'm going to keep telling myself until it's true.

She arches an eyebrow at me suspiciously, seeming surprised by my change in demeanor. "I feel… better, thank you," she replies cautiously.

"I could make you feel great if you wanted," I murmur, trailing a finger across her collarbone and down her arm.

The tiny hairs on her skin stand on end. Her skin feels silky smooth, touching her it feels like electricity dances between my fingertips. She jolts as though she feels it too.

"Nikolai…" she murmurs, tilting her head up to me, her lips parting slightly.

Just as I'm about to make my move, to bridge the gap between us, take her in my arms and fuck her until she screams, to make her beg for more until she's desperate to tell me anything I need to know, she does something that throws me off-guard.

"Thank you… For saving me today. I don't like the fact that people died because of me, but I understand that you did what I asked of you. But I need you to promise me that you will hold up your end of the bargain, that you will help me to start a new life somewhere my father will never find me," she says, looking up at me with those big, trusting eyes.

I don't know how to respond, her candidness and trust in me have my mind reeling. My men trust me, follow me because I am a strong leader, and they believe that I will continue to rule the Bratva with strength and fortitude. I can handle that kind of trust. But a woman's trust? That's a different story. Trust, relationships, and love are all distractions that can get a man killed or signs of weakness that enemies can exploit. I vowed never to care for anyone again, to risk losing someone close to me. I will do my duty to the Bratva and take a wife to bear children and carry on the Kuzmin name, but I will not love her. I will not promise to be faithful and tied to one person, that's not me. Right now, Arianna is looking at me as though I'm her savior, and I am anything fucking but.

"You have me all wrong, kukolka , I did not save you. You may have asked me to take you, but I did not promise you anything. Just because I took you, doesn't mean I agreed to your terms. You handed yourself to me on a silver platter and I simply seized an opportunity to take down an enemy. You will tell me what you know. One way or another," I reply calmly.

Again, she surprises me. She doesn't break eye contact with me or shy away.

"No. You have me all wrong. I am not the good, sweet, innocent little girl everyone seems to believe. You think you can hurt me? Just try. I've been beaten, broken, had everyone I ever loved taken from me, and I'm still here. I asked you to kidnap me because nothing could be worse than marrying that awful man and staying under my father's control. If you have no honor, then fine, give it your best shot. Torture me and find out how strong I truly am. I will not be a prisoner again, so no matter what you do, I'm not telling you anything until you guarantee you'll give me what I want in return. I am a woman of my word, are you a man of yours?" she demands, staring me down like a lioness.

No one has ever spoken to me like that before and lived. Especially not a woman. I should be livid. But it's too fucking sexy. Despite my throbbing cock and the desire I feel. I have to remember that she could be playing me. Her reluctance to give me the information unless I promise to release her makes me think the information she has could be useless, or that she may not have any at all. She's desperate enough to get out. If she hooks me into promising to help her, regardless of what the information is, I could fall right into a trap.

"Such brave words, kukolka. I wonder if you would still feel the same if I called your bluff? Though I think you and I have very different ideas of the kind of torture I'd inflict. I have something in mind that would have you screaming for entirely different reasons," I purr, pulling her body against mine.

She gulps and her eyes widen in surprise, her breath hitching as she realizes what I've said. She doesn't pull away, I can feel her body trembling with desire against me. But I'm not going to fuck her yet. Not until she begs me to.

It seems we are at a stalemate. I am not willing to back down to her demands. It would be easy to promise her what she wants. But then it would be known that Nikolai Kuzmin gave in to demands without receiving anything in return. For now, I see no point in continuing this conversation. She will come to me willingly soon enough.