Alessia
“Alessia.”
I don’t think Mika’s used my name before. I’m glad he’s warming up. We had our morning study session and then he disappeared for a while. Now he’s shown back up in the living room. He crooks a finger at me. “Want to see something?”
Does the Pope wear a pointy hat? I’m bored out of my skull locked up here. Vlad’s been working all day in his office. I scramble off the comfortable easy chair I’d settled into. “Yes. Da.” I’ve started on my Rosetta Stone Russian lessons. I wish I could just download the language into my head like they do skills in The Matrix.
I follow Mika to the back wing of the mansion. To what appears to be more of the “servant’s quarters.” Zoya’s domain.
Mika takes me into the laundry room and points. There, bounding in and out of a wicker laundry basket full of towels, is a litter of black and white kittens. Their tiny mews make me laugh.
“Awwww,” I exclaim, crouching down to pet a tiny head with my index finger. “They’re so sweet.” I pick one up and hold it to my chest. It starts purring immediately. “Is the mama cat Vlad’s?”
“I don’t know.”
Zoya comes in, her expression severe as always. She says a few harsh words to Mika.
“She says she has to get rid of them before Vlad finds out. I think the mama is hers.”
I grab the laundry basket protectively. “No way she’s getting rid of them.” I pick it up. “Ask her if I can keep them.”
Mika’s eyebrows shoot up. “All of them?”
I don’t really want to keep all of them, but annoying Vlad is my only diversion these days. I think having five rambunctious little kittens tearing around his bedroom is a perfect way to drive him crazy. “Da,” I say.
I am perfectly willing to go up against him on this issue, even if Zoya isn’t.
Mika says something to Zoya who looks at me doubtfully.
I kick up my chin. “The kittens are coming to my room,” I announce. “Vlad can deal.” Maybe I can use this as a bargaining chip to get my own bedroom. Lord knows sharing a bed with Vlad is a dangerous proposition. If we have a repeat of the other night’s performance featuring his tongue between my legs, I won’t be able to resist him.
“Will you ask Zoya to bring a litter box to my bedroom?” I ask Mika as I breeze out the door carrying the kittens.
I leave Mika and Zoya discussing the situation in the laundry room.
In the bedroom, I close the door, turn on the television and let the kittens explore. They are the cutest things I’ve ever seen and they totally brighten my day. Even if I hadn’t wanted to annoy Vlad, having them in the room is a delight.
Zoya installs the litter box in the en suite bathroom. I can’t understand what she’s saying, but there is much hand-wringing and clucking about it. She’s definitely worried about Vlad’s reaction.
“Don’t worry,” I tell her in English. “I’ll handle Vlad.”
She catches his name and bobs her head, talking some more. Finally, she leaves.
I sit on the bed and watch TV, holding various kittens on my lap. When Vlad comes in, there’s one on my shoulder, one on my chest and two in my lap. The fifth one is curled up on Vlad’s pillow.
He stops short. “What…?”
I smile broadly. “You have kittens! I’m keeping them all.”
The kitten on my shoulder is batting at my hair. I laugh and pet her.
I expected Vlad to be annoyed. Instead, his expression softens and he just gazes at me for a moment. “That’s cute,” he says, surprising me.
“Aren’t they?”
He shakes his head, his lips curving into a slight smile. “Not them. You. You with them. Very cute.”
I’m taken aback. “So I can keep them?”
“Da, printsessa. Whatever makes you happy.”
“Can I get a puppy, too?” I press.
He just grins. “Now you’re just testing me. Do you even want a puppy?”
“Maybe not until the kitties have grown up a bit,” I concede.
Vlad’s smile grows even warmer. The lines on his face, softer. He’s a different man like this-younger and more handsome. Almost boyish.
I pick up the kitten on my chest and hold it out to him. “Hold one. They’re so sweet.”
“Okay.” He’s so agreeable. He takes the kitten and puts him on his chest, rubbing under its chin to make it purr.
It’s ridiculous but I fall a little in love.
I don’t want to.
He certainly doesn’t deserve it.
But I can’t help it.
He’s so damn likeable. And the fact that he’s also an asshole holding me against my will, the fact that he’s a criminal, capable of great violence should be a turn-off. But it’s not. Maybe because I come from a long line of men like him. And if we do fall for men who are just like our fathers, then he fits the bill.
He may not be Italian, but the rest is all there.
Dangerous. Powerful. Cunning. Unyielding.
Yet gloriously protective and equally kind.
I peer at him. “You’re cute with a kitten, too,” I tell him. “But don’t think this means I’ll have sex with you.”
He just smirks. “You will, zaika. You’ll beg me for it. And you will like it.”
Vlad
After the initial deposit of a quarter million, I get a wire for the rest of the six million from Alessia’s brothers. All of it.
It’s a smart move on their part. Give me the lump sum at once and use it as leverage to get me to send her back.
It won’t work, of course.
I refuse to let it make me feel guilty.