Mikhail
I take hold of Maria’s arm before she can disappear upstairs to her room. She stares at my hand on her arm and the way my fingers press into her skin. I loosen my hold but block her path.
“My office. Now.”
Her twisted mouth shouts what she doesn’t dare say. She doesn’t want me to touch her. Slowly, she walks toward the office door, and I don’t toy with her. But her look of revulsion angers me. Looks of hate I can handle.
But this? I didn’t set out to hurt her, yet I have.
When I enter, Maria stands in front of the desk defiantly. Her chin is held high, and she stares straight ahead at nothing. Her gaze is carefully kept away from me. I step toward her, barely leaving an inch between us. She doesn’t flinch when I raise my hand slowly toward her cheek. Her breathing comes fast, but her jaw clenches, the jaw working underneath her smooth flesh.
I pull the keys out of my pocket, open a lower drawer on the shelving unit, and return to the desk, placing a box on my desk in front of her. “This is for you.”
Maria glances down, puzzled by the nondescript black cardboard box. She frowns at it and then at me.
She reaches for it but pulls back at the last second. “What is it?”
I frown. “Open it.”
When Maria sees the phone inside, her expression relaxes. She almost smiles but then remembers I’m watching.
“Is this not what you wanted?” I ask.
She doesn’t say anything back, and I recall the first time we met. I asked for her number, and she confessed she didn’t have a phone. I didn’t believe it until now. Maria presses the sides until the screen lights up.
A pang goes through me, but it has to be ignored. I have to set the rules. “The phone is for you to stay in contact with me. My number is already in it. When I call, you pick up immediately.” I narrow my eyes. “And it’s monitored. Every call you make, every text you send. I will know.”
Maria frowns at the phone. “So, if I call my father …” she pauses.
I nod. “I will know.”
“What if I don’t want it?” she asks, turning it over in her hands. Her engagement ring shines in the setting sunlight coming through the windows. I had other things I needed to do today other than chase Maria. It doesn’t matter now. Nothing matters now except her being safe.
“You don’t get a choice anymore,” I warn her. “This is the only way for me to keep you safe.”
“How many times are you going to keep repeating the lie until I believe it?” She laughs coldly and points the phone at me as if it were a weapon.
The challenging look she gives me drives me insane, and I don’t even think she knows it. Her head lowers, but her bold gaze remains on me. Maria wants to hate me, and now it seems that she might.
But I don’t hate her. If anything, I want her more.
I want to break her of her stubborn resistance and reshape her into something new.
I grab hold of her by the arms, and Maria lets out a squeal as I yank her against my body. I pull her in tight, and she turns her face away, refusing to look me in the eye. She does hate me, but it doesn’t bother me. I was born to hate, but I’ll make her need me. I want the challenge, and I’ll never let her go.
“I said I would protect you,” I whisper so close to her ear that my breath moves her hair. “And I will, whether you want me to or not.”
“But who are you protecting me from?” she whispers back.
And I have no good answer.