Page 146 of The Harbinger
“Nyet. There’s something else… Why haven’t you run yet?”
I let out a smooth exhale as though the breath I had been holding wasn’t caught up in my lungs, and shrugged. “There’s nowhere I could go that you wouldn’t find me.”
“I tried to tell you.”
I glanced down at my thumb dimpling into my scar and scoffed. “Sometimes we have to learn the hard way.”
I’d learned the hard way. Taking the knife, getting into the vehicle with Ivan and Vlad, and trusting Katya.
“It seems that’s the only way you prefer.”
I’d lived for no less than eighteen years and had been ‘awake’ for a mere month under Sacha’s watchful eye. Chaos had always been a constant in my memories, but with Sacha, he tamed the mayhem. Even when I brought strife to his table, he devoured it like a sweet indulgence, savoring every morsel.
He’d handled me with care, a strong hand, and kindness, and I’d done nothing but cause problems. Maybe I was a petulant woman. Maybe he was just the man I needed to push me in the right direction.
“What if I wanted to change that?”
“Are you capable?”
“I’m willing to try.” I caught my breath, the fluttering of my heart against my ribcage like a steady and insistent drumbeat.
“Then stand up.”
Obeying his command, my hands retreated behind my back, hidden from view. A surge of pleasure shot through me, causing me to squirm with anticipation, my skin electrified and aflame with desire.
“Come here and kneel.”
Turning the corner of his desk, I stopped at his bare feet, assuming my position before him and sinking down with a sigh. My fingers trailed along the smooth, black silk of his pants, my body thrumming.
“You want to please me?”
“Yes.”
“Then bow down to me and kiss my feet.”
Chapter 35
Mia
Mylipspressedtothe top of his bare foot, his skin clean with the scent of spices, my lack of hesitation spurred on by the drug, and my insatiable urge to satisfy him however he wanted.
If degrading me pleased him, I’d allow it to prove to him I wanted this and everything he brought along with it. I needed him.
Except his original purpose for me kept beating against the back of my skull with a hammer-like force, a constant reminder of the reality I couldn’t escape.
I brushed my lips against his foot and spoke, my heart thudding. “Were you going to kill me?” My gaze darted around the floor, and I pressed my hands against it.
“Hmm.” His glass clinked as he placed it on the table. “Maybe.” He grabbed my hair and tugged my head back, pulling me up to his knees as he loomed over me. “Open your mouth.”
I obeyed, parting my lips as he took a mouthful of liquor and dribbled it into my mouth, gripping me tightly around the throat as he pulled my hair back. The burning sensation of the drink only added to my sense of submission, a reminder that I was at his mercy, my life easily snuffed out by his touch.
“I like it better when your mouth is occupied.” His fingers tightened. “Now swallow it.”
My throat bobbed against his palm as I worked the liquid down my throat.
“So obedient now, aren’t you?” He slapped my cheek, and I groaned as a tingling sensation spread across my face. “Do you like it when I do this?” He tapped my cheek again, grabbed his glass, and poured the remaining vodka into my mouth as I nodded. My mouth overflowed, and the liquor tumbled down my chin and throat, burning the nicks and scrapes across my chest. “Drink up.”
I closed my mouth and winced as I swallowed down the Vodka. A bit slipped down the wrong tube, and my throat seized, my hand covering my mouth as I coughed and sputtered.