Owned by the Russian Mafia Boss: A Mob Romance (15 page)

“Why don’t you just take care of things?” Sasha called out. He grinned wickedly, and Alek had no doubt Sasha would be more than happy to offer his services. Bloodthirsty bastard made even Alek’s stomach turn.

“I need more information before I proceed. I need to figure out how she’s communicating and with whom. I want reports from each you at the end of the evening on her whereabouts. Do you understand?”

His staff members nodded and muttered among themselves. Alek sighed and waved his hand. “Dismissed.” The household and property staff slowly dispersed, and his men waited for their assignments. They doled out their locations for the day and waved Sasha and Misha inside. “Any news on Grisha?” he asked tersely.

“Do you think he’s working with Natalia?” Misha asked quietly.

“I don’t know yet, but he can get in and out of this house undetected, and none of this started happening until he showed up. I have no reason to suspect he works for Boris, but I can’t discount the timing. Find him.” Misha nodded.

“And the girl?”

“I want her to think she still has her freedom. She knows I suspect a mole, but she doesn’t think I suspect her. She’ll be careful, but she’ll probably be brash. She thinks I’m wrapped around her little finger.” Alex’s lips curled in disgust. “Once I know how she’s operating, I’ll be taking care of her.”

“The property staff reported seeing a redhead driving past the house on several occasions. We ran a match on the plates, and it’s Claudia. What do you want to do with this information?”

Alek sighed. Was Claudia ever going to give this up? “I’ll call her and meet with her for lunch and find out what she wants. Most likely she wants to try to smooth things over with me and patch up our relationship.”

“Are you going to?” Misha asked quickly. Alek tried not to laugh. When Claudia was here, she was a nightmare to the staff. The men no doubt would love to see her as far away as possible.

“No.”

Misha hesitated. “Are you sure you want to leave surveillance of Natalia to the household staff members? I know they’re trained to defend themselves, but they’re not trained in surveillance. If she’s been at this a while, it’s possible that she’s a professional. She could be doing a number of things right under their noses, and they don’t even know.”

“I’m installing cameras in all the rooms with the exception of the office today.”

“All the rooms?” Sasha blanched, and it was all Alek could do not to laugh. He knew that Sasha was seeing one of the servants. Fraternizing within the staff wasn’t forbidden, but Sasha kept his relationship quiet. He, no doubt, did not want Alek to know what was happening in the privacy of Sasha’s room, and Alek absolutely did not want to know.

“Cameras will be installed in the hallways, and I see no reason to install them in the private quarters unless I see evidence of Natalia going in and out of the rooms. For right now, what you do behind that door stays private.”

The relief was written all over Sasha’s face, and Alek smirked. “All right. We’re going to be gone most of the morning. I have a meeting at the residential commissioner’s office. Boris is buying residential property in my neighborhoods, and I need to make sure those lines aren’t getting redrawn. Grab some breakfast and be ready to leave in thirty. The meeting will either go splendidly, or it will go horribly, but I’m not leaving until we know those lines aren’t getting redrawn. Do you understand me?”

Misha nodded with a blank expression, but Sasha grinned. He knew he might actually get to see a little action. Alek, on the other hand, was hoping things would go smoothly. He couldn’t let Boris fuck things up just when they were going so well.

Briefly, he thought about Natalia. She’d be pissed when she woke up this morning, but it was nothing compared to what he had in store for her tonight. If she thought walking around in a sheet was humiliating, she was going to hate what he would do to her tonight. His staff needed to know he was serious, and that mean making her life a living hell.

For the first time since she’d moved in, he realized he wasn’t looking forward to punishing her. It was unwarranted, but it didn’t explain the dread that built up inside him. Things were spiraling out of control. Last night he’d let her take control, and when he took her, it wasn’t with the same force that usually got him off. Christ, he’d actually enjoyed it when she lay limp and trembling in his arms. Whatever was going on with him needed to stop. And maybe tonight would be the first step in driving a wedge between him and whatever feelings he was developing for her.

Chapter Thirteen

Ana was glaring at her when Natalia woke up. Stretching, Natalia carefully pulled the sheets around her and slipped out of bed. “Ana, is everything okay?”

“Get dressed. Breakfast will only be available for another twenty minutes, so I suggest you move quickly,” Ana said stiffly. Natalia’s heart sank. Whatever game Alek decided to play, it apparently included isolating her. Ana was her friend, and if he took that away from her, she might go insane.

“Ana, have I done something…”

“New rule,” Ana interrupted. “No more fraternizing. No personal questions. You’re confined to your room today. Mr. Evanoff has some maintenance work scheduled for the house, and you’re not to be underfoot. Lunch will be served to you in your room. Mr. Evanoff is dining with Claudia, and when Mr. Evanoff returns, you may join him for dinner. Your clothes are hanging on the door.”

Without another word, Ana turned and marched out of the room. Natalia had pictured all kinds of horror, but isolation from her friend hadn’t been one of them. The door slammed shut behind her, and her words sank in. Alek was dining with Claudia? Why?

Did he simply want to spend time with her?

Chiding herself for her jealousy, Natalia grabbed the clothes laid out for her. It was a simple pair of black pants and a matching black top. Nothing horrific there. She could still smell Alek on her, but if she wanted to eat breakfast, she didn’t have time to shower. If she was to be confined in her room all day, she had plenty of time to shower later.

She received nothing but icy glares as she made her way to the kitchen. There was no food on the dining room table or staff to serve her. As her eyes swept over the table, hysterical laughter bubbled in her throat. As a prisoner, she’d been treated like a princess. But now something had happened, and she was treated like a leper.

How absurd that she had failed to notice the difference until now.

With a sigh, she snagged a single muffin that sat on the counter. She reached over to open the doors to the patio to at least eat in private, but the doors were locked. When she searched for the deadbolt, someone cleared his throat behind her. Turning, she found a tall man in uniform starting at her disapprovingly. “You will eat in your room,” he said coldly.

“My room? Can’t I at least eat at the kitchen table?”

“Your room. Or should I say Mr. Evanoff’s room.”

What the hell? No one on his staff ever called him Evanoff. “I’m sorry. Everyone seems to hate me today. Could you at least tell me why?”

He clamped his mouth shut and stared at her. With a sigh, she bit into the muffin and trudged past him. Part of her wanted to crumble the muffin on the floor as she walked up, but that was childish, and it wasn’t their fault they were treating her like an outcast today. They were simply following orders. That much she was sure of.

The servant followed her all the way to her room, and when she was safely inside, she heard the distinct sound of the lock. “What the fuck is going on?” At least before she knew when she was being punished. Was this some sort of retaliation for last night? Was Alek pissed that he’d let her take control for the evening.

“He could have just said no,” she spat at the locked door. No one answered. With a sigh, she took another bite of her muffin and wandered into the suite. Her books and the television hadn’t been returned. There was nothing for her to do all day except sit and stare aimlessly out the window.

And think about Alek having lunch with Claudia.

As the hours passed painfully slow, Natalia eventually lay down. Heavy footsteps raced up and down the stairs as the maintenance workers did whatever the hell they were doing, and eventually she slid into an uneasy sleep. When she woke up the sun was already down, and she looked around nervously to see if Alek was in the room.

She was alone and the house was eerily silently. Padding across the carpet, she reached for the door handle and found that it was unlocked. Pushing the door open, she crept into the hallway and looked around. No one was watching her or following her or glaring at her. It was almost a relief. Moving quietly down the hall, she had intended to search for Ana and ask her if she’d seen Alek when she remembered how the woman had been this morning. Distant. Cold. Natalia turned around to check downstairs when she heard a faint moan.

Concerned, she moved farther down the hall. As far as she knew, most of the bedrooms were empty up here. Ana had a room up here, but she’d told Natalia that she normally stayed in the guest quarters on the other side of the property. She’d only been moved to the main house to keep an eye on Natalia.

So who was in the bedroom down the hall? As she moved closer, she realized that the moans weren’t in pain but rather in ecstasy. As her heart hammered against her chest, she stopped in front of one of the doors. The sounds of skin slapping mingled with familiar gasps and grunts, and Natalia froze.

Is this why Alek hadn’t returned to the room? Did he and Claudia extend their lunch well into the evening? A fury like she’d never known rose up inside her, and she felt her hands shake. Part of her wanted to beat down the door and demand and explanation, but why? She wasn’t his girlfriend. He’d made it clear what would happen if he caught her with another man, but he had no reason to be faithful. Why should he? She was a prisoner.

And she did not have feelings for him.

The sounds grew even louder, and a husky feminine voice rattled her bone. “Ah. Fuck. I’ve missed you, baby. I’ve missed this. Harder. Like you used to fuck me. Harder!”

Her scream at the end had Natalia running back to her room. Slamming the door shut, she leaned against it and closed her eyes. Tears pricked her lids, but she refused to let them fall as she dashed them away. Did she really expect Alek to soften and fall for her? That was ridiculous.

But it still didn’t stop the misery and jealousy from taking control of her body.

***

Ana knocked on her door at dinner time, but Natalia refused to come out. Ana didn’t push. She made a snide comment about how Natalia didn’t deserve to leave the damn room anyway and slammed the door on her way out. Natalia hid in the suite, and when the door flew open and Alek walked in with anger twisted on his face, Natalia knew she’d made a mistake.

“Why the fuck aren’t you joining me for dinner?” he hissed angrily.

“Claudia wasn’t enough for you,” she muttered as she turned away. He strode across the room, grabbed her arm, and whirled her around.

“What did you just say?” he said in a low but danger voice.

Natalia refused to let her fear hold her back. “Why does it matter? You’ve obviously said something to staff to make them hate me. I’ve been locked in my room all fucking day with nothing to do. And you wonder why I don’t want to dine with you?” she snapped hysterically.

He shook his head. “That’s not what you just said.”

Glaring at him, she wrenched her arm away. “I asked why Claudia wasn’t enough for you. We had a tolerable evening last night, and then you take that woman out to lunch and fuck her right afterwards. So now I guess she wasn’t good enough to satisfy you, so you come crawling to me. Is that it? I may be your prisoner, but I will not stand here while you fuck every slut that comes your way and then let you take a turn with me. That’s beyond humiliating, and I draw the line at that,” she hissed angrily.

Alek stared at her with a stunned look on his face as she tried to push past him. She’d barely made it into the bedroom before he grabbed her and threw her onto the bed. In terror, she bit her tongue. The blood welled in her mouth as Alek turned her over and straddled her. “First of all,” he said softly as he began to undo his pants. “You don’t question who I’m with and how I spend my day. Secondly, if I decide to fuck someone else and then fuck you, you don’t get to tell me no. Part of our agreement is that I get to have you when I want you as often as I want you.” He laughed hollowly. “And finally, if you think for one fucking second that last night meant anything other than I was feeling indulgent, you couldn’t be more wrong.”

He grasped her shirt and ripped it open. Buttons flew, and she turned her head and closed her eyes. As always, she was terrified and excited, but the intensity in his eyes was darker than usual. He was well and truly angry. But judging from the way that he looked at her, he was angry because he wanted her.

“Alek,” she whispered as she tried to soothe him. “Alek, I’m right here. I’m doing whatever you want, just please…”

“Shut up,” he growled as he glared at her. “You don’t get to dictate any part of my life. You don’t tell me who I can see or how I feel, do you understand?” He ripped down her pants, and she gasped. With her free hand, she reached out to push him off, but he held her down easily. Shoving her panties aside, he thrust one finger inside her.

“No foreplay, and you’re already so wet,” he said cruelly. “What does that say about you?”

This wasn’t about seduction or about teaching her a lesson. This was about domination, and even though every part of her body was tingling with desire, her mind was screaming no. This wasn’t how she wanted Alek. This wasn’t how she wanted to be with Alek. “Please don’t do this,” she whispered in a hoarse voice. She was disgusted to find that it was tinged with desire. “You’re scaring me.”

“Good,” he muttered as he wrapped a hand around her throat and loomed over her. “You
should
be scared of me. You should be very fucking scared of me. Your life is in my hands every day, Natalia. All it takes is a single order from me, and over a dozen men would be more than happy to dispatch you. I could end your life right here and right now, and everyone in this house wouldn’t even blink. Half this staff would offer to help me dispose of your body,” he growled in her ear before licking the side of her neck. She strained to get away. The air was getting even hotter around them, and the fear was more of a noose than his hand.