Chapter 5

The moment I saw her, I knew she was innocent—untouched. Her innocence was like a beacon calling out to me, begging me to corrupt her and break her until the only air she wanted to breathe was mine.

I didn’t understand it at all.

The moment I looked into her eyes, I knew she was mine. She had the palest blue eyes I had ever seen. You could get lost in them. They were laced with innocence, fear, and deep down, a fire so wild I wasn’t sure I could tame.

I knew how to read people. It had been my job to learn the inner workings of the human mind to get into my target’s mind. It’s what made me a dangerous man.

I worked as an assassin for my old Pakhan until I staged a coup with Mikhail and Nikita and took over as the Pakhan. A lot of men were against the sale of flesh because they had families of their own.

They supported me until I took over fully and stopped it completely. I wasn’t stupid; I knew people still practiced it in secret. I was just glad it was a taboo.

Viktor knew it was wrong to buy me a girl. There must have been something special about her to make him break rules.

My mystery girl had fire that I had never seen in anyone before. It was just a little bit extinguished.

Not only were her eyes hypnotic, but her scent was intoxicating and her hair silky. If sirens were rea, then one of thtem was standing right in front of me. All I wanted was to mark her and claim her as mine.

I had no idea what was happening to me. Generally, women bored me. They were all after the same thing—money, wealth, status, and power. And while I wasn’t any different, I preferred a woman who didn’t look at me as a stepping stone.

Not that many people knew what the Pakhan looked like. After my sister was murdered, I retreated into the shadows. A lot of my men saw me as a ghost. I existed everywhere yet nowhere at once.

When she stepped on Viktor’s foot and tried to escape, I knew I was right. The little mouse was a fighter. I smirked, unable to control myself. It would be fun to break her to my liking.

My smirk was however wiped off when Viktor hit her and tried to do it a second time. I wasn’t able to stop myself from firing the weapon. I never missed. The bullet hit the back of his end and made an exit wound at the front.

Although I had just killed a man in front of her and she was covered in blood, she still took my hand and allowed me to help her up. She smelled like vanilla and blueberries.

I wanted to bury my face in her neck and breathe her in. However, that would creep her out.

I gave Mikhail a look and he said, “Tell Giulia to prepare a room for her in the West Wing. Give her food and water and make sure she’s cuffed to the bed. We’ll figure things out in the morning.”

I watched as the hope the little firecracker had was crushed. I let her go and walked away afraid that if I kept looking at her, I would take her with all my bodyguards watching.

As soon as Mikhail was done with my firecracker’s arrangements, he came straight to my office. I poured him a glass of dry vodka. He downed it on one shot.

“You can’t keep her,” he said as he looked at me. “I have a bad feeling about her. She can’t be trusted.”

When I remained silent and sparked a cigar, he sighed.

“If you hadn’t killed Viktor, we would know why he said she was special. She’s more than just a girl he picked up somewhere as a gift to you. There is more to her than we know.”

I shot him a look to reprimand him for how he spoke to me. I was Pakhan and I wouldn’t allow anyone to talk to me like that—even if he was my twin.

Mikhail and I looked nothing alike. We were fraternal twins. I came out first looking a lot more like my mother. I had her green eyes and blonde hair. Mikhail came a day later with dark brown hair and eyes as black as coal.

With my scar and mismatched eyes, no one could tell we were brothers, let alone twins.

“I’m sorry but you know I’m right. I saw how you looked at her. You want her. I can see the carnal need still swimming in your eyes. We should drug her and send her to the police. No one will believe she saw you and lived to tell the tale.”

I couldn’t. Maybe it made me a monster but I was prepared to be that. I couldn’t help it. I wanted the girl. I was no hero or saint.

“No, Maxim. I can’t let you do this. Remember the message it will send to your men. It will open a can of worms neither of us are prepared to close.”

I gave him another look of disbelief. Did he really think I was stupid? Only Viktor and Akim knew about the girl. No one else had to know.

“You realize you will be doing the same thing you fought so hard against? You’d be like that bastard Alfonso.”

Oh God, his rambling was starting to piss me off.

“What’s her name?” I asked.

He sighed, realizing he wasn’t getting anywhere with me. I could care less what kind of a man keeping the girl made me. She was mine and I would be damned if I let her go.

“Livia Brown.”

I managed to crack a smile as I whispered, “Livia.”

Her name was just a gorgeous and unique as she was. It felt so sounded so good on my lips.

Viktor had been right. The girl had indeed been a gift for me.