LOGIN~ Scarlett ~Before I could process it, he pulled me toward the bed frame. He forced the red ball past my lips, securing the leather harness tightly behind my head. The gag forced my mouth open, muffling my sharp gasps into helpless, choked sounds.I suddenly wasn’t so sure if I had made the right choice!He pulled my hands high above my head, snapping the thick leather cuffs around my wrists and locking them to the iron headboard restraints.I was completely trapped. Suspended, restrained, and silenced.Nikolai stepped back. In his right hand, he was still holding the cold black pistol he had used to shoot Moretti.He stepped up to the bed, raising the steel barrel of the gun. I shivered violently as the cold, metallic tip pressed against my cheek, sliding slowly down my jaw line, tracing the column of my neck down to my trembling chest."You wanted them to look at you so badly," Nikolai murmured, his low voice vibrating in the red light as he used the gun barrel to flick open the lo
~ Scarlett ~The Supreme Underground Casino was a dimly lit, high-stakes den of smoked glass, velvet, and ruthless money. High-rollers in sharp tuxedos and cartel lieutenants dominated the baccarat tables, while security guards with concealed submachine guns bled into the ambient shadows.Every step I took through the VIP lounge felt like walking a tightrope over a pit of fire.My dark red hair bounced around my shoulders, drawing every eye in the room like a signal flare. In this sea of tuxedoed men and classic hostesses, my provocative, dark-plaid outfit made me look like an electric anomaly. Nikolai walked beside me, his jaw locked in a terrifyingly rigid line. The air around him was white-hot, radiating pure, suppressed violence as he led me to the main baccarat table."Look at that hair," a heavy-set Italian cartel boss purred from across the felt table, his eyes sliding shamelessly over my exposed chest and red hair. "Fiery red. A new face, De Santis? She’s a masterpiece. Where
~ Scarlett ~The heavy wooden door of the yacht’s suite slammed shut, the harsh click of the lock echoing through the silent room like a gunshot.I sat on the edge of the silk-draped bed, my heart hammering against my ribs, my breath coming in ragged, shallow hitches. My hands trembled as I pulled the torn green silk over my exposed chest, my skin still burning everywhere Nikolai’s hands and mouth had touched me.Two days.He had given me two days to "get my mind right."A cold panic, sharp and icy, began to claw its way up my throat. It had only been a single week. Seven days since I was auctioned off like an object, seven days since I was dragged into this gilded underworld. I still had two whole weeks to endure before the Supreme Council Gala—my golden ticket, my only calculated opportunity to slip into a crowd, find a phone to contact Julian and rescue my mother.Now, my entire timeline was collapsing.Nikolai wasn't waiting for the Gala. His cold, untouchable exterior was crac
~ Scarlett ~A full week of relentless conditioning blurred into a haze of bruised wrists, chemical scents, and midnight shooting drills.Under Madame Vane’s ruthless eye, I learned to track thirty moving targets in a crowded room, spot the subtle bulge of a concealed firearm under a tailored jacket, and swirl my stemware without looking like I was searching for poison.I wasn't just surviving the training anymore; I was absorbing every lethal detail, storing it all away for the moment I could turn it against Nikolai and walk out of his life forever.For now, I had to find a way to survive the night. Because tonight was my first real test in Nikolai’s private yacht, anchored off the coast on open waters.The estate's staff had prepared my wardrobe. A floor-length emerald silk dress with a plunging, sharp V-neckline that left very little to the imagination. The liquid silk clung to my waist and hips, exposing a bold expanse of cleavage that felt less like high-fashion elegance and mo
~ Scarlett ~Morning in Nikolai’s estate arrived with the quiet, suffocating precision of a gilded prison.I sat at the small bistro table near the French doors of my bedroom, a silver tray of fresh pastries and black coffee untouched before me. Out in the courtyard, three armed guards paced the stone perimeter, their heavy boots crunching rhythmically against the gravel.My wrist still throbbed faintly from where the biometric sensor had been strapped the night before.I only need to fool you.The words I had spat directly into Nikolai’s mouth during the interrogation drill still burned on my tongue. Why did I even say that?What if he caught on my escape plan? Ugh! I’m losing it here. Fine, I just need to play along for some time. If Nikolai thought he was conditioning a captive into his personal weapon. He had no idea that every indignity, every drill, and every flex of his control was just fuel for my escape. Three weeks until the Supreme Council Gala. Three weeks to learn his
~ Scarlett ~The east wing salon had been stripped of its soft furnishings, leaving only a high-backed wooden chair in the center of the parquet floor and a discreet biometric sensor strapped around my left wrist."In our world, an amateur lies with her tongue," Madame Vane said, pacing a slow circle around my chair, her heels clicking like the ticking seconds of a bomb. "A master lies with her pulse, her pupils, and the micro-twitches of her jaw. If a cartel boss asks if you know about his smuggled shipments, and your heart rate jumps by five beats a minute, you have signed your own death warrant."A sleek digital monitor sat on a side table, displaying my real-time vitals:Pulse: 72 bpm. Respirations: 14/min."Your goal is simple," Madame Vane instructed. "Maintain absolute flatline composure while I strip away your dignity. If your pulse exceeds eighty, we restart."For two grueling hours, she pelted me with humiliating, intrusive questions about my family's ruin, my mother’s fai







