Chapter 5: I would rather die

~ Scarlett ~

I stared at the leather folder resting on the bedside table in the early hours of the morning.

Personal Service Contract.

He had given me until tonight to read it, to sign my freedom away. But I didn't need to read it. I already knew what it was: a prison cell.

My chest tightened as panic pressed against my ribs like a physical weight. My mother was still lying in that hospital room, completely helpless. I didn’t even get to see her one last time before my uncle Richard sold me to an auction block without blinking.

It would take him five seconds to pull the plug on her life support the moment he realized she was no longer useful leverage.

And Nikolai... Nikolai wasn't a savior. He was a shadow from my past turned into a ruthless tyrant, driven by a dark desire to destroy me. Not like there was much left to destroy.

A bitter smile tugged my lips.

I couldn't stay here. I couldn't sign. I had to get out, reach a public phone, and call Julian. He was probably tearing the city apart looking for me. If I could just reach him, he would help me secure my mother and hide me where neither Richard nor Nikolai could ever reach.

My eyes drifted to the garment rack near the bathroom. Hanging on a velvet hanger was the uniform.

A fitted black dress with a short, flared skirt, paired with a stark white apron that pinned at the front and wrapped tightly around my waist, complete with a crisp white bow for my hair. It looked like something straight out of an old-world aristocratic house—a silent, physical mark of subjection.

My jaw clenched. I swallowed my pride, stripped out of my auction dress, and pulled the uniform over my head. If I was going to move around this estate, wearing the clothes of the house was my best shot at blending into the background.

There was just one problem…

I stared at the mirror in horror. This uniform was not my size. I mean, technically it suits my waist and fell above my knees but the real culprit was the chest area. The milk-maid section of the uniform was doing a terrible job at keeping my dignity intact!

This was ridiculous. I wasn’t a big busted girl but I could say my size was fairly bigger when compared to my overall slim physique, which made it look prominent.

Still, I didn’t have such clothes issues! I took a deep breath.

“Fine, I’m escaping anyway. Once I’m out of here. I’ll get a hold of a phone and a change of clothes.”

Stealing out of the room was shockingly easy. The heavy oak door was unlocked from the outside, and the long, marble corridors of the east wing were dead quiet in the early hours of the morning.

Footsteps muffled, I slipped down a service stairwell and made it out through a set of heavy French doors leading into the rear grounds.

Freedom felt one breath away—until I stepped outside and froze.

The garden wasn't an open lawn. It was an enormous, intricate maze of towering green hedge walls, stretching high above my head, blocking the morning horizon.

But I didn't stop to hesitate. I plunged into the winding paths.

Minutes blurred together. Birds began to chirp softly in the trees as the first gray light of dawn bled across the sky, warming the morning air.

My heart hammered wildly against my ribs as I turned corner after corner, my slippers silent against the gravel, desperately looking for a break in the foliage.

Finally, the dense green walls gave way.

The path cleared into a wide, open courtyard anchored by an ancient stone fountain. Relief surged through my veins, hot and blinding.

I made it through.

I picked up my hem, ready to sprint across the open stone toward the tree line, when a voice cut through the cool morning air.

"You're up early."

I stopped dead in my tracks.

Sitting at a wrought-iron table beside the splashing water of the fountain was Nikolai. He sat casually, an untouched cup of espresso resting near his elbow, holding a daily newspaper in his leather-gloved hands.

He didn't look startled. He didn't even look angry. He slowly folded the paper in half, set it down on the table, and rose to his feet.

Every muscle in my body locked up. Panic seized my throat as I took a rapid step backward, my heels digging into the turf.

Nikolai closed the distance between us with slow, deliberate strides. He didn't rush. He didn't need to. He moved with the quiet, predatory confidence of a man who knew every exit was already closed.

I kept retreating, step by backward step, until the hard, dense wall of the hedge slammed against my back.

I was trapped.

Nikolai stopped barely two inches from me, his massive frame completely eclipsing the rising sun, casting me in his shadow. He stood towering over me, his dark eyes dropping slowly from my face, trailing down the embarrassing heap of my exposed chest, taking in every inch of the fitted black dress, the pinned apron, and the bare length of my legs.

A sudden heat rushed to my cheeks. Under the unyielding intensity of his gaze, I felt stripped bear, exposed, and violently self-conscious.

"It suits you," he murmured softly, his voice low and raspy in the quiet morning air.

My fear instantly flared into sharp, hot rage. I glared up at him, my nostrils flaring as I spat, "Is this what brings you joy, Nikolai? Dragging me here, dressing me up like a servant, just to humiliate me? To watch me suffer?"

Nikolai’s dark eyes flicked up to meet mine. "You think I spent a hundred million dollars to make you scrub my floors?"

My brows furrowed in confusion, my breath catching in my chest. "What?"

"You really think that's why you're in my house?"

He didn't give me time to process the words. Before I could pull away, his hand shot forward, his long fingers wrapping firmly around my chin, tilting my face upward toward his.

The silence between us stretched, suffocating and thick. His dark eyes roamed over my features, my eyes, my nose, lingering heavily on my lips. The way he looked at me wasn't the look of a master judging a maid. It was dark, heavy, and possessive. A sudden, terrifying thought clicked in my brain.

If not a maid, then…

My body.

"You... you can't possibly think..." My voice trembled, the horror of my own deduction rising in my throat. I raised my hand and violently slapped his wrist away, shoving both my hands hard against his broad chest.

"You are insane! You think because you bought me at some filthy auction, I’ll just open my legs for you? I would rather die!"

Nikolai didn't stumble back. He barely swayed.

His eyes darkened into pure pitch. In a single, fluid motion, he grabbed both of my wrists in one hand, forcing them up over my head, and pinned them hard against the dense hedge wall behind me.

His other hand surged upward, his fingers locking around my jaw, tilting my head back until I was forced to stare directly into his icy glare.

"I bought you, Scarlett," he whispered, his grip an iron vise, trapping me completely against the wall. "That means every breath you take, every inch of your skin, your body, your soul... belongs to me."

I struggled against his hold, twisting my wrists, but his grip was immutable steel.

Rage boiled inside me, my chest heaving against his chest as I glared at him with pure hatred.

Nikolai leaned in closer, his heavy shadow engulfing me. For a terrifying second, I thought he was going to force his mouth onto mine. I jerked my head sideways, turning my face away from him.

He didn't force a kiss. Instead, his warm lips brushed the sensitive curve of my exposed earlobe, his hot, heavy breath searing against my skin. My hands instinctively clenched into tight fists above my head as a involuntary shiver shot down my spine.

"Don't worry, little siren," he whispered into my skin, his voice dripping with dark, lethal promise. "I have something much better planned for you than serving tea."

My brows pulled together, a cold dread pooling in my stomach.

Nikolai slowly pulled back, releasing my chin and letting go of my wrists. He didn't look at me as I rubbed the tender skin of my arms. He simply adjusted his cuffs, his cold gaze shifting over my shoulder toward the dark opening of the hedge maze.

"You can come out now," Nikolai commanded softly into the quiet garden.

My heart slammed against my ribs. I whirled around, my eyes widening as I stared down the dark path behind us.

Someone else was here.