He Doesn’t Play Games…

Ivan.

I’d just scrubbed the stench of Katya’s blood off my body, yet it remained clear that people no longer valued their miserable lives.

I had spent years building order out of chaos. Every living, breathing person in this estate operated according to my rules. Every guard knew his place. Every servant understood what happened when boundaries were crossed.

Yet somehow, after all that, I had walked out of my bathroom to find a half-dressed stranger standing in the middle of my bedroom.

My bedroom.

The one place in this entire cursed estate that belonged to me alone.

“Look at me when I’m speaking to you,” I growled.

The girl shook her head stubbornly. Her eyes were squeezed shut as she tried to pry my fist from her neck, to no avail. After a few struggles, she must have realized that she was no match for me.

“Little rat,” I muttered, my lips twisting into a wicked grin as I cocked my head to the side and watched her tremble pathetically.

Her gaze met mine.

I could spot the quiet resilience in her eyes, annoyance, and only a little twinge of fear.

A few loose strands of brown hair fell across her squeezed forehead and perfectly oval face.

She had the kind of beauty that was subtle yet commanding. Her eyes were red from the pressure, and her chest rose and fell in quick, struggling breaths.

Tears stung the corners of her eyes, and her gaze trailed downward again to my legs and my anger flared.

“Who sent you, wench?!” I demanded again, my patience hanging by a thread because God help me, that was all the chance she’d get.

I had guards stationed in every corner of the house. It was impossible to escape their watchful eyes and reach my room successfully without someone on the inside helping her out.

I had a wild guess. But fuck it.

She’d not only invaded my room and privacy. She knew my secret now. She knew I could walk perfectly.

My jaw hardened.

Knowing was fine. But the cost of it would be her life.

The only way my secret would get out would be because I let it be so, not because of a girl.

Her lips parted again as her eyes bulged, but when seconds trickled by again without as much as a word from her, my rage exploded.

I raised her by the neck and tossed her hard.

Her flesh slapped against the marble floor. Something that sounded like a bone crackling filled the space and her face twisted in agony as her mouth widened.

She writhed on the floor, crawling away from me as I stalked toward her.

She didn't yelp or gasp. Or let out even a cry for help. Absolutely no sound left her throat.

My eyes darkened.

What in the world was she?

She truly was testing me. She struggled to a kneeling position, rubbing her throat desperately while staring at me like she had seen a monster. She backed away, her knees scraping frantically against the marble floor as though enough distance could save her from me.

Nothing would save her now.

Her luck had died the moment she stepped into my room.

Before I could force the answer out of her throat, the sound of approaching footsteps reached my ears.

I recognized them instantly.

Anastasia.

I muttered a sharp curse beneath my breath.

Without hesitation, I crossed the room and lowered myself into the wheelchair seconds before the door opened.

By the time Anastasia stepped into the room, I was once again the cripple she believed me to be, with the blanket thrown over my legs.

Her gaze moved from me to the heavily trembling girl and her brows shot up in surprise.

For the smallest fraction of a second, worry flashed across her face.

Her steps quickened as she rushed past me toward her, helping her to her feet, then turning back to glare at me.

“What the hell is going on here, Ivan? I heard the noise from far down the hall.”

Her question alone was enough to make my blood boil.

My eyes turned cold. “You tell me. Who the hell is she?” Fuck her bullshit story about some noise. She had a goddamn hand in this and just like the girl, she’d also wandered in without permission.

Anastasia sighed dramatically. “Her name is Vanya. She’s the girl I told you about.”

The girl? My eyes darkened as bits of my earlier conversation with Anastasia came back to me.

Surely, it couldn’t be…

“You brought her here.”

Disbelief lined the edge of my words. It was one thing to have a stranger dragged into my home and my room. And it was another to have Anastasia disobey me so freely.

“Of course I did.” Anastasia shrugged. “She’s to be your wife, Ivan.”

“If I wanted a wife, I’m more than capable of getting one myself.” Hell would split in half before I’d take her… whoever the fuck she was…to be my wife.

Anastasia flinched, but she schooled her expression just as quickly. “Well she’s here already. I can’t take her back now, can I?”

“At least she made a good impression.” Her voice dropped, her eyes drifted toward the girl, Vanya, and her lips curled into a slow smirk. “Didn’t you, Vanya?”

The girl looked away as if scared to meet her gaze, and I stared at my stepmother like she’d lost her mind.

The girl looked horrified enough for all three of us. There was nothing dignified about standing in a man’s room half naked. Only whores did that, and I had no shortage of cocksuckers.

My jaw tightened. “Take her away.” I ordered.

Anastasia clearly heard me, but she folded her arms defiantly across her chest. “Honestly, Ivan. You are making this much more difficult than it needs to be.”

“And you are making decisions that aren’t yours to goddamn make! Get her out!”

“Ivan—”

“Now.”

Anastasia dared to roll her eyes. As though making marriage arrangements behind my back wasn’t enough of a crime enough to make her answer for it. She was terribly lucky she had a child for my father, or I’d have made sure she regretted her action right away.

“She’s from a respectable family. Her father is a—“

“I don’t give a damn about her father or her fucking wretched family. Take a look at her. She’s nothing but filth. What in the world am I supposed to do with her?”

“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you,” She replied smoothly. Her voice sickeningly sweet as she turned to the girl and grabbed her face by the chin, running a finger across her bruised lip.

“You can do whatever you wish. Make her your wife or your fucktoy, do whatever you want. I honestly do not care. But she’s yours. And with a girl like her attending to your every whim, you’d finally understand that I’m on your side. I want the best for you.”

A dark, mocking laugh escaped me.

The best for me? I was no fool. We both knew what game she was playing, but I had no interest in playing childish games.

I looked toward the ceiling for patience but I found none, then my eyes found the girl’s and my jaw ticked.

The girl hadn’t spoken once. Not even one word when I hauled her across the floor or wrapped my hands around her throat.

Something was wrong.

I looked toward Anastasia. “What is wrong with her?”

Anastasia shifted uncomfortably.

My frown deepened. “What?”

“She’s… mute.”

My entire body froze as the word landed. “She’s what?”

“She can’t speak.”

Silence stretched between us dangerously as my gaze moved from Anastasia to the girl. My eyes darkened.

Something dark twisted inside me. Disbelief turned to anger, and my fingers gripped the chair’s armrest until my knuckles turned white.

“You force a complete stranger into my room. She cannot answer a single question. And now—you’re telling me she’s mute?”

Fear flickered across Anastasia’s face, but I didn’t wait for a response before I picked up the phone next to the chair and dialed.

Less than a minute later, the door opened, and Marco, my second in command, walked in.

Anastasia’s brows rose, and the girl behind her started to fidget.

“Don,” Marco said, stepping forward.

“Take the girl away and lock her up!.”

“Ivan!”

Anastasia rushed as if to cover her, but Marco effortlessly grabbed her. The little minx kicked against him, hitting every possible spot she could find, but he held her in place, rendering her immobile.

Her eyes found me as he dragged her toward the door, and despite her inability to speak, I could see the pure hatred in her eyes.

Satisfaction ran deep in my chest as Marco left with her.

There was so little a mute could do. And about keeping my secret, I had a thousand ways in mind I could show her what happened to snitches around me.

Anastasia moved to stand before me, her face contorted with anger as she spoke. “I fetched the girl for you. The least you could do was—”

“I’m not a fool, woman.” I cut her off, already irritated by those silly lines of hers.

“I caught your previous spy so you planted another.”

Her lips pressed tight as she bit the rest of her words.

“I’ll deal with the mute however I please. But the next time you think you can try this again, think twice. I wouldn’t blink before tossing you in there to join her.”

“Do you understand?”

Her lips quivered. “Yes.”