Mia jerked away from him, away from the heat his touch stirred. “I want nothing to do with you.”
He acted like she hadn’t spoken. “With you being a daughter of one of my frenemies, I couldn’t just make you disappear. If it came back to me, there could be a resurgence of aggression. Instead, it had to be neat and tidy. I did your father a favor, and he was eager to settle it. No one wants an IOU hanging over their head, especially in our line of work.”
“My father was insane for suggesting I would just settle his debt.” She crossed her arms. “Have one of your goons drive me home.”
“I really don’t think you understand. You belong to me now.”
She glared at him. “Like hell I do.”
He shook his head. “You are going to be fun to tame, aren’t you?”
Mia wanted to slap him. Wanted to run. Wanted to lean in closer when he grasped a strand of her hair to let it spill between his fingers.
“I don’t care what the deal was with my father. You aren’t doing anything to me.”
His eyes narrowed and he crossed his arms over his wide chest. “Make no mistake, Mia. I will go to war if I have to. I will destroy your family and burn down the city to have you.”
She shivered at the threat but shrugged. “I don’t give a damn what you do to Vadim.”
“And your stepbrother?”
Mia couldn’t hide her distaste. “I’d love to watch you rip him apart.”
Shane blinked, clearly not expecting that. “I see. Let me try a different approach then.” With the suddenness of a striking snake, he jerked her against him. “You are mine. You won’t be leaving until I release you. I’m going to fuck you a thousand ways, starting tonight.”
She had been frozen with fear for a second, but the paralysis broke when he said fuck. Mia flinched and tried to struggle free of his grip. It tightened painfully on her arms, and she knew she would have bruises. “Let go of me, you animal.”
“I can be.” He grasped the strands of hair that had fallen free to jerk her head backward. Shane licked her neck, ignoring her squawk of protest and attempts to wriggle free. “I can also be tender. You’ll get whichever side you nurture, baby.”
She cried out in shock when he bit her at the bend of her neck, hard. She gasped at the pain.
“Now, if you’ll be a good girl and go get ready, I’ll release you.” His nose wrinkled. “I’d much rather you smell sweet than of grease and sweat.”
Mia wanted to tell him to fuck off and admit she’d never submit, but she maintained silence. If she could get away from him, she had a better chance of escaping this house. He didn’t have to know that she had no plans to cooperate.
He smiled, looking satisfied as he let go of her. With a nonchalant motion, he took a tissue from the box on his desk and dabbed the bleeding spot on her neck. After tossing it in the trash without even looking at the can, he pressed a button on the panel at his desk. “Bruno, come escort Miss Kasilli to her room.”
He let go of the button to examine her from head to toe. “You are a delicious little peach, Mia, and I’m looking forward to the first taste. I’ll join you in an hour or so.”
She didn’t speak, both because she had no idea what to say and because the nausea churning in her stomach made it impossible to converse. Anger was also rendering her speechless. How dare he think he could just take her and she would fall in line with whatever he wanted? There was no way in hell she was going to cooperate with him.
When Bruno came a moment later, she walked behind him still without speaking. This time, Mia paid better attention to her surroundings, making an attempt to memorize all possible escape routes as she followed Bruno up the grand staircase to the third floor. They bypassed the second level, so she ignored it, knowing it wouldn’t offer any likely flight options if she couldn’t preview it.
He stopped before a pair of French doors painted a light yellow. “The boss will be up in a while, miss.”
She sneered, “I can hardly wait.”
He folded his bulk against the wall, making it clear he was standing guard.
Mia glared at him. “Do you have any idea what he has planned for me?” The blond giant didn’t reply. “You’re okay aiding him?” His only response was the slight twitch of his body, but he didn’t look at her. She sighed. “Yeah, I figured you were. You’re just like the byki my father always had around.”
* * *
Shane let go of a tiny bit of the tension he’d been carrying for months—ever since he’d first laid eyes on the sweet brunette waitress. The need to possess her had driven him for too long, and he was so tired of behaving irrationally when it came to Mia.
If only she hadn’t been Vadim Kasilli’s daughter, things would have been much simpler. He could have wooed and wowed her, and she would have been at his side—and in his bed—months ago. It had taken a five-minute conversation with Arvin Lovelle to enlighten him of the notion it would be an easy conquest. After he’d discovered her lineage and learned she loathed all things related to the russkaya mafiya, he’d known it was going to be a drawn-out campaign, and the smartest thing to do would be to walk away. If only he’d been able to do so.
It was unlikely she would feel different about mafia men with Irish roots, and he’d vowed he would forget the little brunette who had sparked such an insistent hard-on that he’d had to jerk off in the bathroom like a callow teenager between courses. And he’d still been raring to go after the dinner had concluded, frantically taking the blonde who had been his date in the alley behind the restaurant as they’d waited for the driver to maneuver the car through the packed parking lot.
