Page 24 of Marked By the Devil

With him looming over me like this, I could only find the mental energy to refrain from inspecting his shirtless torso.

“Stay,” he repeated.

“I’m not a dog.” I stood again.

He put his hand on my shoulder again and pushed. “I think the appropriate command for this moment would be sit, then.”

I dropped down and huffed an errant strand of my hair from my face.

“I’m not sitting⁠—”

“You are, actually,” he cut in as I tried to rise again. He was faster, locking his hands around my wrists and pinning them to the mattress, right next to my thighs. Leaning over like this, he brought his face inches from mine. The glittering spark of interest blazed in his eyes and I scowled at the fact that he was having fun with this. With my being under his control.

“I’m not staying here,” I bit out.

He raised his brows and lowered his gaze to my lips. “Looks to me that you are.”

I shook my head. “No. You have no grounds to keep me. I don’t know anything. I won’t be able to tell you anything. I’m useless to you and there is no reason for you to keep me locked up and captive against my will. You’ve got bigger fish to fry, Viktor.”

“Ooh.” He turned slightly, not releasing me. “She does know my name.”

The butler rolled his eyes and reached for his wallet to extract bills. “The bet was that she wouldn’t use it.”

I gawked at his butler-assistant-Lurch sticking bills into Viktor’s pocket as he left the room. “If you need anything I can do, let me know.”

“Thanks, Paul. I’m not sure anyone can do anything about Red’s inability to follow the program, though.” He turned his head so he faced me again.

“Viktor.” I pushed my lips closed, frantically searching for words. He was so close, I couldn’t breathe. Attraction—stupid, inappropriate, and unwelcome—snapped and sparked between us like a live current in the air. I was aware of him, too tuned in to all the details. His scent. His strong grip. His sheer size making me feel so small.

He watched me with a silent expectation that I’d continue.

“You can’t keep me here.”

He nodded. “Yeah, I can. And I will.”

“Why?” I sighed and let my head tilt to the side. This was getting old. “I don’t know anything about anyone wanting to kill Adrik. Maybe you can revisit your organization’s mission statement. Or think about how many enemies you’ve accrued over the years on your own.”

“My brothers and cousins seem impatient to remind me that you are one of those enemies.”

I wanted to growl. “Not me, personally. I don’t know anything. What, am I a hostage? You’re going to hang on to me and keep me locked up until someone at the agency pays a ransom for my release?”

“It’s kind of cute that you are sticking with a rosy best-case scenario.”

I glowered at him. “You’ve already dismissed my worst-case scenario. You haven’t killed me.”

“Yet.”

Hearing that from an actual killer and Mafia man was scary. But it was true.

“If you haven’t killed me yet, or even tried to hurt me, you must value me alive rather than dead.”

He nodded once. “How observant of you.”

“You must want something from me.”

A slow, sinister smile lifted his lips.

Oh, fuck.