Page 34 of Savage Bratva King

My pulse seems to slow, and my blood turns cold in my veins while I wait for Leonid to answer.

“As you wish.”

And just like that, a huge gray cloud seems to hover above my head in the clear blue sky. I thought… I feel like such an idiot. A foolish, naïve teenager who still has everything to learn and has just realized that her future husband will only teach her what he wants her to know.

Whereas Leonid would’ve taught me everything. He would not have held back. I don’t know this for sure of course, I’m simply going by how he has made me feel so far. If he can keep me awake at night after one kiss, my pussy throbbing to feel his finger inside me again, imagine what else he can show me. Okay, so I might not be able to close my legs ever again, but oh the dreams I’d have.

Might have had. Past tense.

Because Tamara stands aside and gestures for me to follow Leonid into the maze while she walks in behind me.

The fun has been sucked out of the day. I study Leonid’s straight spine, the neatly groomed line where his jet-black hair meets his neck, the broad shoulders and narrow hips, and I realize with a jolt of reality that the excitement was never about trying to find my way out of the maze before him. It was about being inside the maze with him.

My captor. The man whose balls will be served up for breakfast by my father when he finds me. The same man who can set my skin on fire with the slightest touch of a fingertip.

He follows our usual route, but today he goes deeper still into the maze. The familiar heavy silence settles around us, the shadows provided by the dense hedges raising goosebumps on my arms. When he finally stops in a clearing with four potential pathways, I suddenly find that I lost my bearings a while ago.

But Leonid’s face remains impassive. “Gianna, you can choose which direction you wish to take first.”

Tamara’s eyes narrow briefly, but she remains silent while I choose my pathway, which I’m not entirely convinced is the way we came.

“Tamara.” He inclines his head.

“What about the printzessa? She is going alone?”

“She has a one-in-three chance of completing the maze before we do, and Sergei is waiting for her.”

“That way.” Tamara points to the path behind Leonid.

Her shoulders have lowered a fraction; she wanted to chaperone me, to stop me from being alone with her boss, and now she finds herself competing in a race that she’s uncertain of winning. I’d bet she’s a sore loser too.

“Which path will you take?” She watches Leonid closely.

“I haven’t decided yet.”

He doesn’t meet my eyes, but a shot of excitement pulses through my veins.

I don’t wait around. Maybe he was lying when he said that he didn’t know the layout, but I have the overwhelming sensation that he will find me whichever way I go or however many wrong turns I take.

Despite the cool soothing atmosphere created by the hedges, sweat is soon beading on my upper lip and between my breasts. I stop momentarily, my breath hitching in my throat when I feel something trickle between my legs, and clench my pussy, forcing the image of Leonid sliding his hand beneath my dress from my overactive imagination.

I don’t know how long I’ve been running around the maze when I turn a corner and spot Tamara at the other end of the pathway. I quickly reverse behind the trimmed bush and pray that she didn’t see me. Then I run in the opposite direction. I might not bump into Leonid, but if I do, I’m going to try my damnedest to make sure that I’m alone.

The thing with mazes is that every direction looks the same. This coupled with the oppressive silence is disorienting, and I have no idea if I’m going around in circles or getting closer to the exit. I can feel the heat in my cheeks, the dress clinging to my body, and the thump-thump-thump of my heartbeat.

Then I round another corner and stop so abruptly that my feet skid across the grass.

The entrance is just ahead, and no one else is there.

I should want to win. It won’t gain me my freedom, but it will give me a one-up against Leonid in whatever strange captor-captive game we’re playing. But walking out of the maze will mean that I’ve chosen winning over being alone with him, and my stomach twists at the thought of standing out there with Sergei and waiting for him to find me.

So, with Mika’s voice in my head reminding me that we only live once, I back away from the exit, heart thumping, and my brain shaking its head in despair.

Around the first corner and I collide face-first with Leonid.

He raises his finger to his lips, warning me not to say a word. Like I need to be told. We only go a few steps though, just enough to not be seen from the exit should Sergei peer inside, but not so far that we both get lost again.

Before I can breathe a word, his lips are on mine, and his tongue is filling my mouth, and my hands find their own way around the back of his head, pulling him closer to me. I feel his hand in my hair, his other hand cupping my buttocks. He glides me against him, and the bulge in his pants is even larger than before if that’s at all possible.

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