Page 105 of Captive Prize

But he didn’t need to know that.

No amusement this time. His face was expressionless.

I couldn’t imagine him married to Samara. She didn’t come every time, but she was here the most. None of the women were unkind, just stand-offish, but she seemed the most empathetic. Something about her just felt…softer. Without Nadia’s timidness.

“You are at a crossroads—” he began.

“Really? Because I thought I was handcuffed to a bed.”

Being a smartass probably wasn’t wise, but it was how I kept control.

It was how I showed him I could handle whatever came next.

“You have two choices,” he repeated, his voice sharp, each syllable deliberate. Daring me to interrupt again. “You return to Russia, under watch. You will never set foot in my territory again.”

“What’s option two?” I asked.

I didn’t want to go back to Russia.

Leaving that place—and the girl my father raised me to be—was the whole reason I came here.

It was why I started my vendetta.

I wanted to rebuild this empire in the United States.

Russia wasn’t my home anymore.

It was the graveyard where the girl I used to be died.

The woman I became was born here, in the States. No longer Egor’s daughter—just me.

I couldn’t rebuild anything in Russia.

In the U.S., women had options. It wasn’t perfect, but it was possible.

In Russia, that success wasn’t even on the table.

And being back there would put me within reach of too many men who wanted me dead—or worse.

Men who’d force my hand, make me marry them, claim my wealth, and erase me.

A wife they hadn’t killed yet.

I wouldn’t do it.

Whatever the second option was, it had to be better than this one.

Gregor’s lip curled with disgust as he looked me over. “If you don’t want to return to Russia, then you will marry Roman.”

What?

My stomach twisted at how casually he said it, like my future was a business transaction, an inconvenience to be managed.

Still, I’d be lying if I said my heart didn’t jump. If I didn’t, for a split second, want to say yes.

But I couldn’t.

It was too easy.

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