Page 123 of Captive Prize

The conversation had turned to something else, and I wasn’t paying attention. I couldn’t hear it over the anxiety playing over and over in my head, telling me how I was going to trap this man into a life that he did not deserve.

My pulse pounded in my ears as I got to my feet and made some excuse to leave.

When I got back to the room, I took a deep, cleansing breath and refocused.

Not now. Not ever.

Opening the bedroom door, I looked at the guard. “Take me to Gregor.”

CHAPTER 29

ROMAN

“She changed her mind, Roman. It’s done.”

Gregor’s words hit me like a bullet to the chest.

First came the shock, then the pain slammed into me all at once. My heart pounded, and my lungs refused to draw breath.

“No,” I said—less a statement, more a whispered plea.

“She gave me everything. Bank accounts. Passcodes. She’s cutting all ties, Roman. She’s done. I had to force her to keep the house in Russia and a couple hundred grand just so she could survive on her own. If she’s smart, she’ll live comfortably—but she’ll never have the power to be a threat again.”

“She is not a threat,” I growled, standing and planting my hands flat on the desk.

Gregor leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed casually over his chest, a smug I-told-you-so smirk playing on his lips. “Not anymore, she’s not.”

I sank back into my chair, letting the mask of indifference fall over my features while I fought to contain the war raging inside my chest.

The only outward sign of my unraveling was the way my hands gripped the desk—so tight my knuckles went white. Fora second, I thought I might actually snap the wood beneath my fingers.

I was mad enough to try. And all that rage had to go somewhere.

Gregor’s posture shifted. Something flickered in his eyes, something softer, almost like recognition. Maybe even compassion?

I hadn’t known he was capable of that. At least not for anyone but his wife. The smirk vanished, his arms dropped, and he stepped forward to stand in front of the desk.

“She asked for a flight to Russia. I’ve already arranged it. You just need to get her to the airstrip. I insisted you be the one to take her. Figured you’d want to see her off with your own two eyes.”

“She tried to fight you on that. Didn’t she?” I asked.

How could a man’s world shift so suddenly?

I had been so sure-footed. I had a plan. I knew exactly how my life was going to unfold. Then—with no warning, not even a tremble—the ground collapsed beneath me.

And I was losing everything that mattered.

“She did.” He rubbed the back of his neck, his eyes shifting from the floor to the ceiling and back again. “Look, there’s something you should know. I think you deserve to hear it from her, but I’m pretty sure she’s not going to tell you. And… I’m worried about what you’re going to do if…”

Gregor never minced words. He never trailed off mid-sentence. He was a man who got to the point, quickly and definitively.

None of the Ivanov men had time to sugarcoat anything or protect anyone from the truth.

Whatever this was, it was big. It had to be, for Zoya to run from me when she’d been so content lying beneath me only hours ago.

“Tell me,” I demanded.

His shoulders rose, then he rolled them back and down like he was bracing for a fight or trying to center himself for the blow he was about to deliver.

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