Page 66 of Surrender: XXX Maxim
“No.” I awkwardly fiddle with the strings of my robe as he continues to strip, tugging at his shirt next. “Nothing really stood out to me…”
“It’s a house,” he points out gruffly. “What needs to stand out?”
I bite my lower lip. He has a point. What does a house need?
“Safety?” I ask, thinking out loud. “Someplace that Ainsley can play in, and Daisy can sulk, and Mikie can have his own room for once. A home.”
“Hmph.” He pauses, his shirt still clenched in his fist as if the concept is as foreign to him as it is to me. Then he snatches a clean one from a hanger and wrenches it on over his head. “I’ve added more men to the team on you. Lucius is still with your siblings, but I will need time to ensure the security of the new home before they can return. As long as it’s secure, I’m sure any place will suffice rather than have their return delayed.”
Which makes his week deadline more pressing than ever.
“Are you leaving?” I wonder as he swiftly buttons his shirt and straightens the collar.
“Yes. I’ve been busy strengthening my security overall,” he adds while stripping his pants in exchange for a fresh pair. “Restructuring my assets. Letting Danil confront me at all was a mistake on Anatoli’s part.” His grim expression reinforces the guttural edge to his voice. “A mistake he will not make again.”
Once fully dressed, he marches to the doorway. Only then does he seem to remember my presence enough to add, “I won’t be back tonight. Tomas can bring you dinner—”
“Wait.” I reach out, brushing my hand over his shoulder. He falters, but doesn’t fully stop, rocking back and forth on his heels with barely suppressed impatience. “Is something wrong?”
“No.” Without warning, he captures my chin, kissing me hard with an intensity that leaves me clinging to him. Up this close, I can sense the unease bubbling beneath the surface of the stern façade he’s crafted beneath the fresh suit and aloof gaze. His lips linger over mine until he finally pulls back.
“I’ve made up my mind,” he says, his voice cold. Final. “I won’t let you near Dima. There is nothing worth trading for that risk. Nothing.”
I watch him go in a daze, too stunned to argue.
At least he was honest. The man can offer me the world, but there is nothing I possess he deems worth having. Nothing apart from complete possession.
Even the prospect of us living together doesn’t seem to appeal to him beyond the surface practicality of it. What he said won’t stop taunting me, echoing in my brain on repeat.“What needs to stand out? It’s a house.”
Maybe he’s right.
Or maybe…he is capable of viewing it from just one angle. It’s not the house itself that matters but what it symbolizes. This cold, isolated penthouse reflects the many aspects of him he’s clung to. What’s helped him survive in his world for so long. Few personal belongings. A bed he rarely sleeps in. Furniture picked solely for its functionality.
Lucius had a point, but I think I misinterpreted his original warning. You can free the wolf from its captivity, but if all it knows are iron bars, the forest doesn’t seem like home anymore.
But no real family can survive within the confines of a cage.
The only way to bridge the gap is to find a compromise. Learn what bait might tempt a wolf…
Enough for him to forget he was ever a prisoner at all.
