Page 21 of Captured Obsession

My heart races as I breathe in and then exhale, telling myself the same thing I always used to before walking into a room of influential people or when facing a new challenge in my career.

No one can take anything away from me. Because I'm here for myself.

When did I stop believing that? I think it was right around the time Michael and I got engaged. I’d never stopped thinking about how I presented myself orcreated opportunities for myself, but I’d started walking behind him, instead of beside him as his equal. I’d let my light dim without realizing it.Never again.

I harden my jaw as I step on the first rung, then the next, my heart pounding the closer I get to the top. My blood feels thick and slow in my veins, and my limbs grow weaker with each step up. The ladder jolts beneath me, and I look down, realizing Nikolai is only two rungs below me.

“Stop looking at my ass,” I grit out.

“I was actually admiring your legs. They look tasty,” he purrs, and I'm tempted to purposely slip just so I can crash into him out of spite. But it's my fury toward him that has me continuing to climb. I refuse to back down from a man who thinks he’s taken control of my life.

But he was right about one thing: this is a choice. And I won't let him look down on me, even when I have the better sense not to rise to the challenge.

His arms come around me as we reach the top. His bare chest presses against my back, pushing me into the entrance of the metal cage.Oh, fuck me. No, this is a bad idea.

His hot breath flushes against my ear, raising every hair on my body. “Too late to back down now,mishka.” His voice is so low, only I can hear it, and it stupidly has me stepping into the enclosure. I cling to the bars as the cage rocks with our entrance.

I’m out of my fucking mind.

It’s like my body’s on autopilot as I put one foot in front of the other.

Nikolai closes the door behind us. “Your record for holding your breath was one minute and thirty-two seconds, was it not?” I turn to face him, my mouth falling agape. I've always been a good swimmer, but that record was from my senior year of high school. “Let’s try for a minute, shall we?”

“What the fuck? Aren't you going to give me a mask or a safety rundown?”

A jolt of fear runs through me as a cruel, twisted smile spreads across his face. “Take a deep breath,mishka, and focus on your heartbeat.”

“You can’t?—”

The moment he clicks his fingers, I shoot my gaze to Andrei, who presses a green button.

Fuck. I immediately take a huge gulp of air when it feels like the floor gives way beneath me. And then I'm suddenly plunged into cold water as I close my eyes.

I can sense the shark. The moment we're in the water, I know I'm being circled. I want to keep my eyes closed, and although logic tells me I’m safe in the cage, it does nothing to lessen the panic.

I want to strangle Nikolai. I'm going to die. I'm going to get eaten by a fucking shark. And no one will ever find my body. Oh my fucking God, I'm going to die.

I feel something touch my shoulder, and I immediatelyshove away from it, my eyes bursting open as I'm pulled back by the wrist. Nikolai’s dark hair shifts in the water. I choke on my air as he releases my wrist and brings his hand to his heart as he slowly taps twice, as if silently reminding me to focus on my heartbeat.

My legs and arms move as I look up and realize that even if I made it to the top of the cage, there is no air there for me because we’re completely submerged in the water. I try to look past the glass, but it feels like a never-ending stretch of blue. Then my heart freezes when I see the creature shift around us.

There's a powerful ripple that surrounds it as it lunges for the cage, and I scream, losing my air supply. My hands come to my ears as I fold in on myself. I'm going to drown before I can be eaten alive.

The shark charges again, and I'm pulled through the water, my eyes burning as I try my hardest to keep them open, now too scared of what I might miss if I don't look. Nikolai grabs me by the back of the neck, and my entire mind goes blank as he presses his mouth to mine. Not sweetly. Not passionately. He forces his breath into my lungs, then he pulls away. I purse my lips with a shocking but clear understanding that wasn’t anything sexual; it was a necessity in order for me to live.

He taps against his chest once more, then a second time, and I follow the movement, as if trying to syncmy racing heart to match the two subtle beats of his fingers.

Adrenaline pumps through my veins, the icy cold sinking into my bones. Yet my head still swivels as I watch the predator circle our cage. In that moment, something else seems to take over me.

Perhaps submission to my fate.

Or maybe I've actually lost my fucking mind.

Something a little thrilling.

I've never done anything like this before, and something shifts within me that I don't entirely understand.

I don't feel safe here. But I know I have the choice to hold my own. If I didn’t have the safety of the cage, perhaps I wouldn't feel so brave.