Page 53 of Bought By the Ruthless Pakhan

The temperature in the room seemed to drop a notch.

I prepared to repeat my dismissal. But Ivan didn't wait for me to speak.

"Alex is my son."

No preamble. No buildup.

He just sat there, that block still on his knee, like he was stating a fact he'd verified a thousand times over.

All the blood in my body seemed to freeze in that instant, starting from my fingertips and working its way to my heart.

I instinctively stepped back, my lips moving several times before I could squeeze out words. "What are you talking about? Alex, he—"

"Kitten." Ivan cut me off. "Do you know what happens when you lie to your master?"

What happens?

My brain blanked for a second, like someone had yanked a cord, leaving every thought suspended mid-air.

He stood up. The block slid off his knee onto the carpet with a muted thud.

He walked toward me. One step. Two. His shadow reached me first, blocking out the living room light.

I backed up. Until my lower back hit the edge of my bedroom doorframe. I scrambled sideways into the room. He followed.

I watched helplessly as he closed the bedroom door.

The living room light was cut off, vanishing from view. Just that thin line of warm yellow through the crack, like a candle wick about to go out.

The cold, oppressive presence of him closed in from all sides, caging me in.

I wanted to run. Too late.

His shadow fell completely over me, his outline half a size wider than mine, fitting me entirely into the darkness he cast.

That line of light through the door crack flickered. Went out.

"Kitten, when you do something wrong, you get punished."

Chapter Fourteen

Anna

I couldn't fool myself anymore.

Not now, at least.

My body was a hell of a lot more honest than my brain. Around him, my defenses crumbled like a sandcastle soaked by the tide—one touch and half of it collapsed.

I didn't even get the chance to resist. Or maybe I just never really tried. A willing surrender.

Ivan wasn't the type to ask permission. He never had been.

No buildup. No questions.

He pinned me to the bed, and my gaze crashed into his slate-blue eyes—his sharp nose cast a shadow beneath them, the deep sockets making those eyes look like frozen lakes.

His kiss came down on me with unyielding force, crushing my lips before sliding along my jaw and stopping at the side of my neck. He lingered there, kissing and biting.