Page 87 of Auctioned to My Bratva Boss

"How do you know what I like—"

"I know everything about you," he said. "You detour on your way home from work to see those hyacinths in the hospital flower bed. You thought nobody noticed."

My eyes widened. He'd been watching me. These little habits I hadn't even paid attention to myself—he remembered them clearly. Had he been stalking me? That night too—if he hadn't shown up in time, I would have been...

No. Riley, wake up. I used all my strength to swallow that sweetness, propping up my weak body to sit up.

"I want to go back to my own apartment," I said.

His expression darkened immediately.

"Do you even have the strength to get out of bed?"

I nodded, struggling to sit up, but he pressed my shoulder and pushed me back down.

"Your body is still weak." The hardness in his tone hadn't diminished at all. "The manor has doctors, servants, and the most reliable security. Your apartment isn't safe."

"I've lived there for over a year without anything happening."

"My woman shouldn't be in danger." His jawline tightened.

His woman... Words that made my heart race.

"Matvey." I looked directly at him, throwing his own words back at him. "Didn't you say you'd prove it with actions? Then start now."

"I'm telling you now—I want to go back to my own home. If you respect me, you'll take me back."

He stared at me for a long time, so long I thought he was going to lock the suite door and use his favorite method to shut me up. But he didn't.

"Fine." He forced the word through his teeth, as if using all his self-control. "I'll take you back."

He got out of bed and bent to pick up the scattered clothes. Moonlight outlined the scars across his back and the solid lines of muscle—that body I knew so well now filled me with mixed feelings.

He'd actually compromised. For the sake of the "proof" he'd just promised, this man who never took no for an answer, who hated anything beyond his control—he'd compromised.

I buried my face in my knees so he wouldn't see my reddening eyes.

How I wished I could trust him without reservation.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Riley

The next morning, I woke to golden light seeping through the curtain cracks.

My stomach was growling so loud I couldn't fall back asleep.

My body felt like it'd been run over by a truck. Every finger I moved, every joint screamed in protest. I lay in my old bed, staring at the familiar water stain on the ceiling. Last night kept replaying in my head, scene after scene.

I was supposed to refuse him. In the car, I'd rehearsed every word, each one sharp enough to cut, sharp enough to make him bleed. And what happened? I still let him set the pace, fell right into that bed, called out his name, and begged him to do those crazy things to me.

His marks were still all over me. I pulled the blanket over my head and groaned.

Riley Quinn, you're really something. You haven't even fully trusted him, and you've already fallen into his rhythm.

If Matvey really cared about me like he said, then what about those Russians with their thick accents? They dragged me intothat alley and made it crystal clear—"The pakhan thinks you're getting in the way of him and Veronica."

Pakhan. Who else could it be but Matvey? He sent people to kill me, then told me "I love you" in bed... My head was about to explode.