Page 10 of Sinful Games

"I never thought you'd be such a fucking brat, Caia. You don’t listen to your papa’s orders, huh?" He chuckled and then yanked my head closer, his breath hot on my ear. "I have a gift for you."

My entire body quivered like a leaf in the wind.

"I don’t want it," I managed to whisper.

“Open your eyes.”

I shook my head.

His grip on my hair was suddenly released, but just as quickly, a brutal slap landed on my face, the force sending me sprawling onto the floor.

My ear throbbed, the world spinning around me. I was close to losing consciousness, my vision blurred.

As I touched my stinging ear, a wet, sticky sensation met my fingertips.

A sickening feeling crept in as I realized it was blood.

“Open your fucking eyes, Caia.”

Defeated and trembling, I reluctantly opened my eyes to findhim standing tall before me, his face twisted into a cruel grin. The nightgown I wore underneath my cardigan had ridden up my legs, leaving my skin exposed to the cold, unforgiving floor beneath me. My trembling hands and cheek rested against the icy surface.

He let out a chilling chuckle and casually tossed something heavy onto the floor. It hit with a resounding thud, rolling slowly toward me in the dim room.

A horrified gasp tore from my throat.

No.

This couldn’t be real.

No!

Please, no!

"Next time, Caia, it'll be you."

Just inches from me lay Lukas’s decapitated head, the gruesome sight so shocking it felt like a cruel nightmare, freezing my very soul.

He decapitated my best friend's boyfriend.

That was just four years ago, a few days after my seventeenth birthday.

After that day, I never dared to disobey my father again.

I dried my hands on a small cloth nearby, shaking my head vigorously to banish the memories that had surged back with overwhelming intensity. The last thing I wanted was to let madness take over again, causing more harm than what had already been inflicted.

“Why Romaniev?” I asked as the haze of my memories began to lift.

The image of the tall man with light brown hair I had met a few hours ago resurfaced in my mind. I remembered the way his lips had brushed against my hand and his intense blue eyes locked onto mine. His skin was as pale as freshly fallen snow, but it radiated warmth like a smoldering volcano. The electriccharge that coursed through my skin when he touched me had made me step back.

I couldn’t quite place it, but something about him unsettled me.

My father grunted, scratching his beard. “Alexsei is too stupid for his own good. Easy prey. Volk, on the other hand, is far too egocentric to fall for this trap.”

I guessed Volk was the other man in the room, with his dark hair, dark eyes, and an aura that exuded a dark, evil presence.

“Okay,” I whispered under my breath. “I’ll do my best, Papa.”

I gently turned the doorknob and slipped into my babushka's room, careful not to make a sound. It was already past four in the morning, and I knew Valoria would be furious if she caught me loitering in the hallway at this hour, no matter how fond she was of me.

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