Page 32 of Embrace of the Russian Tiger

But before he could leave, I called out, my voice soft but filled with everything I couldn’t say aloud. "Maxim?"

He stopped, his hand resting on the doorframe, his back still to me. "Yes?"

"I’m not afraid of you."

The silence stretched between us, heavy and charged. He didn’t respond, but I saw the way his shoulders tensed, the way his hand tightened on the frame.

And then, without another word, he left.

I lay there, staring at the ceiling, my heart pounding, my mind a storm of emotions I couldn’t untangle. I was falling for him—falling for a man who was as dangerous as he was broken. And I didn’t know how to stop.

I didn’t know if I wanted to.

CHAPTER 15

The night was cold, still, the kind of night where silence becomes heavy, thick with the weight of things unsaid. I stood by the window, my eyes tracing the city skyline, but my mind was elsewhere. It was always elsewhere, these days. I couldn’t stop thinking about her—about Anna. Her body, warm and trembling beneath mine, her breath hitching as I pushed her to the edge, over and over again. The memory alone sent a bolt of electricity through me, but it wasn’t just physical. It was something more. Something deeper that I didn’t want to acknowledge, but couldn’t escape.

I hadn’t planned to fall for her. In fact, I had done everything in my power to keep her at arm’s length, to keep the cold, calculated distance that had always protected me. But Anna… she was different. She had slipped through my defenses, past the walls I had spent years building. And now, I was conflicted in ways I hadn’t been since Katya.

The thought of my sister sent a sharp stab of pain through me, like a knife twisting deep in my chest. Katya. She had been the light in my life once, and Nikolai had been a part of that world. He had been my brother in everything but blood. Butnow, everything felt wrong, like the foundation I had built my empire on was beginning to crack. There was something off about him—something dark and hidden beneath that polished, familiar exterior. And I couldn’t ignore it any longer.

I had sent Mikhail to dig into Nikolai’s life, to uncover whatever secrets he had been hiding. It wasn’t just suspicion anymore; it was a deep, gnawing instinct that told me Nikolai was at the center of something dangerous. Something that had roots deep in my past.

The door to my office creaked open, and Mikhail stepped inside. His face was like stone, unreadable, but I could tell immediately that he wasn’t here with good news. The air in the room shifted, thickening with unspoken tension.

I turned from the window, the familiar cold mask settling over my features. “You’re late,” I said, my voice calm, but laced with the authority that came with my position. I always had control. I needed control.

Mikhail didn’t respond right away, and that alone set my teeth on edge. He was never hesitant, never unsure of himself. He had been by my side for too long to show doubt. But tonight, something was different.

“Maxim,” he said, his voice quiet, almost cautious—a rarity for him. He stepped closer, pulling something from the inside pocket of his coat. His movements were deliberate, slow, as if he wasn’t sure he should be showing me what he had found.

“What is it?” I asked, my patience thinning. The air felt thick, suffocating, pressing down on me as I waited for him to speak.

Without a word, he placed a small object on my desk. The moment I saw it, the breath caught in my throat.

It was Katya’s necklace.

The world seemed to shift, tilting sideways as I stared at the delicate chain lying in front of me. The pendant—her pendant—gleamed under the low light of the office, the same one I hadseen around her neck every day since I gave it to her on her fifteenth birthday. My sister. My beautiful, innocent sister.

I swallowed hard, my throat tightening as a wave of memories crashed over me, sharp and painful, like shards of glass cutting into my skin. Katya’s laughter, her smile, the way she would twist the necklace between her fingers when she was nervous. The way her lifeless body had looked when I found her.

I never found the necklace. I was sure the police or the ambulance stole it.

And now it was here.

My pulse quickened, and I clenched my fists so tightly that my knuckles turned white. Rage and grief warred within me, a violent storm that I could barely contain. I had trained myself to stay cold, to remain detached no matter the situation, but this—this was something else. This was personal.

“Mikhail,” I said, my voice tight, barely controlled. “Where did you find this?”

“In Nikolai’s safe,” Mikhail replied, his tone calm, but his eyes were watching me carefully, gauging my reaction. He knew how deep this ran. “Maxim… I think…” and then his voice broke a bit.

I stared at the necklace, my vision narrowing as the fury swelled inside me, threatening to break free. Nikolai had kept it. He had kept a piece of her like some kind of twisted trophy, a reminder of what he had done. The betrayal cut deeper than anything I had ever felt before.

“He was there, Mikhail,” I said, my voice low, dangerous. “He was there the day she died. He stood by my side, watched me bury her, and all this time... all this time, he had this. There is no other explanation for it. He was there.”

Mikhail remained silent, his expression grim. He didn’t offer me platitudes, didn’t try to calm the storm raging inside me. He knew better. There was no calming this. No stopping it.

I reached out, my fingers trembling as I picked up the necklace. The metal was cold, but it burned against my skin like fire. I could see Katya’s face in my mind, her bright eyes, her laughter. She had been everything to me, and I had failed her. I had let Nikolai into our lives. I had trusted him.

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