Page 53 of Master

SASHA

My prison is a luxury penthouse shared with the man who has repeatedly ruined my life. This place is vast and sprawling, yet it feels like the walls are constantly closing in on me. Ivan’s laugh echoes through the open space, and it sickens me. He’s always had a way of getting inside my head and making me feel like I have no choice but to obey him. That I’m small and powerless.

I’m not that scared little girl anymore.

“You aren’t leaving, Alexandra,” Ivan insists. My heart pounding, and my mind racing, I clench my fists at my sides as Ivan paces the room before me. “And it’s not like your Irish”—he air quotes—“boyfriendis coming to rescue you.”

As usual, his words are filled with a deadly venom. His entire motive is to provoke me. It always is. He gets off on the reactions he pulls from me…From everyone.

“I don’t need rescuing, Ivan,” I snip, trying to hide the nerves and fear bubbling within me. “I just need you to let me go.”

“Let you go?” Ivan scoffs, stopping before me. Gripping my chin, he yanks my face up to his and stares down at me with cold,dark eyes. “Do you really think that after spending all those years trying to find you I’m going to let you simply walk out of here? You’re my sister, Alexandra. You belong to me.”

His words and the possessiveness in his tone cause bile to pool in my throat. Since father—even before—he’s thought he has some sort of claim over me. “I don’t belong to you,” I softly exhale, shaking my head. “You’ve neverownedme. I’m not your property. I’m your sister, not some token or bargaining chip for you to use at your will.”

He closes what little distance there is between us until his face is just inches from mine. His breath—laced with cigarette smoke and vodka—wafts over me as he lets out an evil, cold laugh.

“You really think you’d live happily ever after withhim?” Ivan snickers. “We only get death and betrayal in our world,malen’kaya printsessa.We don’t get happily ever afters.”

His brothers have.We could, too.Living happily for whatever time we have together would be better than nothing.Better than this.

“That man you think so highly of, who you think loves you so much, he hasn’t even tried to contact you.” Ivan’s words hit like a punch to the gut.Because he’s right.It’s been a week. If Liam really loved me, he would’ve come for me by now. He would have tried to reach out.Wouldn’t he?

“You don’t know him,” I mumble, hoping I actually do know Liam Evans as I think I do.

Ivan’s dark eyes glimmer, knowing he has finally touched a nerve. “I know enough. If I cared for anyone the way youthinkhe cares about you, I would have barged in here, guns blazing,to save you. But he hasn’t come to rescue the woman he loves because this isn’t a fucking fairy tale.”

I gulp, trying to swallow the doubt Ivan is causing to build inside me. “You’re wrong,” I retort, my conviction becoming weaker by the minute as Ivan’s seeds of doubt continue to germinate.

“Don’t fool yourself, Alexandra.” Ivan shakes his head, his devilish grin still mocking me. “He doesn’t love you the way you think he does.”

Trying to ignore Ivan’s encroaching thoughts, I dig for the strength Liam has worked so hard to instill in me. The confidence to be strong and outspoken. To stand toe-to-toe with any man. Meeting Ivan’s gaze, I pull myself straighter and refuse to give in to him. “You don’t know Liam. Or his family. You don’t know what they’d do for him.For me. I won’t allow you to make me doubt that.”

Ivan stares back at me, the cockiness fading from his smirk, but he doesn’t ease up. “You can lie to yourself all you want, but it doesn’t matter… You’re going to have a long mafia life with the Bratva. Where youbelong, as you help me forge the empire our father wanted.”

Before I can respond, we’re interrupted by a loud commotion outside the penthouse. My breath hitches as I turn toward where it is coming from. I don’t need the door to open to know who is on the other side.Liam. For the first time in seven excruciatingly long days, I feel something other than a painful emptiness in my chest.Hope.

The door flies open, and Liam stands on the other side. Gun in hand, his jaw is clenched tight, and his eyes are full of worry and rage. He looks nothing like the calm, collected, and patient manI’m used to. This man looks like he is readying to walk through hell.For me.

Ivan doesn’t move, and for a moment, I think he might actually not react to the unfolding situation. But his face hardens, and his naturally dark eyes fill with anger. He pulls the gun from the back of his pants and lifts it toward Liam.

“Liam,” I shriek, expecting him to meet the same fate as Viktor with visions of his lifeless body falling to the floor flashing through my mind.

His eyes lock on mine, and I immediately get the reassurance I need as he whispers, “Mo mhuirnín.”

And in this moment, I know… Ivan’s words don’t matter.

Liam still loves me.

CHAPTER FIFTY

LIAM

When I see Sasha, I don’t need her to speak a word to confirm what Quinn was so certain of. Whatever lies Sasha told and the reasons she had for doing so don’t matter.Sasha fucking loves me.

“I’m surprised to see you here, Liam,” Ivan grits, his voice smooth and controlled. His jaw is clenched, and his eyes are cold and calculating. They flicker to Sasha and back to me. I don’t know what he’s thinking, but the air is growing heavier with every second that passes.

Taking a step forward, I hold his pitch-black stare. “You knew I’d come. And I’m not leaving until I get what I want.”

---