Page 9 of His Grip

They made their way out of the house, but Viktor’s mind was elsewhere. His sister's face flashed in the dark, and so did her warnings.

“Don’t trust Konstantin.”

Kat. His confidante. His anchor. And, more importantly, his sister. The one woman in the world he trusted with everything—the one person who saw things without the emotional fog clouding her judgment. Her words were always blunt, always pointed. She had been right so many times before, but Viktor had ignored her warnings. He had to. There was too much at stake. Konstantin had been a part of his plans for too long to suddenly discard him.

But now, those warnings came flooding back, and Viktor felt a simmering irritation rise in his chest. How dare anyone challenge him? How dare Konstantin play his own game?

“You’re not the only one who knows how to make a move.”

She had sounded so urgent that night, as though she knew something Viktor hadn’t fully realized yet. The betrayal, the subterfuge, the way Konstantin had used Viktor all these years. Viktor’s jaw clenched, his eyes narrowing as he remembered her words. But he wouldn’t let it distract him now. He would play the game. And he would play it better than anyone else. On his terms.

As he drove away from the house, the weight of his decisions pressed down on Viktor’s shoulders. He didn’t care that Konstantin was playing a game of his own. He didn’t care about the alliances, the threats, or the looming betrayals. Sofia was his, and he would take her. He would break, bend, and twist her into whatever shape suited his needs.

And it wasn’t just about power. It was about something more profound. Something darker. The thrill of making her yield to him—the idea of her submission, of her crumbling beneath his touch—was something Viktor couldn’t shake. She would become a part of him, as much as his empire, as much as his wealth, as much as the power that flowed through his veins.

She would be his to mold, to break. The thought sent a surge of heat coursing through him. He would show her who was in charge. He would carve his mark on her, make her ache for him in ways she would never understand. And Sofia? She would be another piece in his perfectly ordered world. She would fit, just like everything else.

His mind was still racing with thoughts of Sofia—of her soft skin, of the way her body had responded to him, trembling beneath his touch.

Sofia would learn what it meant to be in Viktor Ivanov’s world.

CHAPTER 4

Sofia

Sofia could count on one hand the things that made her skin crawl. Her father’s business, for one. She wasn’t blind or stupid. She knew exactly what kind of man he was—dangerous, calculating, and always in control. The men who surrounded her family weren’t just selling insurance or running charity drives.

She had every reason to hate the empire he’d built and the chaos it dragged into their lives.

Second on her list? The suffocating reality that she couldn’t live her life the way she wanted without her father meddling. And third? Viktor Ivanov.

And now, somehow, she was being forced to marry him.

“I can’t believe you’re asking me to do this,” she snapped. “You’re always warning me to stay away from men like Viktor. He’s dangerous. He’s manipulative. And now you want me to marry him? Are you kidding me?”

Konstantin leaned against the doorframe, looking every bit as exhausted as she felt. His silence made her anger boil even hotter. She perched on the edge of her bed, dragging her barefeet back and forth across the plush rug, trying to focus on the friction instead of the storm brewing inside her chest.

It didn’t matter that her body had betrayed her that night at the party. Didn’t matter that Viktor’s face, his hands, and his mouth had haunted her thoughts when she got home. That she had pleasured herself to the memory of it. She hated him. She hated him because he was everything she was fighting to escape.

If she agreed to marry Viktor, her life as she knew it would end. There’d be no running away with her brother, no dreams of a normal life far from the bloodshed and wars her family thrived on.

She shook her head hard, her jaw tight with defiance. “No. I can’t do it. Anything but that, please.”

Konstantin stepped into the room and slammed his hand against the wall. The sharp crack echoed, making her flinch. “You think I want this?” he barked. “You think I'd like to give that monster an arsenal against me? But I don’t have a choice, Sofia.”

Her heart hammered as she stood, her hands balling into fists. “What do you mean you don’t have a choice?”

“I owe people money,” he admitted, his voice dropping lower like he didn’t even want to hear the words himself. “A lot of money. And they’re coming to collect. Guess who they’ll aim for first? You and Ivan. They’ll drag your brother into this mess, and you know what happens next. He’ll get sucked into the same nightmare you say you don’t want him to live in. Don’t fool yourself, Sofia. It’ll change him. It’ll destroy him.”

For a brief, desperate moment, Sofia let herself dream of escape. She imagined taking Ivan and leaving the country, running to a sunny place full of flowers, where they could live under new names. No blood, no shadows. Just peace.

Her father’s voice dragged her back to reality. “These people I owe? They’ll find you and Ivan no matter where I try to hideyou. If you marry Viktor, his power and connections, they’ll keep you safe. I’ll pay off my debts, and both of you will be protected.”

Her fingernails bit into her palms as she clenched her fists tighter, anger and helplessness warring. The thought of being handed over to Viktor Ivanov—a man whose very presence set her teeth on edge—made her stomach churn. But the idea of leaving Ivan vulnerable to men even worse than Viktor made her feel sick.

“I won’t do it,” she hissed through gritted teeth, her voice trembling but firm.

Konstantin’s eyes hardened, and his shoulders slumped under the weight of his own desperation. “You don’t have a choice, Sofia,” he said quietly. “This is how it has to be.”

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