“Pssst, Haty,” Jaya whispered.

The kitten scampered to her, fitting easily through the bars. She scooped the small bundle up and held the purring creature against her chest, settling back against the pillows of her makeshift bed. Her prison had indeed shrunk… to the size of a cage. It was just high enough for her to stand up and long enough for her to lay down. She was only allowed a thick cushion and some blankets to lay on, along with a few of Ivan’s books. She wasn’t sure why he kept giving them to her. She certainly didn’t read them.

She was let out of her cage a few times a day to attend to her basic needs, to shower and to change. Otherwise, she was left alone to contemplate her new reality. Her cellmate didn’t seem to care about their predicament. Mostly because Haty was still small enough to fit through the metal bars.

“I don’t know why you like his bed better,” Jaya sighed, rubbing the kitten under her chin. “He’s an asshole and he snores.”

“I don’t snore.”

Jaya sat up so fast she startled Haty, who yowled in protest and ran straight through the bars to Ivan. Without slowing his long strides, he scooped the animal up in one hand and tossed her up on his shoulder. Haty dug in and clung to him as Ivan made his way to Jaya’s cage. She glared at him, making sure he knew via the fire in her eyes that she was not impressed with her new bedroom inside his bedroom.

“You know,” she said heatedly. “It takes a sick man to keep a woman in a cage in his bedroom.”

He shrugged carelessly and crossed his arms over his broad chest. She tried not to gaze at his bulging biceps. It didn’t help when Haty slid from his shoulder, down his arm to settle in the crook of his elbow for a snooze. Jaya really didn’t think Haty understood the concept of supreme evil yet. From the moment they were moved to Ivan’s living quarters yesterday, Haty took to Ivan as though determined to make him her new daddy. The big man didn’t exactly return the cat’s affection, but he didn’t reject it either, just accepted it as his due.

“I don’t play by any standard rules, sweetheart,” Ivan said, his tone bored. “You need to stop forgetting this or you’ll end up hurt. For now, my fascination is all that’s keeping you alive. Stop testing my patience and you may continue to breathe a little longer.”

Her mouth fell open and for a moment she was speechless. She knew he was an evil bastard, knew he played horrific games, but he’d never threatened her life so blatantly. Either this was a new game or he was tiring of her constant resistance. She curled against herself, bringing her knees up to her chest and hugging them. His sharp eyes caught the movement. He dropped Haty on his giant bed, with its fluffy white duvet, and crouched next to Jaya’s cage, only a few feet from the bed.

They stared at each other. Oddly, some of the antagonism, the power struggle that always waged between them, seemed to drain away. She saw a flash of something like regret in his face. He leaned against the bars and watched her intently. “You are the most alluring, most unique woman I’ve ever met,” he said, his voice a little rough. “And I don’t understand why.”

Jaya tried hard to keep her feelings close, to not give him anything, but when he looked at her that way, spoke to her that way, stripped bare, it was like he wanted… no needed something from her. It was too hard not to give him something in return. Perhaps if she gave him a crumb of the honesty he was looking for, he might relent and let her out of the cage. She loosened her arms, climbed to her knees and crawled toward him.

She stopped about a foot away and watched him, her eyes searching his features while she spoke. “You scare me, Ivan.”

He dipped his head in a nod, his grey gaze devouring her as though she were his next meal. “I know. It’s better this way, better you fear me.”

Tears filled her eyes and she blinked, not wanting to cry in front of him. She didn’t want to show weakness, because she hoped, no, she needed to use this moment to negotiate with her captor. She sensed that, for once, his agile brain wasn’t on the hunt, that he was willing to give her some leeway, some insight into his complicated mind.

“I’m terrified that you’ll decide I’m not worth it, that you’ll have me killed at any moment,” she whispered, searching his face for a hint of compassion. When she saw nothing but cold, bottomless grey, she slumped back on her heels, her shoulders bowing. There was no getting through to him. Not a remorseless killer like Ivan Vogel.

After what felt like endless minutes he finally spoke. He didn’t give her what she’d been hoping for, didn’t promise not to kill her, but he gave her something he probably never gave anyone else. An admission. “I wanted you here in my space,” he said gruffly. “I wanted you where I could see you, smell you, breathe you in all the time. Not just the brief moments you were paraded out on the pool deck. But I had no reason, no excuse. So I made one up and here you are.”

Jaya’s mouth fell open again. She needed to process this information, figure out how she felt. At the moment, she was feeling only confusion. “B-but why didn’t you just take me? You own everything around you? You can do anything you want. I don’t understand.”

Fire seemed to leap into his eyes creating a storm of emotion unlike anything she’d seen on his face before. She tried to back up, but he was too fast. He reached between the bars and grabbed her arm, yanking her against the solid metal. She yelped and reached out to grip the bars, stopping herself from being painfully jarred.

Though his face was still several inches from hers, she could feel the intensity, see the vein in his forehead stand out and the pulse in his neck jump in agitation. His carefully tended mask was slipping. It was falling away, showing her the monster and the man that lay beneath, and he hated it. Her heart picked up speed until it was thundering, and he nodded as if reading her thoughts.

“I should have had my men kill you,” he said, his voice rough with all the emotions he’d been hiding from her. “Then we wouldn’t be here. You may prefer death over what I’ll do to you by the time I’m finished, Jaya. Because this is uncharted territory and the only thing left inside me is blacker than pitch.”

“Please, Ivan,” she begged him. “You’re scaring me.”

He ignored her. “You want to know why I haven’t touched you yet? Why I haven’t taken you and fucked you?” She shook her head, her whole body quaking now. “Because I don’t know what will happen once I’ve had you, Jaya. Maybe this obsession will break. Maybe I’ll have you killed after all. Or maybe this feeling will only grow stronger. And then what? I chain you to my side for the rest of your life and you belong to one of the worst, most hunted sons-of-bitches on the planet.”

Tears dripped down her cheeks now. She was powerless to stop them, frozen in his hands, terrified of his next move. “D-don’t, Ivan. Please just let me out, let me go. I’ll d-disappear. Like you never met me.”

His lips curved up in a terrible smile and she knew what his next words were going to be before he even spoke. “It’s far too late for that, my lovely captive.”

He yanked her hard, up against the bars. She cried out as her cheek hit the metal, but he swallowed the sound in a kiss. His tongue invaded her mouth, capturing, conquering her as though she were virgin territory he was intent on discovering. When she didn’t open wide enough for him, he gripped her face in both hands and dug his thumbs into her cheeks, forcing her mouth wider. He plundered the tender recesses, taking everything she refused to give.

Jaya gripped the bars as though her life depended on it. She couldn’t move away from his assault, though she tried. She began to weaken under the onslaught until she was sliding down the metal, away from his brutal kiss. Ivan growled against the loss. He reached as far as he could between the bars, took her by the waist and yanked her back up, smashing her against the unyielding metal.

“Ivan, please don’t,” she whimpered and tried to turn her face away from him. He ignored her plea and kissed her stinging, swollen lips. This time he tempered the brutality, licking and nibbling, attempting to coax a response from her. Jaya moaned and turned her face to the side, laying weakly against his arm. She hoped that he would stop soon and leave her, prayed that he wouldn’t open the door to her cage and finish what they’d been dancing around for weeks.

He cupped her face and tilted it against the bars, more gently this time, so he could kiss her wherever he could reach. He pressed his lips against her cheek, her chin and her forehead. He twisted her head to the side and explored her ear, then groaned against her when it became clear he wanted to continue a path down her neck but was prevented.

“Want you so fucking bad, Jaya,” he mumbled against her. “I should just end this for both of us and take you now.”

Jaya shivered at his words and the rush of heat that shot through her. Though she despised him, his kisses enflamed parts of her that usually lay dormant. She flexed her fingers against the muscles of his side and suddenly realized that she had reached through the bars and was clutching him, holding herself up using his rock-solid body. She snatched her hands back with a gasp and Ivan released her. She rocked back so hard that she fell on her butt, hitting the edge of her cushion and scattering the books that were on her blanket.

Ivan sat back on his heels for a moment, watching her intently, his eyes going from dark and stormy to ice grey. His breathing evened out before hers did. His gaze flickered to the books scattered across the bottom of her cage and landed on the one closest to her.

“Wuthering Heights,” he said coolly. “I thought you might enjoy that one, its dark and romantic, like you.”

She glared at him and made a production of using her sleeve to wipe her mouth. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, I’m no romantic.” Her gaze flitted down to the book. The copy looked old and well used, as though it had been read several times. “And I don’t like reading.”

He stood and looked down at her, his own gaze dispassionate. “I don’t care how you pass your time, but you may want to consider cracking that one. Find out what happens to Cathy when she crosses the man obsessed with her.”

“Fuck you, Ivan.” Jaya snatched the book up and threw it at the bars. It hit one and rebounded, falling harmlessly to the floor.

“You’d better hope not, sweetheart. I don’t think either of us wants to find out what happens after I’ve fucked you.” He strode from the room, slamming and locking the door behind him.

Jaya slumped against her bed and turned her glare on the tiny bundle of sleeping kitten laying in the centre of Ivan’s giant bed, completely oblivious to the fireworks that just went off all around her.

“You could at least scratch his eyes out for me!” She scowled and reached for Wuthering Heights.