*KILLIAN'S POV*

I smiled as I watched maria look around the room for something to fight with. The guards who’d dealt with her had already warned me that she knew how to fight. She wasn’t as trained as my men, but she would cause some serious injury to others if given the chance.

I knew she’d be a wildcat. That night at her coming-of-age party, I'd snuck in to finally get a look at the precious daughter nikkah had been hiding. I wasn’t disappointed by the woman I’d found. Then, when she was sixteen, she’d been too young for my taste. At thirty years old, I liked my women to be of age and not just on the fine border of being legal.

That one encounter had stayed with me, and for the past three years, I'd watched maria nikkah. She was nothing like her father, nor of the rest of the nikkah line. For one, she showed compassion. I watched her with stray animals she’d found, along with people she helped, even if it was down to aiding an elderly lady walk across the street. My men captured it.

Maria wasn’t cold or dead. She was full of passion and fire. I saw it in the way she fought. Even now, she kept testing everything. My men had told her to take a shower, but she was looking for a means to protect herself. What she didn’t seem to know was that her body would keep her safe.

I had known nikkah would fuck up. The man’s thirst for power and blood made him greedy. It made him believe he was untouchable, but one mistake after another this past year had brought them to this moment. To where I'd be the one to point a blade at his throat, rather than a gun. There was nothing satisfying about shooting a man. Nearly all of nikkah's wealth was gone. Used up on women, drugs, gambling, and just being a bad businessman.

Nikkah thought he was untouchable, and he had never been more wrong. The only wealth the nikkah name had was owned by maria. Her mother’s trust fund that had been placed in holding until maria fulfilled the terms set out to get it—a small fortune. Enough to make maria a target for men, and certainly for her father who would want to marry her off.

That was what put Maria in harm’s way. Her father had started to hunt for a husband for her. Someone he could control and manipulate. He’d wanted his daughter’s money. From what his sources told him, she had no idea she had a small fortune.

I watched as Maria stripped out of her clothes and turned the shower on. She kept her panties and bra on, not that I blamed her. She held her hand beneath the water, waiting for it to warm up.

She kept on glancing around, at one point even looking into one of the cameras I had installed.

I started preparing this room three years ago. From the moment he met, my intention was to take her. I was known for my patience. What I wanted, I always got. And when it came to Maria, I wanted her. Not for her wealth, but to tame that wildcat.

I despised the Russians and everything they stood for, but maria was different. I had taken my time. Done my research and knew she was not like her father. She was unique, and that quality was to be rewarded.

It was why I attacked nikkah. Why when my blade was to his throat, and he was more than happy to strike the killing blow, I'd waited to see what nikkah would give up to save his own life.

I was shocked when maria's name came up. Why would I be? The man was a coward, only interested in his own ends. I despised that in men. Was sickened by it. Nikkah would die soon enough, but first, I intended to take every single piece of nikkah's land and business. To kill all his men and make him drown in his own misery. I was going to break and destroy that man, piece by piece.

First, I was going to work on maria.

She would belong to me.

The day would soon come when I would show her father what he’d done. How he’d gotten a Russian to fall in love with a De Luca. That would not be the only victory I anticipated. I would also knock her up, but I have no intention of marrying her.

There was no way a De Luca would ever marry a Russian. I would keep her as my mistress. Even when I find a wife worthy of the De Luca name, I would keep maria in place, by my side, never allowing her to escape. I waited for maria to wrap a towel around her beautiful, curvy body before entering her room.

I closed the door and nodded at my guard to flick the lock into place. There was no escape. Pocketing my cell phone, I moved toward the bed and waited for maria to enter. The moment she did, wrapped in a towel, she froze, jerking to a stop.

I sat on the edge of the bed, staring at her.

She stood still, her hands gripping the edge of the towel as if that alone could protect her. Every single part of this room was covered in cameras, so I would have the joy of watching her whenever I wanted. There was no weapon. Nothing to protect her. Even when I sent food in, I made sure there were no knives. Nothing to tempt her to act irrationally.

I smiled. “Hello, maria.”

“What do you want?” she asked.

“Is that any way to greet your master?”

“You’re not my master. You will never be my master.”

I chuckled. There would come a day when she would crawl across broken glass for me, and when that day arrived, I would fucking relish it. I would break this woman. So much spirit. So much passion. I couldn’t wait to unleash it and to finally have a taste of what I'd been waiting for. My cock stiffened at the thought.

I got to my feet and took a step toward her. She stayed perfectly still, tilting her head back and glaring at me. That’s right, little cat, fight me. Your submission will be so much sweeter.

“Your father gave you to me.”

“I’m a person. I’m not a thing to be passed around like an object.”

I cupped her cheek, and she shoved my arm away. Smiling, I gripped the back of her neck and hauled her up against me. She did have some skills, but she was no match for me. There was nothing she could do to fight me off. I was the one with complete power, ultimate control.