nine mi

t took Sienna to dismantl

, she threw socks, worn T-shirts, and a p

d stuffed bunny, her favorite storybooks, the crayons she loved, an

cheap furniture, the secondhand

t behin

me at the thirty-minute mark, Sienna yanked

the man announced, his

utside Oak Creek passed in a blur o

. The little girl, oblivious to the abyss opening beneath her feet, stared in fa

?" Mila whispered, pointing at the chauff

, kissing the top of her daughter's head and swall

tinge the sky a gunmetal gray, a color that perfectly mat

"V" glinted with arrogance. It was the Volkov f

he crossed through the cabin door, the contrast between her chea

ooked like thrones, polished mahogany paneling, brushed go

s already

legs crossed, reading a report on a t

ite shirt was stretched taut across t

, escorted by a flight attendant with a stoic face

is voice deep and resonant in the cabin's pe

osite Nikolai, making sure the five-point harness wa

e, Sienna closed her eyes as the force of

her refuge, disappeared ben

bsolute. Sienna stared out the window, her mind a whirlw

s not made

ound her with her big blue eyes. Finally, bored with the stillness, h

ed around, but before she could stop her,

stepping around the mahogany table, until she

heart s

w!" she whispered urgently, fu

olute command, and Sienna froze. Slowly, the magnate lowered his table

chest and tilted her head, studying him with an analyt

presidents," Mila declared, her childish voice

irst time that morning, the tension in his jaw

, as if speaking to an equal. "It's like being a king, but I built my o

processing the

nkle here," she said, reaching out a chubby finger to point between Nikol

out a stran

One wrong word in his presence could mean financial ruin. And her daughter, her

aut and suffocating. Sienna braced for the outburst of rage, for the

utburst n

kolai's mouth curved upward. Barely a millimeter. A nearly imperceptible f

l beside his seat. Immediately,

g lady," Nikolai ordered, his eyes never

Mr. Vo

returning to her mother, she scrambled up onto the

ning. A cold terror seized her, far worse

e. The same straight noses, the same stubborn jawli

ildren, was watching Mila with a devouring fascination. He saw in her not only his blood

it her like a physical blow. If he loved her, if he saw she was

lane was flying and why the clouds looked like cotton. He answered each one with clinical precision, never talking down to her. It was a rough, d

touched down smoothly at a

red vehicles that drove for an hour toward th

roads surrounded by dense pines and oaks, the sky

black wrought-iron gates, flanked by fourteen-foot sto

revealing a dark gravel drive that wound throu

e drive stood th

. It wasn't a home. It

s windows that reflected the stormy sky. The architecture was cold and brutalist, design

e columns. An army of immaculately uniformed staff already waited on

against the gray day. Then he turned toward Sienna, who was still clutch

ld no warmth; it was the formal declarati

g her daughter closer as she

Russian magnate's golden cage. And for the first time in five years, Sienna knew