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His voice is dangerously soft as he drags his hand down to my neck “It doesn’t matter what you call it You’re ers around rip “It will be a happy life if you don’t fight it so hard”

I s, ainst the pressure of his palm

Lowering his head, he brushes a question over my lips “Is that clear, Katyusha?”

“Yes,” I say, not daring to breathe

I knohere this is going when he pushes me down, yet I don’t stop him There’s only a partition between us and Yuri, but it’s not the only time he’s taken me in a car When my back hits the seat, I don’t utter a protest The taste of defeat is bitter inhim see my tears My stomach clenches with anticipation as I wait for the moment he slays me

He doesn’t entlest of kisses on s My underwear is nosound that ers inside er-fucks me with harsh strokes

My body bows to his rhyth with pleasure He nips my bottom lip and feeds me tender Russian words as he spanks ers inside It’s a battlefield, and the war is over before it’s even begun

I co like a beaten enemy It doesn’t matter thatecstasy, or that he presses sweet praise with kisses toperformance It’s a loss all the same

Because that’s hoorks in war

There are only two outcomes, only two sides

If you’re not the winner, you’re the loser

21

Alex

It’s quiet at work, the building deserted except for uards The sky outside is still dark A vista of city lights spreads out belowon a blanket of snow The streets aren’t buzzing with the ives me time to catch up before everyone demands my attention

Settling behindsuccess Many influential business players pledged their support for nuclear power The pressure is on for the governy As usual, there’s a shitload of red tape, but it’s only a matter of time

I close the report and pull up ent ones in a folder for later and open the es The first is froala went and inforineers have worked out in the latest version of the portable reactors Konstantin is the brains behind the technology, and though we have yet to forineers and I have been working with hience process

The Molotovs are a powerful, well-connected fao back generations, all the way to Czarist Russia Konstantin Molotov is the oldest of four siblings and is widely considered to be a tech genius, while his younger brother, Nikolai, runs the business side of things—or did until recently The youngest Molotov brother, Valery, seeh Nikolai is overseeing this particular project despite the fact that he recentlyin a small mountain town in Idaho, in the States

I reply to Konstantin, telling hietting governy Of course, all of this is predicated on the joint venture going through If the Molotovs back out at the last moment or try to screw me over in any way, it’ll take just a feords whispered in the right ears to choke the project with red tape Naturally, I don’t say that to Konstantin I don’t need to He understands perfectly how things work in our world

I’ulations we’re i at one of hts up with a call I usually sendthe only time I have without interruptions frolance at the caller ID and I take the call