Adeline Ivanovna Alexerye

Caesar snickered and slanted closer, so his face was next to her ear.

He chuckled, taking a moment before whispering, "Caesar Romanovich Kuznetsov."

Adeline stiffened out of instinct, her jaw dropping and her eyes blinking at the name. 

As though time had suddenly slowed down, her grip on the collar of his shirt gradually loosened, and her arms fell to her sides.

"K-kuznetsov?" She took a few steps back in vigilance, a flicker of immediate fear sparking inside her guts.

Her heart had begun to pound loudly in her ears, suddenly realizing why she'd been feeling uneasy and the urge to run from this man.

He was Caesar Romanovich Kuznetsov, the next head of the Kuznetsov Mafia group, just like Dimitri had told her. The biggest and most dangerous enemy of the Petrov family.

He was someone who could send a bullet to her head without the slightest bit of hesitation—one who would do anything to get what he wanted.

She swallowed hard, taking yet another shaky step away from him.

How could she be so unfortunate to run from the Petrov's only to get involved with the worst of the kinds? A Kuznetsov of all people?

What if he killed her? He did have an idea that she was one of the Petrovs. 

"Are you scared?"

Caesar's abrupt question had her snapping out of her drifting thoughts. She stared at him dead in the eyes and gripped onto the oversized sweatpants she wore, standing her ground. 

It wasn't like she could run. 

"Scared? I'm…not afraid of…you." She gritted her teeth quietly with a forced smile. 

Where would she even run to? How would she escape from there? She had no idea where she was or the location.

Her heart suddenly made a jump to her throat the second the larger man got up from the desk and took a few steps towards her. He bent his muscular-toned body so his head was at the same height as hers.

A devilish, taunting smile spread across his face, his eyes glistening dangerously.

"You look like you've seen a ghost. Tell me, why are you scared? What side of me do you know? I know Dimitri must have told you a lot about me." Caesar shoved his hands into the pocket of his dark blue suit pants.

Adeline lifted her eyes, meeting his pressing gaze. She tensed a bit, her lips quivering as she asked, "Are you…going to kill me?"

There was no other reason she could think of other than this. 

Why in the world would a next mafia Don such as himself save the life of the wife of his enemy? It made no sense to her. Did he bring her to his estate and treat her so he could torture and pry information out of her later on? What was his objective?

Pointing a long finger to his clothed chest, Caesar arched an amused brow at her. "Me? Kill you? What do you think of me? Why is that your first thought?" The question was made with a smile, one with far too many edges and dangers to it.

"If that is not your reason, then why am I here? You are Caesar, and the Petrovs are your enemy. Why would you save the wife of your enemy?" Adeline mustered up the courage and questioned.

The word 'wife' caused Caesar to snarl a bit with cold eyes, and his hands inside his pocket balled into fists.

For a moment, Adeline thought she might have caught on to his real reason because he'd frozen in place. But that deep, throaty laughter came again before ending abruptly, his gaze sharpening.

Caesar gripped her chin, making her cheeks puff out on either side of her face.

One of his brows cocked upwards, and he seriously said, "I told you I like to do things differently. I would never kidnap you while you were dying under the rain. Killing you in your condition would be pathetic, don't you think?" 

"And I also have no reason to kill you. You've done nothing wrong. I don't kill unless it's necessary, and you…you've never met me before. Or, have you? " he asked, his eyes peering right into hers. "You know, if I truly wanted you dead, I would have left you dying under the rain. I wouldn't waste my resources on someone I'm about to kill."

"I'm not that generous." He released her chin, turning around to walk back and sit on his desk. "I truly didn't want you to die."

"Why...?" Adeline enquired, still dubious.

Caesar shrugged and folded his arms. "I can't exactly tell you. But curiosity, I suppose. Let's say I wanted to find out why Dimitri's-"

"Don't call me that!" Adeline blew her hostile eyes wide at him.

Caesar raised both hands in a shuddering defensive manner. "Okay, I won't."

"Though, I was a bit curious why you were left dying under the rain at a roadside. Knowing the Petrovs, there should have been cars patrolling the roads in search of you, but I saw none, nor was there any sort of news. It's as if you...ran from them?" His words were almost like a question, as he wasn't very certain of his conclusion.

Adeline's expression shifted negatively, and her hands clenched tightly into fists so much that her knuckles turned paper white.

Caesar caught a glimpse of it, reading her expression easily. "You ran, didn't you?" 

He walked toward her, and his tall figure began to round her, his arms folded. "Why would you run from them?"

"It's none of your business." Adeline's tone was cold and hateful, completely maintaining an abrupt blank expression.

Caesar halted his steps and dropped his hands on her shoulder. "I won't ask more then."

He slipped his hand into the breast pocket of his suit vest, pulling out a phone. "A message came in while I was getting this phone cleaned up for you."

Adeline frowned and reluctantly received the cell phone from him. She turned it on, and there was a message directly from Mr. Petrov himself, not even Dimitri. 

Using face recognition, she unlocked the phone and went right into the message.

It read, "Adeline Ivanovna Alexerye, you have not more than twenty-four hours to return to the mansion. If you don't, you will regret it, and I'm sure you are aware that I'm a man who keeps to his words."

"I will make you beg to be killed and regret ever existing. You know what I'm capable of. Your mother's burial will be held in three days and I know damn well you wouldn't want to miss it. I can feed her corpse to the vultures, so make your fucking choice."

"Return to this mansion or stay hidden from me while I find you myself. But when I do, Adeline…"