Ice & Prejudice

Chapter 96

Ria's POV:

If I thought working for Nikolai would be hell, I had underestimated just how far the man would go to make me suffer. I had barely started, and I was already running around like a headless chicken. He seemed to take pleasure in it-ordering me to fetch him coffee, answer his emails, set up meetings, and make calls. Calls. The one thing I hated more than anything else. And of course, he made sure there were plenty of them.

I was beginning to think he got some sick satisfaction from watching me struggle.

"Victoria, I need that report by noon," he called from his office as I tried to balance three steaming hot cups of coffee and a stack of files in my arms.

I gritted my teeth, trying to keep my voice steady. "I'm on it," I muttered, though I had no idea which report he was even talking about. This wasn't my area of expertise-I had trained to be a therapist, not a glorified personal assistant-slash-servant.

Every task he gave me felt like a test, a way for him to assert his power over me. And I couldn't do anything about it. He owned me, in every way that mattered. The building for my clinic? His. My flat? His. My internship? He could pull the plug on that whenever he wanted. I was trapped, and he knew it.

"Victoria!" His voice boomed from his office again, this time more impatient. "Do you have the numbers from the marketing team yet?"

I slammed the files down on my desk, my patience hanging by a thread. "I just got the coffees," I hissed under my breath, marching into his office. "You're really going to have to pick one thing at a time, Nikolai."

He looked up from his computer, eyes gleaming with amusement. He leaned back in his chair, casually sipping his black coffee-of course, it was black, because the man didn't do anything halfway. "Multitasking is a valuable skill, Victoria," he said smoothly. "You should try it sometime."

I felt my blood boil. "I am multitasking," I snapped, crossing my arms. "You've got me running around like I'm your personal slave. What's next? Washing your car?"

Nikolai smirked, that infuriatingly calm expression never wavering. "If you can't handle the basics, maybe I should find someone more... capable."

I glared at him, my hands clenching into fists at my sides. "I'm not incapable," I seethed, taking a step closer to his desk. "I'm just not your errand girl."

His eyes darkened as they flicked over me, that familiar tension crackling between us. "Oh, but you are," he said softly, the words laced with challenge. "Until you pay off what you owe, you'll do whatever I tell you to do. Or do I need to remind you what's at stake?"

I hated how close he was standing now. Too close, his broad frame towering over me, making me feel small and trapped. He always did that-used his size and presence to remind me that he was in control. But I wasn't about to back down. Not to him.

I stepped forward until there was barely any space between us. "You don't need to remind me," I spat, eyes narrowing. "I know exactly what you're doing. You get off on this, don't you? Watching me run around, doing all this shit just to humiliate me. It's pathetic, Nikolai."

He chuckled, low and dark, and the sound sent an infuriating shiver down my spine. "Is that what you think?" he murmured, his voice dangerously soft. "That I'm doing this to humiliate you?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Are you not?"

He leaned down, so close that I could feel his breath on my skin, and for a second, my pulse raced against my will. I hated that my body reacted to him like this. Hated that even after everything, a part of me still found him irresistible.