The first week at the Volkov estate was a grueling masterclass in the architecture of silence.
I was no longer physically bolted inside my room, but the freedom was an illusion. Every time I crossed the threshold into the hallway, a maid would materialize from the shadows like a programmed specter. They didn't speak; they didn't offer the comfort of a smile. They simply bowed their heads and trailed me at a precise distance of five paces—silent, living ghosts haunting my every step.
"Is there anyone in this mausoleum who actually speaks?" I snapped, spinning around to confront a young maid named Elena.
She flinched, her gaze instinctively darting to the black lens of a security camera tucked into the ornate ceiling molding. "Mr. Volkov prefers a quiet household, Miss Jessy," she whispered, her voice trembling. "Would you... would you like tea in the garden?"
"I'd like my life back, Elena. Can you fetch that for me, or is it out of stock?"
The girl looked away, her face settling into a mask of practiced neutrality. I sighed and pushed past her, my heels clicking sharply against the cold marble. If I couldn't leave, I would at least map the dimensions of my cage. The mansion was a labyrinth of priceless art and hollow spaces—everything was breathtaking, yet everything felt dead, as if the house itself were holding its breath, waiting for Yuri to exhale.
I eventually drifted into the library, a three-story cathedral of mahogany where the shelves groaned under the weight of leather-bound secrets. I pulled a book at random—an old edition of Crime and Punishment.
"Fitting," I muttered to the empty air.
"Are you fond of Dostoyevsky, or are you just admiring the irony of the title?"
The book nearly slipped from my fingers. Yuri was leaning against the heavy oak doorframe, his suit jacket discarded and his white shirt sleeves rolled up to reveal forearms that looked like they were corded with steel. He looked less like a billionaire and more like a predator at rest.
"I'm fond of privacy," I said, my heart beginning its usual, treacherous dance at the sight of him. "Something you seem to have a shortage of in this house."
He crossed the room, his boots striking the hardwood with a rhythmic, hypnotic weight. He took the book from my hand and slid it back onto the shelf with agonizing slowness.
"Privacy is a luxury for those who have nothing to hide, Jessy. You, however, are a target. My men aren't just here to watch you; they're here to ensure the driver who hit you doesn't return to finish the job."
"Or they're here to make sure I don't run to the police," I countered, my voice rising.
Yuri stepped closer, his shadow stretching over me until I felt submerged in him. He smelled of the incoming rain and expensive, sharp cedarwood. He reached out, bracing his hand on the shelf behind my head, effectively pinning me between his towering frame and the wall of books.
"The police are on my payroll, Jessy. Who do you think orchestrated the 'glitch' in the traffic camera footage?" He leaned down, his lips brushing against the shell of my ear, his voice a low, terrifying vibration. "I am the only law that matters to you now. Understand that."
He pulled away before I could catch my breath, leaving me trembling with a volatile mix of rage and an attraction I loathed myself for feeling.
The tension finally snapped that night in his private study. The room was bathed in the amber glow of a single desk lamp, casting long, jagged shadows across the walls. On the mahogany desk sat a sleek, silver tablet—the interface for the Ghost Code.
"Do it," he commanded, his eyes tracking the movement of my hands.
"And if I refuse to be your puppet?" I asked, my heart hammering against my ribs.
Yuri walked around the desk, stopping directly behind my chair. He placed his hands on my shoulders, his grip firm, grounding, and dangerously warm. It was the first time he had touched me with such deliberate intent since the hospital, and the contact felt like a live wire.
"If you refuse, we both lose," he whispered into my hair, his breath ghosting over my skin. "My brothers are coming for this throne, Jessy. If I don't have that ledger, they will tear this city apart to find it. They will kill me, and they will use you until there is nothing left but a shell. I am a monster, I know this. But I am the monster currently keeping you alive."
Trembling, my vision blurring with a cocktail of fear and resignation, I reached out. I pressed my thumb to the scanner. The screen didn't just turn on; it pulsed. A wave of electric blue light washed over us, reflecting in Yuri's hungry, desperate eyes.
I began to realize then that the "V&H" legacy wasn't just about wealth. It was about a total, terrifying control over the digital and physical worlds. In that blue light, I saw the true weight of the "Ghost Code." It wasn't just data. It was a software update for the world order, and I was the only hardware capable of running it.
"You're searching for the exits," Yuri said, his voice snapping me back to the present as he watched the code begin to scroll across the screen.
"Wouldn't you?" I asked, my fingers twitching on the glass.
"I don't have to," he said, stepping around to face me. "I built the exits. And I locked them. Not to keep you in, Jessy, but to keep the world out. To the UNI, you aren't a girl. You're a twenty-year-old secret they've finally caught up to."