Divorced, But Queen - Chapter 224: Chapter 224

Russell stared at her, his expression unreadable.
Aria hesitated for a second, then stepped in, her eyes flicking to the lit button for the nineteenth floor before she pressed eighteen herself. The elevator doors slid shut.
They each stood on opposite sides of the car.
"We've met before, haven't we?" Russell's voice was low and deep.
Aria hadn't expected him to recognize her so quickly.
After all, back then, she'd looked like a completely different person.
She replied calmly, "I don't think so. I don't know you."
"Is that so?" Russell let out a cold, humorless laugh, dropping his gaze. "You remind me of someone who broke my rules, Ms. Saxon."
Five years ago, Aria had taken a job protecting a certain politician—luring out a killer by posing as his lover at the Baron casino.
The plan worked, chaos broke out, and the casino was forced to shut down for a while.
Aria had left a generous payoff behind and vanished without a trace.
Clearly, Russell was talking about that night.
Just as she was about to speak, a surge of danger prickled her nerves.
She moved on instinct, dodging the sudden attack—his hand slashing through the air, a test as much as a killing blow.
If she'd been any ordinary person, her throat would have been crushed by now.
In the cramped space, fists whistled through the air. He struck, she parried.
Russell lashed out with a vicious kick.
In such a narrow elevator, a missed kick could easily give you away—or break your own bones.
Aria twisted out of the way, then took advantage of the opening to drive her knee toward his gut.
He absorbed it without flinching, grabbing for her shoulders with both hands.
She dodged, twisted, then drove her hand for his neck—slamming Russell's back into the elevator wall.
The doors slid open at the eighteenth floor.
Russell made no move to counterattack, only stared her down, eyes sharp and calculating. "Not bad. No wonder you managed to tear my casino apart."
Aria's grip on him didn't loosen, her brow furrowed. "Didn't I already pay you? Wasn't fifteen million dollars enough?"
Russell replied, "Did I ever say I agreed to your terms?"
He raised his left hand, enclosing hers where it was locked around his neck. "That's not how I settle debts."
His palm was hot—almost feverish. Aria let go, her voice flat. "Fine. What do you want, then?"
The doors slid shut and the elevator started moving down.
"I'm not interested in money," Russell said quietly.
He leaned in, gaze burning, not bothering to hide the hunger in his eyes. "You've got a beautiful body, you know."
His hand moved, about to touch her face, but Aria slipped aside, her eyes turning cold. "So?"
Russell's lips curled. "Why don't you spend a month with me?"
The suggestion was shameless. Aria's expression darkened. She looked up, her voice icy. "You planning to kill me?"
There was humiliation in her words, but underneath, the threat was all too real.
Shutting down his business for one night wasn't enough for him to want her dead—he had other motives.
Russell's laugh was low and chilling as he twirled a loose strand of her hair around his finger. "No. I want to make you a living specimen. Something to admire every day."
She'd heard plenty of rumors about Russell.
A slave who'd fought his way out of the pits, a man whose hands were steeped in blood.
Aria pressed a hand to his shoulder, pinning him against the elevator wall. Russell glanced up at the security camera, his tone mocking. "Ms. Saxon, there are cameras in here. Maybe we should take this elsewhere?"
Under the lights, her face looked almost translucent, an almost angelic beauty—so pure on the surface, so dark beneath. He found it maddening.