MAEVE'S POV
My breath hitched.
But even then, I knew this game.
Classic intimidation.
A power play. A test. A demand for submission.
He still thought I was the same woman he knew five years ago, the woman who bent over backward to please him.
The woman who withered under his indifference. The woman who ached for his approval, no matter how little he gave.
I wasn't that woman anymore. It was about time I showed him.
"You're not man enough to scare me, Ivan. Maybe you were once. But I bled that fear out a long time ago."
His expression remained stoic, but I saw it—the quick flash of surprise in his eyes.
"What were you expecting?" I smirked then. "That I'd whimper and cower at the sound of your threats? That might have worked in the past, but not anymore."
Something shifted in his expression—dark amusement.
