[ANASTASIA]His words stun me for a moment, but I can’t ignore the way they turn me hornier.My breath comes out fast and fast and fast, and there’s nothing I can do but bite my lip so hard that blood threatens to ooze. I just want this tug in my stomach to rest, for him to fill me until I don’t know what fucking air is anymore.Ivan pulls away, eyes blazing, body hard as stone.His expression changes once more, softening as he studies my face, dark brows pulled together as if he wants to say something but doesn’t know how to begin. I tilt my head and try to free my hands.“I want to touch you, Ivan. Let me touch you.”But he doesn’t relent. Doesn’t listen. “All in due time, malysh. All in due time.”
[ANASTASIA]“And you’re sure about that?”I swear to God, he’s testing my patience. “Yes! Just fuck me, Ivan! Please!”I hear him laugh, followed by a hard slap across my butt. “Did I tell you to scream yet?”I shake my head, biting my lip, and though my face heats up, I love the warm sensation on my butt.He looks pleased with my response before he helps me sit up and unties my hands.Thank Goodness. I would have died if he had continued to torture me like that.Before I know my palms are planted against his hard, chiseled chest. A thrill runs down my spine at the way his muscles tighten under my touch.“And this is all mine?” I ask as if in a daze, my voice barely above a whisper.He grabs my hand and moves it lower, his eyes holding me captive until he curls my fingers around his thick, veiny cock.“It has always been yours, baby
[ANASTASIA] “So wet,” he whispers, watching my reaction with narrowed eyes. “Look at how wet you are for me.” I nod, unable to speak from all the stimulation coursing through my body. I bite my lip and roll my eyes to the back of my skull when he starts to pound harder, so hard there’s a slapping sound that arrives whenever his thighs make contact with my ass. His hands move down my waist and cup my ass cheeks. I gasp as he squeezes and kneads them, my muscles tensing as his dick continues its thrusts. “That’s it, baby. Take. This. Fuck!” I’m about to climax when he changes the angle of our positions and grinds his cock in slow circles. The sensation is almost too much for me to bear. “Harder, baby. Fuck me harder.” He increases the speed and intensity of his thrusts again, grinding me against his hard dick. My nails dig into his back, pulling him closer to me. He hisses when my nails cut through his skin, but
[IVAN]Ana storms into the washroom and I’m left to glare at the door.I can’t believe it. Even after what happened just now, she refused to forgive me.Frustrated, I run a hand through my hair.I can’t. I can’t believe she denied me once again. She denied me even after I emptied my heart for her. I thought she understood, but apparently, I was wrong.Forgiveness is not supposed to be easy. I know that. If it was, everyone would be doing it, and it would lose its meaning. But haven’t I suffered enough?Five long years. That’s how much time I have spent without my family. Without Ana and my kids. Their absence in my life was like a hole in my heart. Always there. Always gaping and wondering what it would be like to be complete again.I lost sleep. I lost my sanity. I lost everything when I lost them.Every waking hour their absence haunted me like a neverending nightmare. Ever
[ANASTASIA]For better or for worse, Ivan and I fall into a new routine.After returning home from Kazan, Ivan makes it impossible for me to ignore him. The moment we are alone, he’s all over me. And if I were to be honest, I’m just as much all over him.It’s as if the denial, reluctance, and absolute rationality that always guided me to keep myself at a safe distance from him suddenly snapped, and now, I can’t come up with a single decent reason to suppress what Ivan and I unwittingly unleashed in that hotel room that night.My hands ache to touch his body, my heart swells at every little word of praise and admiration that slips out of his mouth when he talks about how perfect I am.What kind of insane demon is possessing me? Am I really this desperate that I will willingly destroy the fragile self-control I’ve built up so painstakingly over these past few years just to let it go to hell the moment he
[IVAN]“How long are you going to drag out this matter?” Dimitri says on the phone, making me roll my eyes as I pull a shirt from the closet and lay it on the bed.“There’s nothing wrong with being overly cautious, now, is there?” I put the phone on speaker and toss it on the bed as well. Then, I pick the shirt up and slide my arms through the sleeves, buttoning it up.“You don’t trust him,” he says matter-of-factly, and I can almost imagine him pinching those thick eyebrows of his.“I don’t trust anyone.” It comes out more curt than intended, but it’s the truth. You have no idea how many people you have in your life who will stab you in the back just because they think it’s funny. Especially when it comes to the elite world of organized crime. We were bred to survive and become ruthless, so most of us have developed a ‘fend for yourself’ mentality when it comes to our lives.“That’s not true. You trust me.” He reasons, but that only makes me scoff.“I tolerate you. Barely. But mainly
[ANASTASIA] I have never seen Ivan so hurt before. I mean, back when he doubted my love and loyalty to him, he expressed his anger the most. Perhaps it was hurt too, but he always held his emotions in check every time we had a confrontation. As if he couldn’t trust me with his raw emotions anymore. But now. Now, I don’t know what to think. I have never seen him so bothered by anything that came out of my mouth these days. The kind of person he is, he always took my insults in stride, never batting an eye. And yet, this time, it was different. He was so… hurt. But it doesn’t change a thing. Ivan is the one who broke us, after all. He’s the reason we’re so estranged now. He’s the reason we grew apart. He’s the reason we can’t go back to what we used to be. Then why? Why do I feel like I did something terrible? Why does my heart pinch every time his face comes to my mind? I couldn’t have said anything worse than I already did so many times in the past. How different could it be th
[NIKOLAI] “So, you’re just letting me go?” I ask, though it seems rather obvious now that I’m not locked up in a room anymore. I rub my wrist, glad the cuffs are off. The skin is still sore from where they were chafing it. “You’re free to go, yes,” Dimitri says. “Orders from the boss. Can’t help it.” He then walks over to the bar and pours himself a drink. He doesn’t offer me one. Not that I expect him to. We haven’t seen each other eye to eye for a very long time. And something that hasn’t happened before, I can’t expect it to happen now out of the blue. That would be completely out of his character. If there’s ever a man who knows how not to give a shit, it has to be Dimitri Alexeev. “So, what happens now?” I ask, frowning, not sure what game Ivan’s playing here. I have to know why he’s letting me go so easily. Is that because he doesn’t trust my information? Or because he has something else in mind? “I don’t know, Nikolai. What do you want to happen now?” Dimitri asks, his vo
After our fourth round of pure, wild sex, I have nothing left in me. Every ounce of energy drained, I barely manage to pull the sheets over myself before sleep claims me.When I wake hours later, the room is dim, the soft glow of my bedside lamp casting long shadows on the walls. My body feels heavy, sore in the best way possible.And then I see him.Dimitri—freshly showered, fully dressed—sitting at my study desk, casually flipping through my books like he owns the place. Like he hasn’t just spent hours wrecking me.I prop myself up on one elbow, my voice hoarse from sleep. “Seriously? You had time to shower and invade my personal space?”He doesn’t even look up. Just smirks as he turns another page. “You were dead to the world, milaya.” His fingers trace the edge of a textbook. “Figured I’d entertain myself.”I groan, burying my face in the pillow. “You’re insufferable.”He chuckles, low and rich. “And yet, you keep letting me in.”That’s actually true.I shake my head and pull myse
[NADIA]“You’re here?” I say into the phone, clutching my books tightly to my chest as I glance around. “Where?”“Outside. Meet me when you’re done with your classes.”A wide grin spreads across my face, excitement bubbling inside me. “Oh, I’m done. And even if I wasn’t, I’d still run to you.”Dimitri chuckles—that deep, rich sound that always makes my skin ripple with want. “Can’t wait to see you. Come soon.”The call ends, and I quickly excuse myself from two classmates who wanted to discuss something about today’s lecture. Rushing down the corridor, I nearly bump into a few students, barely dodging them in my hurry. Thank God no one gets hurt as I half-run, half-speed-walk through the massive glass doors.And then I see him.Dimitri stands outside, leaning casually against his car, dressed in a dark suit that only makes him look more devastatingly handsome. His brown hair is styled just right, accentuating the sharp planes of his face, and those piercing dark eyes are locked onto m
The Ivan I know is strong. Unshakable. Even in the worst situations, he carries himself with a quiet, effortless confidence that makes you believe nothing could ever touch him.But the man lying in this hospital bed, surrounded by beeping machines and the sterile scent of antiseptic, looks nothing like that.His skin is pale, almost sickly under the fluorescent lights. His face, usually so sharp and alive, is slack, lips slightly parted as if he’s lost in a sleep too deep to wake from. Bandages wrap around his head, a stark contrast against his dark hair, and an IV snakes into his arm, keeping him tethered to life.A terrible, suffocating weight presses down on my chest.This is wrong.Ivan doesn’t belong here. He belongs anywhere but here.For a moment, I just stand there, with my back pressed tightly against the door, like it’s the only thing keeping me upright. My pulse thunders in my ears, and I force myself to take a step forward. One. Then another.I don’t know what I expect whe
[ANASTASIA]Ever since I woke up after the incident, I have been dying to see Ivan.But now that I’m standing outside his room—where supposedly he had been admitted—, I can’t muster up the courage to push open the damn door.I’m nervous. Terrified. And most of all, unsure.I don’t know if I’m ready to see what lies behind this door.I don’t know if I’m ready to bear the truth either.What if Lena wasn’t exaggerating?What if Ivan is….No! No no no no no. I can’t think of the worst now. I can’t break myself just by imagining what might not be waiting on the other side.I sigh. Swallow. And lick my lips.“What’s wrong?” Lena asks, whom I conveniently forgot for some reason.She stands behind me, probably waiting for me to just rush in.But how am I supposed to explain this hesitation now that I’m actually close to the truth? How am I supposed to explain that I have second thoughts for unknown yet obvious reasons?“I don’t know,” I sigh, wiping the sweat off my forehead, even though it’s
[ANASTASIA]The next time I open my eyes, I’m not alone.Lena sits next to my bed, her hand in mine, her eyes closed, as if she fell asleep while watching over me.For the first time since waking up from my so-called long slumber, I look at her carefully. She looks more tired than I’ve ever seen her. The wrinkles on her face are more prominent, the skin around her neck slightly sagging, and her hair whiter than I remember. It’s as though she stopped taking care of herself, as if in the past two months, she aged by decades.My heart clenches painfully in my chest, so much so that I can’t stop the warm tears rolling down my cheeks.I turn away, wishing more than anything to wake up from what has started to feel like my worst nightmare—the kind of nightmare I never imagined could exist.“Ana…?” Lena’s gentle voice pulls me from my thoughts. I turn back to her and notice how she straightens up, her eyes alight with genuine concern. “You’re awake. Do you need something? Water, maybe?”I nod
[NIKOLAI]Once we finally get to his office, Konstantin takes his seat behind the desk and raises an eyebrow. He looks kind of pissed, but not enough to end me right here and now.He might have the power to do that and carry on with his day as if nothing happened, but I know in my gut he won’t. He made a promise to our parents that no harm would come to me. And if there’s anyone I know who keeps their word, no matter the circumstances, it’s him. My very own, very infuriating brother.“So,” he drawls, leaning back in his chair and propping his legs up on the desk, crossing them at the ankles. “What do you want to talk about?”I don’t sit in the chair in front of me; instead, I start pacing the room. I glance around and find it exactly how our father designed it. Not a single thing has been changed or moved. It’s like walking into a museum of old memories.“I want to challenge Madam Volkova,” I say, almost expecting him to scoff.But he doesn’t. Instead, he tips his head to the side. “Wh
[NIKOLAI]I hang up the phone and stare hard at the ground.“Fuck you, Dimitri!” I growl, clenching the phone tighter and huffing out a heavy breath.The bastard has the audacity to make me responsible for everything that happened to Ana and Ivan. But is it? Am I really the one to blame?I look away, peeling my back off the car and slipping inside.I put my hand on the steering wheel, unable to shake his words from my mind.Shit. If only I had known the consequences of my actions, maybe this day would have never come. Maybe Ana would still be safe, and Ivan would still be breathing on his own, not with the help of some fucking machine.“Fuck!” I punch the steering wheel, growling louder.I turn the key in the ignition and drive away from the motel. I’m not sure if what I’m about to do next is the right choice, but it seems like the only option I have left. I can’t go back to Madam Volkova after my fallout with her, and Dimitri doesn’t seem interested in having me by his side either.I
[DIMITRI]I storm out of the building and light a cigarette, unable to think of anything else.I breathe in the smoke and then blow it out, hoping it will take away the stress pressing on my chest, making my lungs incapable of doing their job.I don’t know what to do anymore. Ana is finally awake, which is good news, of course.But what the hell do I tell her when she wakes up next time and asks the same questions all over again? How do I give her the answers that are sure to crush her?Maybe I’ve developed a new weakness these days—maybe falling in love makes you a fucking weak asshole—but I can’t seem to bear seeing that woman cry. I just can’t.It fucking stabs me right in the throat to see those tears streaming down her face, to see that fear in her eyes that seems to linger around her whenever she asks about Ivan.I take another big breath of smoke and then drop it, crushing it under the tip of my boot.“Fuck!”My phone rings just then. I thank God for the fucking distraction and
[ANASTASIA]“Mommy!”One word, and my heart shatters into a million pieces.Before I even turn my gaze to the door, warmth floods through me, and tears well up in my eyes.My little girl comes running into the room, her dark hair pulled back in a ponytail bouncing with every step. Her eyes are sharp, excited, and filled with so much love. Her face is a canvas of every emotion I’ve ever seen her wear in my entire life.I don’t even realize it, but my arms open on their own, my chest aching to feel her little heart against mine.But just when I think she’s about to jump onto the bed and throw herself into my arms, she stops and stands there with her hands behind her back, her little legs fidgeting as she looks up at the doctor, her small eyes seeking some kind of permission.I suppose the last two months have changed a lot. My daughter, who used to storm in and out of any place she wanted, now suddenly looks afraid of hurting me.Tears race down my face. I wipe them as quickly as I can,