MAEVE Without wasting much time, I climbed out of the bed, catching myself against the iron railing before I crashed to the floor. In my excitement, I'd totally forgotten I had a sprained ankle. I supported myself against the edge of the bed before heaving forward and limping to the door. I pressed my back against it, peeking out of the glass to see if anyone was there. Thankfully, no one but regular staff was walking past, some in a hurry, some relaxed. Slowly, I twisted the door knob, pushing it open. I looked from side to side for any mean dressed-in suit before I dashed in the other direction. My sprained ankle slowed me down but I didn't stop. I weaved past people, my head bowed low because I was sure as hell that someone would recognise me. And I honestly wasn't ready to go through that stress. I heard the thud of footsteps coming in my direction and snapped my head up to see one of Maruska's guards at the far end of the hall. Panic set in and I collide
MARUSKA "Take cover!" Someone yelled at the top of their voice, immediately wrapping their arms around Viktor's crouched figure. The crowd broke apart. People ran helter-skelter as they tried to find shelter. I knew today would end up in a terrible stampede with an estimate of about two to three people dying and many people getting injured. I grabbed Marina before she made her way over to her father and pulled her to my side. "C'mon, let's head back to the limo!" "My Dad!" She cried, turning in his direction and reaching for him. But I grabbed her hand and pulled her back. "We need to get him too." "Viktor is safe!" I yelled at her. "C'mon, don't make this hard for us. He has guards protecting him. Let's go!" She nodded and glanced from side to side before we broke into a run. Guards flanked us, aggressively pushing people to the side to create a way for us, and soon enough, we were closing in on the limo on the other side of the square. Another gun
MAEVE I sat in bed, shaken by everything that had happened today and mostly mad at myself that I had been unable to make anything out of it. I was back in this room and its imposingly crippling walls that only reminded me of the miserable person I was. With a cup of warm jasmine tea cradled in my hands, I let the tears run free. I wanted to be at myself for not being fast enough, then I remembered I tried everything I could to escape. I was close. Fucking close to escaping. And somehow, Maruska's men caught up with me. Everyone in the country would have been rich if they had the same determination and grit as his men. Because how the hell would I be able to escape now? Maruska was sure to double his security once again and probably have me locked up in my room. I remained seated in this bed until I heard the sound of the gates opening. I could taste the fear on my tongue, feel my heartbeat in my throat. My hands shook and the scalding hot cup
MARUSKA Tonight, I sat behind the soundproof glass, watching clubbers have fun from up here. Most of them, obviously oblivious to the things that happened here, drank and frolicked against each other to the rhythm of the music. Being drunk was a weakness. An optional vulnerability. I looked around in disdain at the drunk men. Not only did it make them susceptible to being attacked, it made most of them instant predators. I caught sight of Yuri coming towards me from my peripheral vision. Turning to him, I raised a brow in askance. He quickened his footsteps and leaned down at me. "Boris says he's got no info on what happened on the rally grounds, but I believe he is telling a lie." My interest was immediately piqued. I had a thing for liars, and that was getting the fucking truth out of them. It made me excited to get it out of them, by using force or not. "How sure are you that he is?" "I saw someone tip him off on my way in. When I asked the boun
MAEVE The next morning, I woke up to a terrible feeling of nausea. The build-up was slow and oddly disturbing. One moment, I was seated in my bed, confused and trying to soothe my disturbed stomach in whatever way possible, and the next, a deep rumble in my stomach had me hurriedly climbing out of the bed and rushing towards the restroom. I pushed the door open and in my haste, I crashed to my knees, before the toilet and pushed the lid open. Everything I'd eaten last night came rushing out of my mouth. A sick feeling sat at the pit of my belly and even when there was nothing to puke out, the retching was still there. I fell back against the wall closest to me and began to sob. My stomach ached and a terrible headache banged away behind my head. It wasn't like I was experiencing a hangover from drinking too much, right? Because I drank nothing but water and the soothing tea Irina so loved to bring to me. I leaned towards the toilet, closed the lid, and flushed
MARUSKA I picked him off the floor and dragged him along with me, towards his office. People jumped out of the way at the sight of us, remaining stationed by the corner as they watched in curiosity. Yuri kicked the door to his office open and locked it before stepping in with me. Boris crashed to the ground and fell on his knees, pressing both palms in the form of a plea. "Please, Maruska!" He cried out. "Don't do this." "Why shouldn't I?" I replied and pulled out a stick of cigarette from my pocket. Yuri stepped forward and lit the end up before going back to his position. "You have refused to give me information and yet you call yourself my friend." "This doesn't change anything, does it?" He replied, sweating profusely. "The lives of my wife and my unborn children are in danger. I can't possibly risk that. They warned me! They knew where they were!" "And I don't give a shit, Boris," I leaned down at him, enraged at this point. It was only a while befo
MAEVE I snapped my head back and found the guard standing a few meters away from me and looking everywhere else but at me. I'd never felt an insane urge to quickly do something until this moment and staring right at the guard, I knew now was the time for me to act. I cleared my throat and he immediately snapped his head towards me. Contorting my face, I pressed my hands between my legs, causing him to give me a surprised look. "Please, can I take a pee?" I asked, moving from one foot to the other to convey my discomfort. "I'll walk you back into the house." He offered curtly. "You can use one of the downstairs toilets if you're too pressed." I began to dance from one foot to the other, shaking my head as I went. "I can't hold it! I can't walk with it, please!" "It'll only take a-" "I can't!" I snapped at him and ran towards a clearing, turning as I went. "I need some privacy! Can you give me that?" He cleared his throat and nodded immediately. "
MARINA Tonight, I was attending one of the most exclusive cruise parties. I'd been invited by my friend, Varvara, who was celebrating her company's next step into success. Many people here had an idea of what she really really did in the dark, but who cared? In a world like this, you either had to be the predator or the prey. And being the prey meant all sorts of failure. Being a prey didn't exactly mean being at the bottom of the food chain situation. It wasn't the hand-to-mouth, unfulfilling life type of situation. It was the people who had it all but still had no idea how to navigate life. The people who could easily lose everything they had because they didn't mind protecting it and reinforcing it in the first place. And here tonight, Varvara and I leaned against a post, watching as everyone drank wine in celebration. "Look at them all," She chuckled. "They don't even know what I am celebrating and they don't even care." "So long as they get an ex
MAEVE His entrance was slow at first. He held onto my head and began to thrust in and out of me like he had control over every part of me. "Yes, yes," He moaned. "I love how perfect your lips look around my cock. So so fucking perfect. I love fucking your pussy. Do you know how good you feel?" "We already did this, Maruska," I sighed, looking up at him. He nodded. "Just for a little bit. The first time was magical. Where did you learn how to do this?" I could barely respond. He kept going and pulled out suddenly before bringing me to my knees. This time, I had the advantage to bob my head forward and backward but he didn't let me finish. He lifted me off the floor with ease and tossed me into the bed before pulling me towards him. His entrance was unexpected and fast. The mix of his length stretching me plus the hint of mint and ice on my skin made it a slightly painful combination which I somehow liked. He took off the gag and grabbed me by the chin, pul
MAEVE "What are you doing, Maruska?" I asked as I turned to face him. My eyes widened when I saw the BDSM tools he had come along with. "Maruska," I whispered. "I've never done this." "There's always a first time." He replied and pulled me towards him. Picking the nipple clamp, he loosened it and began sucking my nipples till they were hard. He clamped it around my nipple and I cried out, nearly grabbing after him. But he stepped back and turned me behind to face him again. "I won't show you any mercy, Maeve. Don't think I'd stop either." I'd never imagined being tied up and restricted in this manner. Though my friends had talked about enjoying BDSM, it was new to me. It was new, exciting, and scary at the same time. Although I wasn't worried about my baby bump because Maruska was being extra careful with handling me. I had no idea how he was able to rough handle me softly but I enjoyed it. I fucking did. Maruska had tied me up, and he seemed to enjoy torturing m
Maruska Today had been a plethora of activities I didn't even want to think about. We were drawing close to getting Marina apprehended and even if Venovic hadn't given a response to the email I sent to him, I had high hopes that he was going to give a response soon enough. All I needed was patience. And yesterday, when I had gotten the strangest reply ever, I didn't know at first that it was from Venovic. He had sent a spy and made sure the spy was caught and when it dawned on me later that this was him saying yes to the deal, I was more than happy. Fucking happy. And also wary as Venovic had proven yet again how fucking smart he could be. Like c'mon, he'd send a spy who put himself in the position to be caught. I had to give him his fucking flowers. And after that had been dealt with, I felt like myself again. The tension subsided and I found myself stable enough to need Maeve. I'd been an asshole to her. I remembered the look of excitement on her face whe
MAEVE I was successful in slipping into my room without getting caught. Once I shut the door behind me, I leaned against it, wondering what I had just witnessed. Maruska was putting his hands on someone. I mean, it was quite obvious but for what reason? I could go on pretending not to be aware of what the hell was happening but right now, I wasn't sure I could do that. In fact, I wasn't sure I could do that anymore. I wanted to know what was happening because I'd been kept in the dark for too long and it wasn't fair in any fucking way. A knock on the door had me jolting out of my thoughts and making my way towards the door. I stood there and took a few deep breaths, knowing fully well that this was Maruska knocking on the door. I wondered what punishment he had for me, in case he had seen me. My fingers curled around the door knob and I pulled it open. "You're not asleep," He said and took a step into the room. I backed away from him, standing to
MAEVE Last night had been a mix of amusing and absolutely annoying because why the hell had he been a bit nice before he bit me with his words? He'd been acting strange since he returned last night and thankfully, I didn't think too much of it. I decided to believe he was having a really bad day. I was glad that he hadn't followed me to bed so I just watched a movie till I fell asleep. I woke up to my face on the screen of my phone and sunlight was pouring into my room. Squinting, I shielded my face and turned to the other side, yawning as I slipped out of my bed. I walked to the window with the intent of pulling the drapes close. I hated too much light. Alesya must have pulled the drapes open while I was out. But when I got to the window, I was stopped when I saw a familiar body moving through the pool. I squinted towards the pool, eyes widening when the swimmer stepped out of the pool. Maruska. It was illegal for anyone to look that hot and I wond
Maruska I felt her before I saw her and the urge to smell her rushed through me. I couldn't control myself. Immediately I saw her wearing that dress and looking sumptuous, all I wanted to do was touch her, inhale her heady scent. These past few days of running around and fishing for information from nearly every source ad been really shitty. Nothing seemed to please me right now and I was neck deep into work. And while I did these, I realized that somehow, I was starting to slowly obsess over her and it was scary. Fucking scary. I had immersed myself in work, hoping I would forget about her in a day or so. But it was impossible. At every waking moment, all I thought about was her; the smile, the twinkle in her eyes, and my child. I found myself wanting to know everything about her past. I thought the ones I knew were enough but it was only a scratch on the surface of the life she had experienced and I wanted to know more. I really wanted to. I was the least
MAEVE Well, today ended on a good note. Yuri drove us to the Italian restaurant and booked us a table. He had offered me just a seat, asking me to order whatever I wanted so he could leave the card with the cashier and wait in the car. It felt odd, to be honest. One, I didn't want to be alone in this exotic restaurant and two, it made no sense that he would stand outside and wait for me. Maruska wasn't here for him to do that and I wanted to have a conversation with someone. I knew Yuri wasn't the type that talked or regarded me more than Maruska's mistress, but still, I believed I could break through his ice. Well, I disagreed. I couldn't sit here alone. Not when it had a lot of people. Now that I thought about it properly, I had a little dose of social anxiety. Why couldn't I just sit without tapping my feet on the floors or playing with my fingers? I decided that I couldn't sit alone so I pushed back my seat and walked over to where Yuri stood before the coun
MARUSKA Yuri left minutes ago to be with Maeve. He was the only one whom I was sure she felt comfortable around and if I didn't want her having any suspicions, Yuri had to be there. I loved having him at meetings like these because he always had something insightful to chip in, but I could do without him for just one day, Thankfully, all members had arrived, including Cedric who was our secret informant. As soon as I walked in, they all rose to their feet and bowed in respect. Cedric left his seat and came to shake hands with me. Although I wasn't interested in the boastful display of familiarity, I still shook hands with him. There was no need for anything else as I was more interested in getting this meeting over with. I slipped my phone out of my pocket and quickly sent a text to Maeve, who I was sure would be worried about my whereabouts, not because she cared but because she was scared. She didn't reply to the text I sent to her. I didn't bother checking i
MARUSKA Things were finally coming together. Although I wasn't sure what it was going to be for Maeve and me, I was sure as hell that I wanted to bring Marina down. And I'd been threading carefully as I knew how dangerous it could be when it came to her. She was the daughter of a top politician in the country and messing with her was the last thing I wanted to do. So I was going to operate in the shadows. Yuri had sent spies after the stripper Marina employed. That night, she had successfully seduced three of my men. And it was three because she couldn't seem to get them to succumb to her temptation. Well, Omar fell for her whims but it was only because he knew what she was after. Maeve stirred beside me and I looked at her, a small smile spreading on my face. I hated that I had to move her around but it looked like she was having fun and she seemed rather relaxed. My eyes darted to her belly. It was starting to push out. A small pouch that had my-our chil