NINAMy phone.I almost lunged out of my seat, but held back. Barely.He chuckled. “Patience, wife.” He stared down at my phone. “I'm going to give it to you. It’s your gift after all.”“But?” I gritted out, my pulse still running rampant and my heart beating fast. I could feel my whole face covered in a pink flush from what just happened, but looking at the men sitting across me no one could tell what they made me feel and how. “Aren’t you smart?” His grey eyes gleamed. “You’ll get this at the end of the night, but only if you behave for the rest of the evening.”I glared at him. My teeth clenching.“And first step to getting your phone is showing us how wet you are.”“No.”All the amusement left his face. “What did I say about that word? Do it. Or, I’ll fûcking parade you naked in that party.”“I hate you.”“Hate me while you obey me.” He gestured at my dress. “Remove your panties, part your legs and hold yourself open.”I wanted to scream. Not for what he wanted me to do.Because
NINA“So, how’s married life treating you?” One of the women asked, a smirk curving her red-painted lips.I glanced at her, then at the rest of the women gathered around me. Wives of the extended members of the Familia, all dressed in silks and diamonds, their smiles sharp, eyes watchful.Another woman laughed lightly. “Oh, let her be, it’s only been two days.”Two days.It felt like a lifetime.Lachlan had whispered to me before he left my side, “Make your mark, little kitten. They should know you are Pakhan’s wife.” But I had no idea how to do that. All I wanted was to get away from their probing eyes.Their gazes swept over me like predators assessing prey, all while smiling sweetly. But those smiled couldn’t hide the curiousity burning in their gazes and envy. They hated that I was standing where they thought someone else should be— one of their own.Because to them I wasn’t the right woman to take the place of Pakhan’s wife. And to them, that was all I was now. A title. A pawn. A
NINA Anastasia slid on a bar stool and motioned for the bartender. She ordered vodka and I did the same, her blue eyes brightened at my choice of drink. “On three,” she said. And we simultaneously downed our shots at her count. Both of us shared a grin. And sitting with her, I felt a little relaxed, also missed Riley. My friend was younger than me too, at thirty I felt like everyone was younger than me. Especially Valerie, she seemed like fresh faced innocent with a body to make any man fall for her and she was supposed to marry Jeremiah. I didn’t know why I was fixated on her. Maybe it was indeed about vanity, and I was one of those shallow women who cared about how I looked."So," Sia said, leaning against the counter, "I assume you are not much fan of the Sokolov family as everyone else is.”I looked at her and hesitated. She drew closer, her voice dropping, “Don’t worry. I am not going to tattle on you. Let me tell you a fun fact,” If it was possible, her words turned softer,
NINA "The Pakhan is waiting for you."I turned to pick up my shot glass and swallowed the last of my drink. The look in Lachlan’s green eyes said I’ll need something to hold me through whatever Jeremiah wanted from me now. His eyes tracked my every moment and as I held up a finger to order more vodka for myself, Lachlan shook his head and said, “I think you’ve had enough. I looked at him. “Maybe I have had enough. But when will that monster?”He grabbed my hand, his green eyes glaring as he put my hand on the crook of his arm and gritted out, “Did I not tell you to stop calling him that?”“And, why should I listen to you?” I asked, feeling the warmth from his touch seeping into me and as he walked me through the crowded ballroom, I leaned into him. I hated how easily his touch made me feel things I shouldn’t. I hated how our close proximity was making me feel things I shouldn’t. I hated how my body reacted to him. I hated how easily Jeremiah could read me like he lived inside my
NINA “Do you mean to tell us, Pakhan, and I ask with all due respect, that your wife is not an innocent?”Silence. Heavy and sharp-edged fell around the table and Lachlan stiffened beside me. Jeremiah took his time. His grey eyes, unreadable, remained on Baranov. A whole minute passed that the old man started to twitch.Xavier cleared his throat. “Maybe we should move on to our meeting?”Jeremiah held up a hand. “Let me answer Baranov before we move to other things.” He leaned back in his chair, a perfect picture of a man who was gazing at an insect trying to climb a wall— one he intended to crush beneath his shoe. “My wife’s innocence is none of your concern, Baranov. But since you’ve questioned both my wife’s honor and mine, let me tell you, she was very much innocent when I took her.” His finger traced the rim of the glass as his gaze returned to me, dark and… possessive. “Bled all over my cock, and cried beautifully for me.”I took a step back. I believed it to be a lie he was
NINAI didn’t know where I was.Slowly, I lost all sense of my reality. The room started to fade, swallowed by an endless white void. My body was there, kneeling in that room while men sat in their chairs, but my mind had drifted elsewhere— into that familiar nothingness, where time didn’t exist and neither did pain. The world outside was muted, unreachable, and I was floating, weightless and empty.It was cold.Like being trapped in a vast expanse of ice, except the frost wasn’t around me— it was inside, spreading from the center of my chest, seeping into my veins, wrapping itself around my bones like poisoned ivy. My limbs felt heavy, unmovable, as if I had turned into a lifeless porcelain doll, set aside and forgotten.I knew this state.I had lived in it before, survived it before. It was my mind’s refuge, its way of protecting me when everything became too much— when the weight of my reality crushed down on me until I couldn’t breathe and instead of fighting it, my mind chooses
NINAChaos erupted before I could even process what was happening.The sharp thumps of bullets hitting the windows has my stomach curdled with fear. And unknowingly, I stepped even closer to Jeremiah, somehow finding his solid presence protective with the danger looming around us. “Lachlan!” I looked up to find Lachlan making his way to the door, pushing the guards aside. He stopped at Jeremiah’s voice and looked back at us. He said, “I’ll check out what it is.”“No,” Jeremiah growled, his chest vibrating. “You are not stepping out of the room, the guards are here to do their duty.”I could hear the screams and rush of footsteps from somewhere in the building, as I watched both the men staring at each other. I realised that Jeremiah was stopping Lachlan from putting himself in danger. And Lachlan looked ready to argue, but then Jeremiah said, “Take her.”Lachlan stepped toward us, his jaw clenched. But before I could’ve grabbed his outstretched hand a loud boom echoed and his face
LACHLAN The air still smelled of gunpowder and blood. The Yakuza’s signature chaos had left its mark— burned cars, bodies littering the streets outside, and the metallic scent of violence hanging thick in the night. The attack had been precise, but not devastating. It was more like a warning. A message. They wanted to shake the very foundation of Sokolov’s reign, but all they managed to do was piss us off and made our men bloodthirsty for revenge for the death of their comrades and the general display of disrespect the Yakuza showed. They attacked us when their were women of the families present, something we take pride in by not stooping so low.I left Jeremiah and Kayne talking to our men, as they gave orders to clear out the building, make sure everyone was safe and back in their homes while Xavier had already ran off to capture whoever was left behind from the Yakuzas to take them for interrogation. I made my way back inside the room where the chairs lay upended, the floor was
NINA“Lift her,” My husband ordered, voice like sharpened ice. “And put her on the table.”The table? My breath froze in my lungs, the blood roaring in my ears, making it impossible to hear anything else. Olezka moved toward me before I could do anything, not that I even had the strength anymore. With my skin stretched taut like any time now I will catch on fire as I burned with shame and pain.But thankfully, Lachlan was there as he lifted me and carried me with a tight expression on his face to where Jeremiah wanted me. On a padded table in the center of the room. The surface was cold, the leather felt chilling to my heated skin as I was laid bare on it. I hissed through my teeth when my aching arse, the raw flesh, came in contact with the cold surface. My thighs instinctively tried to close, a last shred of modesty screaming inside me even when I knew it doesn’t matter.But at least Kayne and Xavier were not there anymore. Jeremiah laughed. “Now you want to hide, when we can cl
NINA My hands dropped by my sides as I laid there on the spanking bench, and my eyes fell on the cuffs on either sides. But thankfully my monstrous husband didn’t cuff my hands and legs. It couldn't be kindness, I knew that. It was just his way of keeping me under control with more threats in sight. He gave me a warning though, as he caressed his palm down my spine, he said, “Don’t move. If you move, we’ll start all over again.”I should’ve been afraid. I should’ve begged. But a part of me… a small, sick part… was almost thankful for the punishment now. At least my mind will stop connecting this monster to the man that comes in my dreams. And I will stop feeling that pull I have been feeling for this monster despite myself. After this humiliating ordeal I will go back to hating him and that’s what I needed to keep my sanity intact. Because hate, unlike this spiraling confusion, was clean. Controlled. Necessary.“This isn’t just for me,” My husband said as if he was a king giving s
NINASomething was fúcking wrong with me. How could I settle in his lap and let myself get lost in the heat of his body? But damn, for being a cold, heartless monster, he sure has the body heat similar to a comforting woollen blanket in the frigid temperature. He had been conversing in Russian and the rumble of his accented voice had lulled me to a false sense of safety. And I had almost relaxed into him. Now I blinked at him as his question registered, “Are you sleeping, wife?”I stiffened. “No.” “Good. Now that everyone is here let’s begin with next part of your punishment.”Before I could respond or slid out of his lap, he stood up with his arms securely wrapped around me. My eyes went to Lachlan, and unlike before, he seemed to be at ease now like he had come to terms with whatever Jeremiah had planned.Lachlan stood without a word. The others followed, falling into line behind him.I was surrounded by shadows in suits, by silence thick with menace and danger.And yet… in a
LACHLANI shouldn’t be surprised. And maybe I wasn’t. But I was fûcking fuming.Jeremiah had always loved putting on a show. Voyeurism was his kink, and exhibitionism his stage to show how he was the God between the mere mortals. He showed everyone that he was the king and no one was allowed to even breathe without his permission.And I—I hated it.As much as Jeremiah loved showing off what he owned, I hated it.I hated sharing. I hated when eyes lingered on what I deemed mine.And most of all, I hated how he knew exactly what my hard limits were, where I drew the lines, and still he fucking chose to dance all over them, towed them to break my control. To test my resolve that seemed to be weakening ever since Nina had come between us.My fingers itched to grab Nina and throw her over my shoulder, to get her the fuck out of here.But I didn’t.I curbed my impulse and I sat there, jaw clenched, blood boiling in my veins, as he made her pour and serve drink to Xavier and Kayne. Like s
NINA I stared at my husband, unbelieving of what he was asking of me. He wanted me to get naked. Here?In front if everyone?My gaze swung to Lachlan, but his eyes were straring daggers at Jeremiah. “Kakogo cherta ty delayesh?” He growled, his hands curling into fists. [What the hell are you doing?]Jeremiah’s cold greys focused on Lachlan and his response felt like a sharp bite of a dagger. Even when I didn’t understand a word of their conversation, I felt like something deeper under the surface was happening.“Ne zabud’, ona moya tak zhe, kak I tvoya. I voobshche, ty tozhe prinadlezhish’ mne. Tak chto luchshe zakhvati sebya v ruki I perestani eban voprosy zadavat’.” [Don't forget she's mine as much as she's yours. And in fact, you belong to me too. So you better fucking stop questioning me.]“Ona? Ya? A pochemu togda eto sovsem ne chuvstvuetsya tak?" Lachlan gritted out, his eyes flashing and I thought he was just seconds away from punching Jeremiah. [Does she? Do I? Because it d
NINA Jeremiah moved ahead, his steps confident as he led us toward a private booth carved into a shadowed alcove. I noticed how the people stopped, moved out of his way and stared at him. Men nodded with deference. Women smiled at him, their eyes hopeful for his attention. His scars didn't deter them but instead they seemed to want him more. Unlike the way hesitation and fear that sparked in their eyes when they looked at Jeremiah though, they nodded and smiled at Lachlan. A few of them even stepped forward to shake hands with him and exchanged pleasantries. And, I realised even when in appearance Jeremiah was golden and bright, Lachlan was people’s favorite it seemed, more approachable and less dangerous. And then there was me. Men looked at me with curiosity and women stared at me with a frown and tight lips, almost unwelcoming.I didn’t belong here, a voice whispered in my head, giving breath to the fear and insecurities burning inside me. I didn’t know what would happen next.
NINA The car ride had been quiet except a few exchanges between Lachlan and Jeremiah, that too in Russian so I didn't understand a word of it. I was starting to hate it. And while Lachlan seemed tense now and then, in turn making me tense because I couldn’t help but be apprehensive and nervous to where Jeremiah was taking me to punish me, he also looked at ease with wherever we were going. The only person who didn't know where we were going and what will happen to me was me. I was wearing a black sequin dress with gold threads woven in it and it felt like I was dressed for a gala, but one look at his face and that twisted smirk had told me that there will be no party, at least not for me. I was scared but I felt like I wasn’t as afraid as I should be. I should be more terrified. But all I felt was this apprehensive flutter in my stomach which was kind of mixed with the arousal they both had brought forth in that cold room. I was still throbbing between my legs and for a mome
NINA Jeremiah walked to the foot of the table and then without any preamble he grabbed my ankles and pulled me down to the edge. I let out a soft startled scream and stared at him wide eyed, my heart slamming against my ribcage. What was he doing? Lachlan’s tanned hands gripped my thighs and he pulled them apart. His thumb brushed the lips of my pussy, now bare, and he whispered, “I can’t wait to lick you and eat this beautiful cunt.” I thought it would sting. I thought I’d wince, maybe flinch when their hands came near the freshly waxed skin between my thighs. But I didn’t. I couldn’t. Because my body responded differently to them. My walls squeezed at his words and then another embarrassing squeak left me when something cold dripped on my mound. The sensation was opposite of what the wax had left behind— a tingling hot sensation. Jeremiah didn’t say a word as he cupped my pussy, in response my whole body shuddered. And I felt like I was in an alternate universe. It wa
NINANo one asked me If I was ready. No one cared.Humiliation coiled in my gut like fire as the beautician gently coaxed me down to lie down on my back. I felt their eyes on me like a blanket in summer, almost suffocating me in the heat. And I could distinguish their gazes, Lachlan looked at me like he wanted to keep an eye on me, to make sure I was okay. While Jeremiah’s gaze, lingered in places, like he was cataloguing, like he was appraising something he owned. His gaze was the heat that melted shame into something more dangerous.I almost jumped out of my body when one of the women touched my knee. It was the older woman, she placed her hands on the inside of my thighs and then prompted me to spread my legs. I swallowed, feeling the cold air caress my sensitive flesh. My eyes went to the younger one who walked to us, pushing a table to the bench I was lying on. I saw the pot of wax on it and my muscles locked in place. I have never had a Brazilian wax, the normal wax was enoug