Chapter 26
CHAPTER
TWENTY-SIX
Maxim
“ What do you mean she’s gone? ” My hands were in a frenzy in front of Val. I signed to her while I had my phone to my ear.
I called Sia right away after Val told me she was missing.
The phone ringing unanswered in my ear, I didn’t like the look on Val’s face. Val’s jaw tightened. “ She’s just gone, Boss. I don’t know. I was just notified. ”
“By fucking who?” I wasn’t even signing at this point, too fucked up and borderline panicking.
I was panicking, and when Sia didn’t answer, I tried calling her again.
“ Sophia noticed she wasn’t around, ” Val signed, looking panicked herself, and she didn’t panic. She held a strong fear in her dark eyes, worry. She never worried either, and that didn’t help mine. Val swallowed. “ After she noticed, she contacted me, and I requested a full search of the grounds. ”
“And?” I was leaving my office at Peters & Burg.
Val quickly signed beside me. “ They didn’t find her which is why I’m alerting you. The security at the house said it was like she vanished. ”
Not possible. That wasn’t fucking possible. There were too many people around. There were too many who worked for me that kept tabs on her. I had an arsenal looking out for her.
I had an arsenal to keep her safe.
I informed Val I was heading home, and she was right behind me in her car. I made calls along the way, speaking to literally everyone who worked for me or had interactions with Sia on the regular.
Why the fuck did I leave her?
I needed a moment. I needed time to figure out what should happen next in regards to her. It was obvious I shouldn’t have slept with her. I definitely took advantage of her and the situation. I was in a position of power when it came to her. Not to mention she was my daughter’s friend.
Seeing Sia and Lettie together only added to that guilt. They were friends, and that was fact. Even if Lettie was receptive to a potential relationship I may or may not have with her friend, things between Sia and I shouldn’t have happened.
I needed time to figure out what to say to her, which was why I immediately put distance between us. I felt temporary space was necessary yet here I was losing my fucking mind about her.
I peeled into the house way too fast. In fact, I nearly hit my gardener but left no apologies when I finally parked. I even left the door of my Mercedes ajar when I left it.
As soon as I got inside the house, I barked for a house meeting. Word spread fast and I had everyone who worked for me downstairs in seconds. That was a lot of fucking people, and I was sure more than one had an idea about what was going on between myself and a twenty-year-old girl.
I mean, they worked for me.
I wasn’t naive. A few of my staff (or more) may have noticed Sia and I getting closer, but it wasn’t their job to have opinions. The same went for Val who joined me as I informed everyone to comb the grounds for Sia Reynolds. Val, too, kept her opinions to herself, and after my initial order, she took charge. She got a formal search party going right away even though this probably had already been done.
I didn’t care. They were going to do it again, and while they searched, I called Sia. She didn’t answer no matter how many times I tried. In fact, after my initial calls the phone went straight to voicemail. Like her phone was shut off or dead.
I didn’t know what that meant except that I couldn’t track her. When Val got her phone at the wireless store, I instructed her to put a tracker on it. I wanted to know where Sia was at all times, and my head of security hadn’t asked. She probably assumed the paranoid fuck in me wanted to know where she was.
Not that I was obsessed.
I was obsessed, my shirt open and panic in my veins. Eventually, I stalked my property myself. I was a good tracker, but there was no trace of Sia anywhere.
It was as if she’d actually vanished.
I wouldn’t let myself entertain the thought or even think about how many enemies I had. When one took as many lives as I had over the years that was a given. People stayed the fuck away because of who I was and the organization I belonged to. I was Bratva and people didn’t fuck with that shit, but someone or someones could be stupid.
God save them and everyone they loved if they chose to fuck with me.
My phone flashed, and since I had it permanently secured to my hand, I lifted it.
There was a text.
Unknown: I’m in your vineyard. Come alone.
What the fuck?
Me: Who the fuck is this?
The text message came from a number I didn’t recognize, and without saying a word, I headed toward the closest closet I could find in my home. After punching in a few codes, I gathered some knives. They were ones for carving.
They were ones for ending life.
I strapped half of my best tools to my chest, then tucked a gun in my back pocket. I doubted I’d use it.
I didn’t need it.
Me: You better tell me who the fuck you are, asshole.
I sent the text while I headed toward the vineyard. I still had people searching the property for Sia, but I instructed them to search other areas. They were to stay away from the vineyard no matter what they heard.
My texts went unanswered. Whoever this was left me on read, and I went into hunter mode. I blacked out. Someone was on my fucking property messing with me.
Messing with what was mine .
Instinct told me this person had Sia or had something to do with her disappearance. The bloodlust charged hot in my veins, and I was actually salivating by the time I got deep into my vineyard. I could taste blood. I fucking craved it, but before I could do something about it my phone rang. It was the unknown number, and I immediately answered.
“Who is this?” my voice was rough and charged with that same bloodlust. I gripped the phone. “Whoever you are trust and believe I will end your life and anyone you hold dear to you if you’ve hurt…”
I couldn’t finish the words. I couldn’t finish the thought.
My eyes narrowed. “Show yourself to me.”
At this point, what they said didn’t matter. The end result today would be death reserved for whoever fucked with me and mine. She was mine. Sia Reynolds was mine whether that was appropriate or not. She’d given herself to me the moment she stepped into my home.
A breath was on the other end, a light breath, an airy breath.
Had a woman taken her?
Women sounded different on the phone, less aggressive, less intense.
My eyes narrowed further. “Who are you?”
“I know your secret.”
I blinked, heart charged, racing.
That couldn’t be helped when I heard her voice.
My throat thickened. “Sia…” I wiped away all emotion, focusing. “Sia, have they hurt you?”
And what was this about a secret?
The seconds in which she didn’t speak had my mind reeling, but I stayed patient. I waited.
“I know what you’re into.” She swallowed hard into the line. “I found it. I know your secret.”
I didn’t know what she was talking about. My hand gripped the phone. “Sia?—”
“I also know about the footage. Of me?” Her breath was harsh. “I know you’ve been watching me.”
Alarm bells rang off in my head, and soon, I wasn’t thinking about someone hurting her, harming her.
Had she left me?
“You…” I started, my mouth dry. “You know about the cameras?”
I had been watching her. I had been getting off to the sight of her.
“I do,” she said and thoughts of her leaving on her own accord, leaving me, came to mind. Had she been disgusted? Had she left and no one had taken her?
This wasn’t the worst, but it almost felt that way. The lining in my throat thickened to massive levels. “Sia…”
I honest to fuck didn’t know what to say and her leaving me probably was the best solution. It was for her, and if I’d been stronger, I would have had her leave after things crossed the line. I would have set her up handsomely of course. Financially, she’d want for nothing.
“Have you left me, malyshka ?” I shouldn’t have asked her that. It was an idiot thing to say, but it couldn’t be helped. Before this call, I believed my greatest fear was one of my enemies taking her.
Not this.
This had me terrified. I had no control here. She’d taken it, and I felt powerless.
“Is that what you want?” she asked and anxiety almost sounded laced in her voice. Like she was worried about my response. “Because if not, I don’t mind being chased. I don’t mind being hunted.”
What the fuck?
“Because that’s what you’re into, right? Your secret?” she continued. She huffed. “I looked it up. You’re into predator and prey right? It’s your kink.”
I blinked. “Baby girl, I don’t know what you’re going on about, but you need to let me know if you’ve left me because I’m losing my fucking mind.”
“I haven’t left you, Maxim,” she said and the relief that hit me was unnatural, foreign. Her leaving me shouldn’t make me or break me.
But it would. My life had changed now that she was in it, and the fact that she wasn’t leaving brought all senses back to me.
Especially when she said what she did next.
“I want to be hunted,” she charged on, and her voice was breathy, nervous. This conversation was sending her to places beyond her comfort zone, but all it did for me was pump blood into my cock. A moment ago, I thought I’d never see her again, but now… She sighed. “I wanted to be hunted by you. I know that’s what you’re into.”
“I know your secret.”
She started the conversation with those words, and now, this whole situation was taking on a new perspective. She’d gone missing and her absence led me to the vineyard. It was getting dark around us. It was only us , and that had been because of her. She said to come alone.
She hadn’t wanted anyone around.
My dick steel, I massaged it to keep the growth at bay. “You want to be hunted, malyshka ?” I questioned, my voice gruff. “You want me to hunt you?”
She said she knew my secret.
Naughty girl.
She was naughty. Though I hadn’t exactly been discreet about my vice. I brought women around in the past, and there had been signs.
Her looking it all up after the fact had me gripping a bush at this point. I was afraid I’d blow my load in my pants waiting for her to speak.
“I don’t mind being pinned down,” she said, and I dizzied, maddened. “I also don’t mind that you’ve been watching me. I’ve known about it for a while. I was under your desk one day when you… Well, when you got off.”
Fuck.
My hands were shaking, and I didn’t fucking shake. If she was here, I’d strip her bare. I’d bend her over and fuck her in every dark and depraved way I could until I broke her.
I’d punish her.
I’d punish her for breaking me and keeping this secret from me. I’d punish her for being naughty and encroaching in my space. I allowed no one to get the jump on me in my life.
“I just wanted to let you know it’s okay,” she said. “It’s okay that you’re into those things, and it’s more than okay that you’ve watched me. I… Well, I want you.”
My demon had been awake most of this conversation, but now, it was going to a place where only it existed and Maxim Petrov was taking a backseat to it. It was taking over and… I shook my head. “Sia, listen to me. I become a different person when I hunt. I hunt to break, and I don’t want to hurt you.”
I really didn’t. She was fragile , and I didn’t want that.
Sia Reynolds had a history. People in her past had hurt her, and I wanted her shielded from more darkness.
That was all she would get when it came to me.
I knew in my heart of hearts this was the real reason why I put distance between us. It wasn’t age, and it wasn’t even Lettie. I didn’t want to put Sia through more trauma.
“I’m strong, Maxim, and I can handle it.”
She was saying this now, but it was so easy to just say. I glanced down. “Sia…”
“I just ask that you always look at me,” she said, surprising me. It was straightforward, firm. “I like to know what’s going on. Always look at me and make sure I can see you.”
Surprised again, I didn’t respond right away. It was rare anyone new to my lifestyle was so forthcoming. Usually, women bent over backwards for me and didn’t know what they were signing up for. They gave themselves to me completely and disregarded their own needs. It was a turn off, and I’d rejected partners for such a thing.
But Sia didn’t do this. This young girl was completely aware of her limits, and I found my breath moving huskily into the line. “You want to know what’s going on,” I said, my cock harder, fuller. I massaged it. “Tell me what else you need.”
I shouldn’t be playing these games with her. I shouldn’t be entertaining this at all but…
“Just that,” she said, and I shook my head.
I brought the phone closer. “You need to be specific with your limits. It’s so important, malyshka , because once we start… Once I start hunting you, I won’t stop. I won’t if you scream. I won’t if you bleed. If fact, the sight will only make me more crazy so you need to be fucking certain of your limits.”
Admitting this to her should scare her. It should drive her away, but the response on the other end of the phone was the same as mine. She continued to breathe heavily, and my demon fully unlocked.
I went feral.
“That’s all, Maxim. Just let me know what’s going on. I want to be aware of everything.”
My chest rose. “I will do that. And you’ll always have your safe word if things get too intense.”
My mouth was watering waiting for her response, and for a second, I wasn’t sure if she was still there.
“It’s jellybean,” she said, her voice raspy. “Now come find me.”
The line clicked off, and I barely blinked. I just reacted, and suddenly, the vineyard became less of a place that produced wine and more my hunting ground.
She’s here.
How I hadn’t known that before baffled me. Sia’s scent was in the air. It was now that I wasn’t too blind and worried to be aware of it. She was everywhere, like she’d run through this whole place.
Perhaps she had.
She’d tried to make this hard for me, but she didn’t know me. She didn’t know who I was and the things I had done. I was the executioner and capturing prey came so easily to me. I always found what I sought out.
Always.
A crackle of leaves sounded behind me, and I pivoted, grinning. She was close.
I hunkered down, my eyes closed.
She gave herself away in seconds.
My eyes shot open, and right away, I went into a full sprint. I knew exactly where she was and the adrenaline pumped through me like a bullet heading toward its mark. Each sound she made through the vines led my path, her scent like a beacon drawing me directly to her. I found her standing between two grapevines, and that was the first time Maxim took over and the demon took a backseat. Sia was naked before me.
Completely naked.
I was in awe of her as she stood in the moonlight, confident and bare as the light touched her brown skin. Her curls were wild in the night, her flushed tits moving up and down rapidly. She’d been running too.
I didn’t approach her, did nothing but stand before her like a man given a precious gift. It was only when her eyes directed toward my hand that I realized I had my knife. In fact, her brown eyes flashed in that direction.
The knife was instinct and sometimes I did make my partners bleed. I liked the smell on my blade, the taste, but I put it away and studied Sia. She made a step after that, like she’d run, and I held up a hand.
“Don’t.” My voice was rough, and my dick was so heavy I thought it’d snap off. “Don’t run, malyshka .”
It was a rare moment she had me as myself, but she shouldn’t test me. The demon could take over at any time.
He was taking over. He was with each heavy breath she made and her smell that lingered harshly in the air. The scent wasn’t just her natural fragrant aroma but the one she made between her legs. In fact, that scent was everywhere . Testing me…
Sia darted off, and the hunter inside me erupted. The knife came out again, and it was at her throat when I eventually caught her.
It hadn’t taken long.
She’d panicked, and I was fast. I got her by the arm, and all too quickly, I brought her to the ground. I brought her beneath me.
And once there, I didn’t stop.
I had her arms behind her, her thigh braced in my hand when I jerked her roughly across the leaves. She cried out, and it ended up being that to first break her skin. She got caught on something on the ground, and I touched my blade to the cut.
It was beautiful.
I let her see the blood. I actually pushed it to her lips so she could see how magnificent it was. She bled beautifully, and instead of being scared by that, her tongue darted out.
Fuck.
She licked the blade clean, and I lost my shit. Soon, I had my tongue down her throat, the two of us tasting something that was normally repugnant and doing something so depraved. I was wild at this point, but the whole time I let her see what was going on. I wouldn’t put her on her stomach. I’d keep her with me.
I’d keep her for-fucking-ever.
These thoughts were dangerous but so was what we were doing. Eventually, my blade was forgotten, and I forced her legs apart. Her glorious scent hit me in copious waves, and she screamed when I pulled my cock out and ripped inside her. I still kissed her, tasted her blood, and she ended up tasting mine when she bit my lip.
Dangerous, little one.
I held her back by her throat when she did that, flicking her tongue with mine as I fucked her into the ground. Her breast in my hand, I squeezed, her tits so beautiful and rosy in the moonlight. This woman was a goddess.
“Maxim, fuck,” she called out, but she didn’t say her safe word. She just let me fuck her, her eyes rolling back, and it didn’t matter how many thrusts I made I couldn’t get deep enough.
“So fucking tight, baby girl,” I crooned, and her eyes closed when I squeezed her throat harder. She choked a bit, but I didn’t stop until her breaths labored to the point where I thought she’d pass out. I knew that point, but she most likely didn’t.
Even still, she didn’t tap out, and my thrusts went to new levels. I wasn’t doing things the way I normally did. Usually, there was a discussion. Hard and soft limits were discussed, and there were definitely contracts. They were to protect everyone, and I couldn’t remember the last time I took a partner raw, bare.
This wouldn’t be the last time.
Sia’s body was my haven, my precious girl to take, to love. I wanted to break her as much as I wanted to put her back together.
“ Malyshka… ” I spilled inside her, coming like a man desperate. I was desperate, and her snatch squeezing around me only made me milk her long after we both came. I needed her essence. I needed her close. When it came to my prey, I always wanted to break them.
But somehow it was me who ended up being broken.