Chapter 3
Dmitri
Natasha’s chair scraped, she whispered something—maybe my name, maybe a curse—and then she was up and gone. Faster than I expected for someone pretending I didn’t affect her.
My pulsed kicked hard as I shoved my chair back and went after her without even thinking.
The servants froze as I passed. Cori said something behind me, but his voice was faint under the pounding in my ears.
All I saw was the swish of Natasha’s silk black dress disappearing around the corner.
Her quickened pace exposed her bronze thighs. Her curly hair moved through the air.
“Natasha,” I called once. Fuck! I don’t know what set her off, but she was only making this harder for her. Because once I caught her, she’d pay for this.
She didn’t slow. It’s like when she heard me, it prompted her to move faster.
I reached the front door just in time to see her jogging down the estate steps, keys already in hand. She didn’t even look back. Not once. Had she joined the track team while I was away?
I’ll admit that she’d lost weight since I saw her last, but it didn’t dawn on me that she’d be so. Toned? Yeah? Stacked even more? Fuck yes. I couldn’t wait to get my hands on her. However, it wasn’t supposed to aid her in getting away from me. Only bring us closer.
Then her car door slammed, engine roared, and she shot down the long driveway like her life depended on it.
When did she suddenly become a NASCAR driver?
I stood on the top step, breathing hard, jaw tight enough to crack bone.
It’s like the workouts I’d done in jail were nothing compared to how fast she got out of here. What the fuck had just happened?
She ran. From me. Again. Good. Running meant feeling. Feeling meant I wasn’t done. That I’d gotten under her soft ass skin.
The front door creaked behind me. I exhaled, aware that somebody I didn’t want to talk to was about to piss me off even more than I already was. If they weren’t coming to say that somebody caught her down the block, I didn’t really give a fuck about what they were about to interrupt me to say.
“Dmitri,” my father said, voice low. “Inside. Now.”
I didn’t turn immediately. I watched the taillights vanish beyond the trees before I finally headed in, shutting the door behind me. He didn’t take me to the dining room.
He guided me straight down the hall to his office—dark wood, leather chairs, the same room he used to scold us in as kids. I didn’t have time for this shit.
He shut the door. Then he turned, face set like carved granite.
“We have a problem,” he said.
Come on... My jaw flexed. “If this is about me leaving the table—”
“It isn’t.” He sat behind his desk. “It’s about Cori.”
My brows pulled together. What could he possibly have to tell me about my brother?
“Your brother isn’t running things the way they need to be for the family. He’s softening the business. Making concessions I would never allow. Fucking up deals. I’m positive he’s on that shit.” He shook his head and folded his hands. “The family is slipping.”
I felt a cold shift in the room. Cori knew better than to touch drugs. What the fuck was going on? “Cori is doing his best.” I tried to convince him, but even I know my words didn’t sound like they held any weight.
“His best isn’t enough.” My father’s voice sharpened. “You ran half of my operations from a prison cell more efficiently than he has with full freedom. How’s that for truth?”
I didn’t flinch. I knew it was true. I’d heard such things while I was away.
Even when I spoke to him on my burner, he sounded unsure of himself.
I’d had to check him about deliveries and why I’d received less product than I should have.
He never seemed to know who was doing what or when.
So, I made those calls, set up systems, and made sure that things would be undetected.
He always seemed relieved that I did. I couldn’t imagine what Pops was experiencing out here.
“Your loyalty, your resourcefulness, the respect you command—those are the qualities this family needs.” He leaned forward. “I want you to take over as head of the Volkov’s. I… I’m getting older, moy syn. ”
My pulse stilled. He’d gotten sentimental.
That’s the only time that he fell back to his native tongue–my son, he’d called me.
Behind the shock, something old and familiar moved—purpose.
Direction. It wasn’t about if I could do this.
It was figuring out if I wanted to do this.
Two different things. I’d been locked away for seven years.
Freedom sounded so much better than looking over my shoulder every day because either somebody wanted my spot or if the police finally caught on. I don’t know.
“But there’s a condition,” he added.
Of course there was. Always was. I exhaled through my nose. “What?”
“You marry Natasha. Quickly. Publicly. Firmly. The Volkov legacy requires stability, a united front, and…” He searched for the word.
“…soft power. She provides that. She humanizes you. And everyone already believes she is yours. It’s not like you didn’t claim her before you went to prison.
Everybody either saw or heard about the way you kissed and proposed to her. ”
My stomach tightened—not in dread. In something hotter. Sharper. Natasha.
He wanted me to marry Natasha. He didn’t need to twist my arm.
But if she got wind of this, she’d think me wanting to marry her was about the dynasty.
The empire. Not because she’d been mine for years and didn’t know it.
I’d lusted over that damn girl, even before I told her.
She’d spent a lot of time with Cori. When I figured out that they weren’t together and neither of them were interested in each other romantically, my attraction grew.
She’d just run out of the house like I was a fire she couldn’t get near.
My father watched my silence.
“Cori knows,” he said quietly. “He understands this is what’s necessary. He’ll step aside the moment you announce the engagement. Then I can get him the help that he needs.”
Needs… What happened, Cori?
Engagement. The word slammed into my ribs like a fist. For years I’d promised myself I’d get Natasha to myself. But I never expected the entire empire to hinge on it.
My father studied me. “Can you handle that responsibility, Dmitri?”
I lifted my gaze. “I can handle her.”
He smirked faintly. “Good. Then bring her back. Make it official. The moment you do, I will crown you head of this family.”
My blood heated. Natasha running away wasn’t just personal anymore.
It was territorial. Necessary. Inevitable.
I would get her back. No matter how fast she tried to run.
Because the thought of making her my wife, having her underneath me, her being my queen, her living in true power.
.. It only made my dick harder. There was nothing like conquering an alpha woman.
Now that I knew that everybody saw her the same way I did, claiming her only became even more of an aphrodisiac.
Yeah… run all you want, little kitty. But that ass was about to be caught, chained and fucked, and then I’d get to feast on her sweetness every day for the rest of our lives–burying my seed as deep inside her as possible.
Over…
And over…
And over…
I walked out of the office to go get changed when I heard Cori calling me from the dining room. A worried expression laced his features.
“We have a problem.” He said as he ran to catch up with me. He sniffed, and for the first time, I noticed his blown pupils. Cori was high.
I swallowed, hating that information. “It’ll have to wait.”
“No, it can’t. Somebody just ran Natasha off the road.” He shouted, making me stop cold in my tracks.
“THE FUCK?!?!” I whipped around and came to stand in front of him. “What happened?”
“She’s on the phone.” He handed it to me, and I snatched it from his palm.
“Where are you?” I shouted into the receiver, hearing her sniffle as soon as it touched my ear.
“Viper and Seventh.” She said quickly. “But I’m still driving because it feels like somebody is still following me.”
“I’m on my way.” I bolted for the door, grabbing the keys to Cori’s BMW as I passed through the side passage to the garages.
“Dmitri…” Natasha sniffed again.
“Yeah?” I started the car but paused to hear what she had to say.
“Hurry.”
“Say less.” I connected the call to the car and sped off.
I realized that I didn’t have a single weapon on me, but with the fury and ‘who the fuck had the audacity’ running through my head, I didn’t need shit but my hands.
I’d improvise when I got there. But you’d be surprised at the ways that I’d learned to kill a man or harm them with only the weapons that I was born with.