10. Tristan #2
I head back to my room, in desperate need of relief. I’d rather get off with her, but the satisfaction of what happened a moment ago is enough to make using my hand worth it.
Or… I find my suit trousers from the night before, slipping the pair of Simone’s panties that I stole out of the pocket.
With the taste of her still on my tongue and the scent of her filling my nostrils, I shrug off the robe and lean back against the door, groaning as I wrap the warm silk around my cock.
It can’t compare to her. But I close my eyes, remembering the way she felt around my fingers, her stubborn defiance, and the satisfaction of making her come despite herself, my climax building quickly as I stroke myself.
I picture her atop me, my hands on her hips, keeping her pinned on my cock as she fights off a climax, her body arching as she loses control, her mouth open as she cries out my name?—
“Fuck!” I growl out the curse as my cock erupts, spurting cum into my wife’s panties as I cover the head with the silk, thrusting into the fabric as I soak them thoroughly.
With my mind a little clearer, I toss them into the laundry and go to take a shower, before getting ready for the day and heading back downstairs. Every part of me wants to go seek out Simone and finish what we started, but I resist the urge.
Breakfast is waiting for me in the smaller of the mansion’s two dining rooms, and Simone is nowhere to be seen.
If I had to guess, I’d imagine that she probably had breakfast sent up to her room, in order to avoid me.
Fine . As long as she doesn’t hide behind a locked door when I want her, she can avoid me as much as she wants.
Once I’m finished eating, I seek out the housekeeper, Nora, to give me a tour of the mansion.
Truthfully, Simone should be the one doing this, but I actually want to get the lay of the house where I’m living now, and not spend the entire tour arguing.
Nora is cool toward me, if still professional, which I can’t exactly blame her for.
I’ve taken over the house she’s worked in for years, replaced the man that she’s probably spent most of her career working for, and forced Simone into marrying me.
Deep down, I can empathize with how Simone feels, too.
But her blatant aggression toward me means that if I don’t show her who is in control, there will be nothing but chaos in the house.
She has to accept her fate and come to terms with the future that’s in store for her, or this marriage will erupt into anarchy.
The housekeeper being cool toward me and my wife locking me out of her room are two very different things.
Nora suggests that I might want to take over Giovanni’s former office as my own, but I pick out a different room instead, one that has a view of the ocean.
I ask her to find someone capable of picking out furnishings for it and having it ready for me by tomorrow morning, and she promises me that she’ll have it handled.
I take a tour of the estate grounds on my own, coming back with my jacket off and the sleeves rolled up, thanks to the fall heat. I can tell that I’m going to miss Boston’s weather for some time.
The rest of my day is filled with business.
Later in the afternoon, I take a car to the Abramov estate to meet with Konstantin and my father, who are already settled in Konstantin’s expansive office when I arrive.
I’m surprised to pass a small boy on my way through the mansion—a child who can’t be more than four, chasing a remote-control car through the marble hallway.
“I thought your first child hadn’t been born yet,” I remark wryly to Konstantin as I walk into the office, settling into a chair next to my father. He chuckles, shaking his head.
“That’s Damian’s stepson. He’s a handful, but I don’t mind it. Makes me look forward to when my own child is that age.” Konstantin smiles. “I’m sure you’ll have heirs of your own on the way, soon enough.”
“Soon enough,” I echo, though truthfully, I’m in no hurry. Right now, I’m far more interested in the process of getting Simone pregnant than actually having her carry my child, though the thought does send a jolt of possessive desire through me.
“Damian will join us later,” Konstantin says, shuffling through papers on his desk. “He has some insight into Giovanni’s later dealings. But in the meantime?—”
We get down to business—business that, on the surface, resembles the kind of work a Fortune 500 company does more than organized crime.
Anyone listening in would be hard-pressed to know how much of what goes on under the surface is illegal…
at least until we start discussing the parts of the drug and weapons trade that Giovanni had a hand in.
I’ve inherited quite the empire. It’s expansive and complicated, and I feel a moment of uncertainty, wondering if I’m equipped to run this. It’s more than I’ve ever taken on before. But my father wouldn’t have allowed it if he didn’t think I was capable, and I’m determined to rise to the challenge.
We discuss profit margins and territory boundaries, review security protocols, and expansion opportunities. By the time we take a short break, my head is spinning with numbers and logistics.
My father follows me out to the terrace outside of Konstantin’s office, where I step out for some air, and I can tell from his expression that he has something on his mind beyond business. I tense when I see the look on his face, bracing myself for an interrogation.
"How are things going with your new wife?" he asks without preamble.
"Fine.” I shrug. “Why?”
“The marriage was consummated last night?”
“Christ.” I throw him an irritated stare. “Yes. I fucked my wife. Did you want me to bring the bloody fucking sheet to the meeting?”
“I wouldn’t have objected.”
“Fucking hell.” I run my hand through my hair. “That’s some old-world bullshit. Yes. I fucked her. She was a virgin, by the way, if you wanted confirmation. She’s not now.”
“Good.” My father seems unfazed by my outburst. “And you’re doing all that’s necessary to get her pregnant?”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake.” I shake my head. “Do you want me to detail how many times I came in my wife last night, or…”
“Tristan.” He looks at me with that even stare that I’ve grown used to over the years, the one that I know precedes a lecture. “This isn’t a joke.”
“I don’t think it is one.” I turn to face him fully. “I’m aware of the responsibility that you’ve given me. I’m aware that it will take a lot to hold this territory. I just don’t think my bedroom habits with my wife are the most important thing to discuss right now…”
“I want to be very clear about something.” He interrupts me. “This marriage, this alliance—it's bigger than just you and her. The success of our expansion into Miami depends on the stability of this arrangement."
"I understand that."
“Then you understand why your ‘bedroom habits,’ as you call them, are important. It is important that your marriage is consummated. It is important that you took Simone’s virginity, and that you are sure that she was a virgin. And it’s important that you get her pregnant as soon as possible.”
My jaw tightens. “She bled. She was a virgin.” The memory of me pushing my bloodied fingers into her mouth, making her lick her blood off of them, flashes back into my mind, and my cock swells inappropriately, aroused just from the thought of Simone.
“Good.” My father nods approvingly. “Then she’s accepted her fate? She’s the compliant, dutiful wife that a man like you needs to succeed in this venture?” His gaze doesn’t waver. “Because at your reception last night, she looked anything but compliant or dutiful.”
I think of the locked door this morning. “We’re… working on it.”
One iron-grey eyebrow rises. “Working on it. What is there to work on, Tristan? Break your wife in. Make her submit to you. She is not in charge—she never has been. Not when her father was alive, and not now.”
“She can be… difficult.” I resist the urge to pinch the bridge of my nose. “She’s not happy with the way this has played out. And honestly, I can understand…”
It’s the wrong thing to say. My father’s expression darkens instantly. “Understand? What is there to understand, Tristan? You saved her. You married her and saved her father’s empire instead of leaving her to die and taking it anyway. She should be grateful to you.”
I said the same thing to her. A flash of guilt stings in my chest. “I’m just saying, her feelings about all of this…”
“Feelings.” My father snorts. “Is she getting under your skin already, son?”
“No, I just…”
“Listen to me.” His voice drops low, deadly serious.
“Her part in this is almost done. She married you, she fucked you. She gave you legitimacy, gave you access to the Russo operations and connections. The marriage is consummated, so it can't be annulled. All that's left now is for you to get her pregnant to secure the succession, and after that, she's nothing more than a pretty decoration. Once she’s carrying your heir, once she gives you a healthy son, she’ll have done her duty entirely, and she can fade into the background. She doesn’t even have to mother the child, for fuck’s sake.
She can get a nanny. Just get her pregnant, Tristan, and you won’t have to deal with her unless you want to. "
The casual dismissal of Simone as a person, as my wife, makes something twist uncomfortably in my chest. This morning I was reminding her of my control over her, how I possess her now, but hearing my father talk about her like this… "She's not just a decoration."
"Isn't she?” My father looks at me as if I’m losing my mind.
Maybe I am. I shouldn’t be arguing with him about this…
what I’ve said myself to Simone isn’t so different.
“What else is she, really?” he continues.
“She has no role in the business, no particular skills or talents that benefit our organization.
She's a symbol, Tristan. A beautiful, expensive symbol of your legitimacy. Nothing more."
"She's my wife..."
"She's your acquisition." His green eyes, so like my own, are hard with disapproval. "And if you start confusing business with pleasure, if you start thinking with your cock instead of your brain, you'll jeopardize everything we've worked for."
My jaw tightens. “I’m not. I know what we’ve worked for. What I’ve worked for. This matters to me.”
My father looks at me keenly, his eyes narrowing. "Remember why you're here. You're here to build an empire, to expand our influence and power. You're not here to play house with a woman who resents everything you represent."
I let out a sharp breath. She does resent me. And in the moments when I’m away from her—when I can think clearly—I can understand why. I usurped her father. I took away any right she had to her inheritance. I’m a stranger who has consumed her entire life.
But I did save her. I married her when Konstantin could have killed her.
How grateful should she be?
I let out a slow breath. "I can handle my wife," I say finally.
"Can you? Because right now, it sounds like she's handling you.
" My father shakes his head, glancing back toward the office where Konstantin is sitting back down behind his desk.
"Get her pregnant, Tristan. Give her something to focus on besides making your life difficult.
And remember—she's not your partner in this.
She's your responsibility. There's a difference. "
He leaves me alone on the terrace with his words echoing in my mind. The worst part is, I know he's right. Everything he said about the strategic nature of my marriage, about Simone's role as a symbol rather than a partner—it's all factually accurate.
So why does it rub me the wrong way to hear him say it?
Maybe it’s because the woman who fights me at every turn, who challenges my authority and refuses to make anything easy, has become more interesting to me than any business acquisition should be.
The rest of the meeting goes by without issue, more of the same as before.
As I head back to my car to return home, my father gives me a pointed look, and I nod, assuring him without words that I’m going to handle my wife.
That I’m going to make sure my marriage is peaceful, before too much time has passed.
I know he wants to go back to Boston, back to his family, back to the familiar rhythms of his role as the patriarch there.
My older brother is overseeing things for the time being, a test run for the day when he’ll be the Irish King, but my father has never done well ceding the reins of power to someone else.
He won’t leave Miami until he’s sure that I have this all under control, though. Which means I need to prove that I can handle my wife, handle my business, and settle into my position as the second most powerful man in this city.
Easier said than done, by far.