8. Chapter Eight
Chapter Eight
Nikolai Volkov
I stared at Tatiana through my laptop screen, the slightly vacant expression on her face telling me she was reliving that moment between us at Arturo’s birthday party.
I’d been sleeping when she called. The panic that gripped me when I first heard her ringtone had been so severe, it had literally stolen the air from my lungs.
Tatiana hadn’t called me since the night our son died. She never texted, never tried to reach out to me. She actively ignored all of my attempts to get into contact with her.
So when I realised it was her calling, my first thought was that she’d been hurt. I thought that something must have gone so drastically wrong for her to contact me. It had been years of radio silence. Turns out, she just needed someone to talk to. And she’d chosen me.
It made a sliver of hope cut through my heart. Maybe there was still a chance that things could be mended between us, despite what she’d said the night before.
The subject of her mother was a touchy one. The conversation could go one of two ways: she could either laugh it off and switch the topic to something else, or she could just flip out and go off at you. It all depended on what mood she was in, really.
“Are you thinking about it, Tati?” I asked, lowering my voice.
I shifted on the bed, kicking one of my legs free of the blanket as I adjusted the position of my laptop. It had taken me all of two seconds to hack into their home security system. Even though she’d told me she was fine, I still needed to see it for myself, with my own eyes, to really believe it.
Tatiana jolted, her eyes flicking up at the camera. Despite the darkness surrounding her, I could see her perfectly. See those long, golden curls tied up in a messy bun, strands framing her beautiful, delicate face.
She cleared her throat, straightening her spine and standing taller. “No.”
“I am,” I breathed, my cock painfully hard at the memory of her taste. “I think about it every day. So, unless you’d like a repeat, I suggest you put that finger away.”
Her eyes darted to her hand in the air, middle finger still aimed towards the camera, like she’d completely forgotten she was holding it up.
Her eyes came back to me and narrowed in defiance.
She tucked the phone between her ear and her shoulder and then held up her other hand, giving me both middle fingers with a bright, beaming smile on her face.
Tatiana knew very well what happened when she tested me that way, what it would result in, and yet she’d done it anyway.
Was she doing it for a distraction? Hoping that I could help take her mind off the drama with her mother?
I was conflicted. On one hand, I wanted nothing more than to take advantage of the situation and act on the burning, sexual tension still blazing between us.
Lust was literally pulsing inside me like a level ten migraine, except instead of being restricted to just my head, it was my whole body.
Specifically, my cock. But on the other hand, I was worried about overstepping her boundaries and pushing her away.
The thing at Arturo’s party had been different.
I’d been completely consumed by jealousy, possessiveness and rage.
The only thing that could have stopped me in that moment was Tatiana telling me to, which I was confident she would do if she didn’t want anything sexual to happen.
She was very strong-willed. She had no problem telling someone to fuck off if it’s what she wanted.
I had to tread carefully. The last thing I wanted to do was compromise the little bit of progress we’d made so far. Luckily, I knew exactly how to find out if she was looking for a distraction only I could provide.
"Ty khochesh', chtoby tebya nakazali, lyubimaya?" Do you want to be punished, love?
She stared up at the camera, completely unmoving.
Here we go.
What she responded with would determine where it would go. If she laughed and switched the subject, it was a flat-out no. If she gave me attitude and said something bratty…
She gripped the phone in her hand again, a smirk on her lips as she said, “What are you gonna do, Nicky? Grunt and growl at me over the phone? Ooo, I’m shaking in my boots.”
Excitement surged in my veins. I sat up a little straighter, taking a deep breath to try to hide the eagerness in my voice.
“What makes you think I won’t come down there and put you over my knee?” I zoomed in to her face, watching in rapture as her teeth dug into her bottom lip.
“I’ll just go inside and lock the door.”
I chuckled darkly. I was zoomed in close enough to see a shiver wrack through her body. Was it from the cold, or my words?
“You really think I don’t have a key to your house, Tati? Or that I wouldn’t kick down that door to get to you?” I tsked, enjoying the way her breath hitched.
“You can’t. My dad’s home.”
“Probably should have thought about that before you gave me that bratty attitude you know riles me up so much. Bad girls get punished, remember?”
Was that a moan?
I swear I could come from the sound of her moaning alone. I wouldn’t need anything else, not even to stroke my cock.
I was about to say something else when my bedroom door swung open so fast, it banged into the wall. I reached for my gun sitting on the bedside table and had it aimed at the doorway in under a second.
“For fuck’s sake, Lukyan,” I growled, glaring at my idiot younger brother. “How many times have I told you to fucking knock?”
Lukyan gave me his signature mischievous smirk. His eyes flicked to the laptop sitting in my lap and back to my face. “Oh, my bad. Did I catch you at an inconvenient time?” he asked, pumping his eyebrows up and down.
“Get out,” I snapped, putting my gun down.
“Oo, is that Tatiana?” He stepped up to the side of the bed and squinted at the screen. “Is she about to do some sort of strip show or something?”
“ What did he just say?” Tatiana shrieked in my ear, her face turned up at the camera, brows snapped together in an angry glare.
“Shit, is this live?” he smirked. “Kinky. Can I watch?”
“That’s it. I’m hanging up now.”
“Tatiana, wait—”
Beep, beep, beep.
I cursed, pulling the phone away from my ear to scowl at the screen. Damn it.
Tatiana spun and marched into the house without so much as a glance back at the camera.
I slammed my laptop shut in frustration.
It wasn’t even the fact that we’d been interrupted before things got sexual that bothered me.
It was that it was an opportunity for us to progress forward and it was cut short, due to the idiot standing next to me.
My scowl moved from my laptop to Lukyan. His hands flew up in surrender.
“Whoa, don’t shoot the messenger. I’m only here because Aleksandr sent me to get you. If you wanna blame someone for interrupting your little ‘phone sex’ session, it’s him.”
I sighed, placing my laptop on the bedside table next to my gun. “What does he want?”
Any trace of playfulness vanished from his face, the Volkov anger we all possessed quickly taking over. “It’s about Dominik. Fucker’s on the phone. Right now.”
I needed nothing further. As hard as it was for me to do, I put Tatiana and our chaotic relationship out of my mind and raced to my brother’s office.
“You’re not going to trick me into this, little nephew. Hand over control, or your father suffers.”
I stared at Dominik and the men at his back, anger pulsing in my body.
I’d told Aleksandr the night Dominik made contact with us that the chances of him agreeing to a one-v-one were slim.
“ Beyond slim,” I believe was the phrase I used.
Not only that, but that letting him anywhere near the house was a mistake.
That we should have arranged the meet somewhere neutral.
The last time Dominik was there, half of our house had been blown to pieces.
I didn’t trust him not to try and pull a similar move.
But my brother was adamant about presenting a united front to our uncle, about showing Dominik that his attempt to take us out had done nothing but bring us closer together, make us stronger.
The atmosphere was tense. Lukyan and Illayana stood at my side, their usual playful and mischievous attitudes replaced with complete seriousness—a word I would have never used to describe those two.
Aleksandr’s new wife was standing a few feet behind him.
Dark protectiveness radiated from her as she stared my uncle down, her fingers gripped tightly around the knife in her hand, like she was having trouble refraining from stabbing him in the chest. Aleksandr didn’t respond to Dominik’s words, his posture remaining stiff, eyes hard.
“Fine. Remember that I tried to offer you a way out. You’ve made your bed, now you’re going to have to lie in it. What happens next is on you.” Dominik spun on the balls of his feet and stormed out of the room, the four MC men who came with him following him out.
Aleksandr looked to Lukyan. “Follow him,” he commanded.
Lukyan nodded, taking off after Dominik. The chances of tracking him to where he was staying weren’t great. He would assume we’d send someone to follow him once he left, and he’d take the proper precautions to ensure he wasn’t leading us to his base of operations.
“Can you believe the nerve of that fuckwit?” Illayana growled, glaring after him. “Did he honestly think you’d agree to just hand everything over?”
Aleksandr didn’t answer, the inner turmoil he was going through lying deep in the depths of his eyes. Drea offered him comfort and, much to my surprise, Aleksandr didn’t balk at it.
I knew my brother well. If something happened to our father, he would blame himself, regardless of the fact that it wasn’t his fault. He would just see that he had the chance to save him, and he didn’t take it.
Illayana huffed, hands on her hips. “We should have killed him. Or at least captured him. Letting him go was a mistake.”
“No amount of torture would have gotten Dominik to talk,” I said.