Chapter Twenty Four
LYLA VOZNESENSKY
“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, this is a bad fucking idea.” Cedric stood in the center of my bedroom, feet shoulder-width apart, arms crossed over his chest, glaring me down as if it would somehow change my mind.
It wouldn’t. My mind was made up.
“You’ve made your opinion very clear, Cedric.” I picked up the bloodred lipstick sitting on the makeup table in front of me and smoothed it over my lips.
“Then why aren’t you listening to me?”
“Because I don’t want to.” I didn’t really need any other reason other than that, did I?
I put the lipstick down and picked up a bottle of perfume, spraying it on my wrists and the column of my throat. “Lukyan’s been cooped up in the house for days. He needs to go out and do something fun.”
“And what if your precious Lukyan tries to escape?” He said precious in a derogatory way, and I didn’t fucking like it. “What then, huh? What happens to your grand plan?”
“You know, you’re being a real party pooper. He wouldn’t do that to me.”
It had been a week since Lukyan and I got married, and although it didn’t seem like a long time in the grand scheme of things, I wanted to celebrate our one-week anniversary. Celebrate that glorious milestone together.
We’d grown close over the past few days, the bond I always knew we possessed finally blossoming, evolving into what I always knew it could be.
The unbelievable, dirty, filthy sex was partially responsible for that, but it was also the deep conversations we’d have afterwards that helped to forge our connection. Made it stronger than it already was. Unbreakable.
I knew we couldn’t stay in our isolated fuckbubble forever, though.
Eventually, we would have to go back out into the real world. Face our problems.
Lukyan—his grandfather.
Me—my brother.
But until then, we were going to have some fucking fun.
That cross-as-fuck look on Cedric’s face didn’t change. Didn’t budge. “How do you know that? How do you know he’s not going to take this opportunity to run?”
I knew it the same way I knew everything else. “Because I know him. Lukyan is having fun with me. He enjoys being around me, like I do him. He wouldn’t leave me like that. Not after all the time we’ve spent getting to know each other.”
“You mean fucking,” he responded, none to impressed.
“You find out a lot about a person when you fuck them.” I winked. “He deserves to have some fun, and I want to give that to him.”
“You think taking him to some club in the city is the only way to have fun? I can think of a dozen other things you can do that pose less of a risk. You know his family is looking for him.”
Yes, I did know that. They’d put out a fucking country-wide call for him. I was both annoyed and incredibly impressed by the reach the Bratva possessed.
“Everything will be fine.” I firmly believed that. The odds of someone being at the exact same club, on the exact same night, at the exact same time as us was astronomical.
When I’d first floated the idea by Lukyan, he’d been ecstatic. He wanted to go out, drink and dance just as much as I did. There was no way I could deny him that chance to make him happy, even if it came with such a risk.
“And what am I meant to tell your brother?”
“Don’t tell him anything.” Checking my face over one more time in the mirror, I nodded, satisfied with what stared back at me.
I was shit at applying makeup. I could only do the basics.
Foundation, eyeliner, mascara, and lipstick, and even that was a struggle.
It wasn’t as if I didn’t like it. I did.
I loved the way makeup made me look. Made me feel.
I just sucked at doing it, and anytime I tried to learn from Youtube tutorials, it never turned out the same.
My hair was down and straight, and I had on one of my favorite dresses—red, lacy, and tight. It would ensure Lukyan’s gaze never wavered from me.
“You can’t keep avoiding this, Lyla,” Cedric said solemnly. My eyes flicked to him in the mirror, and our gazes held. “He’ll be here soon. You have to make a choice.”
I sighed deeply. He was right. Of course, I knew he was right. I’d been putting off thinking about it, hoping that if I just ignored it, the entire situation would just…go away.
But that was denial through and through. The truth of it was, I didn’t want to have to choose between my brother and Lukyan. Lev’s obsession with his mission would leave me no choice, though, and soon, I would be forced to make a decision.
“I know. I know. I’ll deal with it tomorrow.” For the tonight, Lukyan and I were going to let loose and party. We weren’t going to be a crazy stalker woman or a Bratva prince. We were just going to be Lyla and Lukyan.
I stood up and made my way to the closet. A pair of red pumps drew me in straight away. I plucked them from the shelf, sliding them onto my feet before taking one final look in the full-length mirror hanging on the door.
Perfect.
Making sure to grab my purse with my phone, keys, and wallet in it, I made my way over to Cedric and hugged him. He stiffened, taken slightly by surprise.
“Thanks for looking out for me,” I whispered softly.
His body loosened, and he returned my embrace, wrapping his arms around me. “Always.”
Warmth flooded through me. Cedric might not have agreed with my actions, but he would always have my back, and that meant the world to me.
With a final goodbye, I left and went to Lukyan’s room. It was right beside mine. I hoped we would be sharing a space soon, though.
I knocked on the door. Lukyan opened it a moment later, and my breath caught in my throat.
He stood there, looking every bit like he’d just walked off a GQ photo shoot.
His hair was down, exactly how I liked it.
He’d chosen a white, long-sleeved shirt, tight and perfectly fitted for his body, a black corset vest with an intricate cathedral design etched into the fabric, and black slacks. The icing on the cake, though?
He was wearing my fucking collar.
Without prompting.
My stomach fluttered at the sight.
“Hold on.” My hand dove into my purse, and I yanked out my phone, holding it up to take a photo.
Lukyan smirked. He leaned against the doorframe and posed for me, one hand coming up to fiddle with the cuff of his sleeve.
I snapped a dozen photos.
“Get enough?” he asked, humor dancing in his eyes.
“No,” I answered honestly. It would never be enough. “But it will do. For now.” I flicked through the images. “I can’t wait to add these to my scrapbook.”
“Your…scrapbook?” he asked, brows slightly creased in a frown.
I put my phone back away. “If you’re lucky, I might show it to you one day.” He wasn’t ready for that, though. “You good to go?”
“Yep.” His gaze ran the length of my body, and hunger flashed in his eyes. “You look—”
“Sexy? Mouthwatering? Fuckable?”
“Like you’ll be the death of me,” he breathed out in awe.
My heart pounded in my chest. It’s working. It’s fucking working.
“What’s working?” he asked.
Whoops. I smiled sheepishly. “Did I say that out loud?”
“Yes. What’s working?”
Well, might as well go all in now. “My plan to make you obsessed with me.”
He said nothing, just staring deeply into my eyes.
I wished I could read his mind. Know what he was thinking.
Lukyan was an expert at hiding his emotions when he wanted to.
I thought I was an expert at reading them, but I realized then that I wasn’t as good as I thought I was, because I had no idea what was running through his head.
A moment passed between us. A significant, defining moment. Something crucial to the progression of our relationship. I was sure of it.
Shutters closed over Lukyan’s eyes. “We should go,” he grunted out roughly.
Or maybe not.
Music blasted through the air, a constant thump, thump, thump vibrating through my body from the bass of the R’n’B song blaring from the speakers.
Strobe lights flashed different colors around the club.
Smoke billowed into a cloud around us from the smoke machines.
Bodies were crammed onto the dance floor, everybody dancing and letting their demons loose.
Lukyan and I included.
We jumped. We danced. We bobbed and weaved. We made absolute fools of ourselves, and neither one of us gave a shit about it, just enjoying the night. The atmosphere was electric—exactly what we needed to relax and have fun.
Club Noir was located in the city a few hours from the house. It was a good place, with an awesome vibe, cheap drinks, and good music. There was nothing harder than trying to dance to music that wasn’t your taste.
For hours, we just let the beat of the music run through our bodies.
Let all our dramas and worries just disappear, living entirely in the moment before us.
I’d been watching Lukyan for over a year and half, and I’d never seen him so relaxed, having so much fun.
It made me happy seeing him so happy. So wild. So carefree.
Exactly how he should have been.
“You’re so fucking hot,” Lukyan whispered in my ear. He was behind me, grinding up against my ass to the best of the music. His hands were all over me. On my hips. Fanning out across my stomach. Inching up toward my breasts and then sliding back down, absolutely torturing me.
I loved it. Loved having his undivided attention like that, especially when so many others were trying hard to get him to notice them.
Women and men kept looking over at him, throwing him sultry and come hither looks, hoping he would ditch me for them.
Stupid bitches, the lot of them. If I weren’t in such a good mood, I would have already killed them, but, lucky for them, I was feeling gracious.
I still needed to show everyone that he was mine, though.