13. Maxim
13
MAXIM
I place the cherry and honey cake on the table, and as she gazes up at me, she licks her lips.
My cock springs.
“That looks delicious,” she says, breathily.
I have to sit back down and adjust my trousers—again, for what feels like the seventieth time in the last thirty minutes—to avoid my erection gaining main character energy.
When she pushes her spoon into the pink and cream-coloured icing and draws out soft cake with a flash of red cherry nearly break me. The sounds of enjoyment as she swallows mean I have to do deep breathing exercises and try to control myself by shoving cake into my mouth.
“This is an amazing home,” she says as she takes another bite.
I glow at the compliment, like I’m the younger, inexperienced one here. But I crave knowing more about her, and this has given me a reason to ask.
“I’m glad you like it.” Saves having to rip it all out and replace everything. “What sort of place would you like to live in?”
We’ve never ventured into such personal territory as we have during dinner today. I’ve restrained myself to talking about neutral things. Books. Movies. Since we met, I’ve been doing my best to be what I thought she might want. Not a gruff, coarse, gritty bear of a mafia boss, but a kind, soft, cuddly bear.
I’m not sure if the tattoos help.
Killing multiple people in front of her, and inadvertently spraying her with the blood was probably a giveaway that I’m not quite as harmless as I was trying to make out.
I’ve even started watching romcoms.
They’re quite good. Be better with more guns, but, you know, eight out of ten. Would watch more for Hayley.
“What do you mean?” she asks, and as she tips her head to the side, tapping her cream-covered spoon on her lips and peering at me across this romantically set table. She exposes her throat as my shirt slips partly off her shoulder.
I salivate.
“A big house in the country, or a place in the city? Where do you envision yourself settling down?”
“Oh,” Her gaze flicks around the apartment and the windows that look out onto the dark sky and lights of London spread out, as though a carpet at her feet. “I thought maybe in London? I like being high up.”
Good. I could do either, of course, I have plenty of money to buy her any house she fancies. “A penthouse?”
She grins. “That would be nice. Good views.”
“Not more on the leafy outskirts?” I check. “I assume since you live in Richmond…”
“I’d rather be where things are happening. I can’t bear it when it’s too quiet. That choice was for my sisters. Payton likes big parks, beaches, and that sort of thing. She loves the outdoor swimming pool there. And it was for our sister, Taylor, of course.”
Alarm strikes in me.
“You have another sister?” My hands are on the table and I’m halfway to standing to fetch her.
“It’s okay. Or rather, I haven’t a clue if it’s okay or not, and haven’t for years now.”
I gesture for her to continue, my brow furrowed in concern. “Where does Taylor fit in?”
Hayley sighs, her mouth downturned. “We lost contact. She’s between Payton and me in age and was—maybe still is, I don’t know—a talented ballerina.”
Pride and sorrow shine out of Hayley’s eyes.
“She was so good, and so hard-working. A foster family we were with briefly found a place for her in a London ballet, and the school is based in Richmond.”
Dread settles in my stomach. A girl alone, in London?
“It was fine for a while. We messaged back and forth, called. Taylor often couldn’t afford her phone tariff, and often lost her phone. She’d go silent for days, then apologise and send us a video of her ballet progress. We had to call her, but we managed.”
I nod, but I’m not liking where this is going, or the sadness in Hayley’s tone.
“Then she said she had an opportunity with a Russian ballet. She was hazy on the details, but insisted it was too good to miss.”
Horror scuttles down my spine. No no no. My home country isn’t safe for an innocent girl.
“She left, and we thought it was fine, because she told us it was. But we never established exactly where she went, and then she lost her phone for several days. Then another period of more days. And by the time she stopped messaging altogether, it was too late to do anything. The police didn’t want to get involved, said she wasn’t a priority since she’d seemingly gone of her own free will. She’d disappeared. I was never really sure what happened.”
I reach across the table for her hand, my heart breaking for this young woman who took on the responsibility for her sisters, and through no fault of her own has lost both of them.
Nervously, she places her fingers in my palm, and I squeeze gently. Reassuringly.
“That’s why Payton and I moved to London when I turned eighteen, and why I have to find Payton. Searching for Taylor is my hobby, you could say.” She smiles sadly. “I don’t need another.”
“We’ll find her. And Payton. Both your lost sisters. We’ll find them both.”
There’s so much hope and trust in her eyes as she looks across at me. “You’ll help?”
“Give me a second.” I stroke my thumb over her knuckles then rise and grab my phone from where I left it on the kitchen counter. There are a dozen messages from the London Mafia Syndicate, which I scan. They’re all updates that amount to no progress yet. I message Richmond, and tell him I’ll call in the morning, because I need him to investigate the disappearance of another girl, some years ago, from Richmond.
There’s an immediate reply that includes a generous portion of Italian swear words and a thumbs-up emoji. Given that Richmond’s own family died in a mafia dispute, I take that as an affirmative and that I don’t need to make any threats to ensure he helps.
“That’s a start.” I click my phone off, and leave it on the counter before sitting down again. My girl deserves all my attention. It will screech if there’s an emergency alert from my second-in-command or the London Mafia Syndicate. “I just let Richmond know.”
She gnaws on her lip. “He won’t be upset, will he?”
I blink and have to restrain my irritated scowl at her concern about another man. “I don’t imagine he’s happy that two women have gone missing from his territory.”
“As long as he lets me stay in our house…” She toys with the last of her cake.
“What? You’re not going back there.” Whoever has Payton, we can be pretty certain they know where she lives. And if anything happened to Hayley, I’d have to tear the world apart to find her.
Which would be a waste. It’s generally quite a nice world.
She makes an injured sound. “I haven’t got anywhere else to go, and I know it’s a long commute to work, but?—”
“You’re not working there.” She was nearly killed in that café. I’d rather burn it to the ground than have her step into it again.
“You’re sacking me?” she says, her brows drawing together in concern.
“I was thinking you could remain here.” I avoid her question.
“Um.” She catches her plush bottom lip between her teeth. “I guess I could clean. Maybe cook, though I’m not a great cook but?—”
“Absolutely not. I already have people who do that. You should just stay. With me. Safe.”
“But I could keep your house instead,” she says eagerly. “I’m good at it?—”
“You’re trying to get people sacked? That’s a bit unfair, isn’t it?” This conversation is a runaway train. I don’t know how to stop it. It’s crazy.
She jerks and seems affronted. “But I have to work.”
“Why? You don’t have to.” I can do enough for both of us. I’m a billionaire mafia boss. She can live a life of luxury.
“Because!” She waves her hands. “I work. That’s what I do. I look after my sister—very badly, since she went missing?—”
“No, that wasn’t your fault,” I interrupt her.
“Look.” She takes a deep breath, my shirt rising. “I have this role. I’m the eldest sister. I care for my sisters, and I’ve done a crappy job?—”
“No.” I’m not accepting that.
“—And the other thing I do is provide for them. I got that qualification in Hospitality Management because I could earn while getting an education. They don’t need me to coddle them and sing lullabies, and yeah, that was the best bit. And I didn’t protect them from harm, but I’m responsible . I make money. I work. I might not like it all that much, but leave it for me. It’s the only thing I have left.” Her chest heaves from telling me this, and I think there are tears shimmering in her eyes.
“You’re good at looking after children?” I ask.
She shakes her head and looks at me as though I haven’t been listening. But I have. I really have.
“Yes, but?—”
“Care for my children, and I’ll take on everything else.” I’m gambling recklessly.
“I don’t understand.” But there’s a spark of hope in her expression, wary and fearful as a wild she-cat sniffing food and shelter left for her.
“What I most need is a woman to bear me children.” This is causing more adrenaline and fear than any of the bullets or knives that have ripped into me.
“Like…” She trails off, unsure.
“Like a wife.”
Her brow furrows. “You don’t mean that.”
That’s not a no.
I’ve done some scary and difficult things in my life, but standing and walking around the table to Hayley makes my heart slam between my ribs and my throat like nothing else.
“Maxim?”
I kneel and grasp her chair, dragging it so we’re eye to eye. With my hands on the armrests, I cage her in.
She’s going to listen while I bleed out my heart and soul.
“I mean it. I don’t have a ring yet, because this has all happened a little quicker than I expected. I assumed I would need months or years to earn your trust and affection, and I was willing to wait. I still am. But from the moment we met, I wanted you to be my wife and have my children. I want to put a baby in there.” My gaze dips to the gentle softness of her belly. “I love you, and I always will. If you give me a chance, I’ll be your fiercely loyal, besotted, adoring husband. I will protect you, and love you, and I will take on every burden you carry, happily.”
Her mouth falls open in a sweet pink “O”. She scans my face in apparent disbelief.
“I will fight for you and your sisters. Anything you want, I’ll provide. I might be jealous, and protective, but I will put you first, above anything.”
“Maxim,” she breathes, but I don’t stop. I can’t, now I’ve started.
“I’ve called you malishka since we met because it means ‘baby girl’ or ‘little one’ in Russian. I want you to be my baby. To love me and be my wife.”
Her gaze gets caught on my Adam’s apple and the bristles on my jaw.
“Why didn’t you say anything?” she whispers.
“Because I’m a Bratva boss, and my life has aspects I thought would break you, and that’s unacceptable to me. I love you. Hurting you in any way was the last thing I want. I couldn’t let you get dragged into dirty mafia business.”
“Payton did that well enough for all of us.”
“Yes.” My mouth hitches up in an ironic smile. “She did. But today you showed me that you can cope with anything.”
She’s still not looking into my eyes, so I tip her chin up so those pretty blue eyes meet my grey ones, and yes. Yes. The fear is there, but this girl’s wonder and trust are intact like no one I’ve ever met, just as it has been from the beginning.
“You’ve been so brave, and strong. Not only today, but for your whole life. But you don’t have to be anymore. You can tell me what you want, and I’ll provide it.”
She nips at her bottom lip.
I cup her jaw and let my expression go dark.
“Tell me the innermost secrets of your heart.” It’s a rasp.
“I want someone to look after me,” she whispers.
“Good girl.” I nod.
“To not have to work,” she adds, quicker this time. “And to have my sisters back.”
“Yes.” My gaze doesn’t waver from her eyes.
“And I’d like kids to love.”
I give a rumbling purr of approval. “That’s it.”
“With you. Because I’ve been half in love with you since we met, and today…”
“Go on.” The air is thick as I wait.
“I fell. I’m… I’m yours, if that’s what you want.”
She’s mine.
“Are you good at buying expensive tableware?” I ask.
“What?” Her eyes widen at my change of topic.
“Bowls, that sort of thing. Glasses.”
“I don’t think so.” She sounds baffled. “I don’t know. I’ve never bought any. We just use what came with our rented house.”
“Can you learn?” I demand.
“Maybe?” she says uncertainly.
“Good.” I can’t wait for a bed. I can’t be patient anymore.
She’s mine.
I have to have her.
I stand and sweep my arm across the table, clearing it with one motion. Glasses, plates, cutlery, it all crashes to the floor and Hayley squeaks as I pick her up and sit her before me on the white cloth.