52. Dimitri
52
DIMITRI
F rom France, we take a private helicopter to Monaco.
Briar cried her heart out on the private jet. She's run out of tears, but I know she hasn't run out of sadness yet. The wound inside her will take time to heal.
She needs to be nurtured and taken care of. Her heart is a garden that is now mine to tend to.I need to plant flowers in all the places where she's most broken.
When we reach Monaco, we check into a hotel room in Monte Carlo.
I check all of the doors and windows. I have men guarding this entire hotel building. I even hired outside security. I took every single precaution, but I’m still worried.
To calm myself, I rest my eyes on Briar.
"You're looking at me differently," she says.
"Nothing has changed since the first time I saw you," I say. "It's impossible for me to take my eyes off you."
"No, this is different," she says. "You're looking at me as if you're worried I might break."
"I know you're much stronger than that," I say.
Her eyes flick up to mine. She's surprised by my comment.
"You think I'm strong?" she asks.
"Much more than you give yourself credit for," I say. "Your ability to bounce back and recover is admirable. After all you've been through, nobody would blame you if you chose to wallow in sadness. But you continue to blossom. You continue seeing the best in people, even though the world gave you every reason not to."
She takes a deep breath.
"How do you know I'm not faking it?" she asks.
"Because it's who you are, princess," I say. "Your beauty is more than just skin deep. Your soul is made of stardust.”
She closes the distance between us. Her eyes shimmer as she stares up at me.
"Dimitri, I think that's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me," she says.
I press a kiss on her forehead.
“Come on, it’s time to get dressed,” I say, taking her toward the walk-in closet.
The art auction has a formal dress code. The only reason I even considered bringing Briar with me is because there’s a masquerade theme. It was put in place to protect the identities of the people at this auction, so all I’ll have to do is make sure that Briar stays unrecognizable.
I also hired a couple of lookalikes with Briar’s build and face shape to throw off her mother should she suspect anything.
Briar gasps when she sees the dresses and jewelry.
"Dimitri, you should be careful about spoiling me," she says. "I'm starting to get used to this."
"It's what my princess deserves." I wrap my arms around her waist. "You better get used to it."
An unexpected flame starts burning between us. She exhales slowly, and I instantly know that she's wet between her thighs.
"Do you want me to try the dresses on?" she asks, turning around and giving me that wide-eyed stare. I know exactly what game she wants to play.
“That’s why I bought them for you,” I say.
“Pick one,” she says. “I’ll wear whichever one you want me to.”
“This one.” I point at a pink dress with a plunging neckline. It’s the exact color of her cheeks when they blush for me.
“It’s pretty.” She runs her hand down the fabric.
"I want to see you in it." I hold her chin and make her look at me. "Change into it, princess."
"Aren't you going to leave the room?" she asks.
"No, I'll be staying this time." I sit on a chaise lounge nearby.
"Oh.” She bats her long eyelashes at me. "Okay."
My eyes trail down her body as she disrobes. She’s in nothing but thigh-high stockings and a bra. There's a flush in her cheeks as she glances over her shoulder at me.
"You're watching," she whispers. "Aren't you supposed to look away?"
"I'm the king," I say. “If I want to look at my princess, it’s what I’ll do.”
She gives me a soft smile.
As I watch her, I have a vision of her wearing a white wedding dress and walking toward me.
She's my fatal obsession.
My biggest blessing.
I swallow. This girl makes me want to dream. She makes me want things I never even thought someone like me could ever have.
She slips into the dress I picked out for her. She can’t reach the zip at the back so she holds it together behind her waist.
"Do I look pretty?" She twirls for me.
"Come closer," I tell her. "Let me get a better look."
She saunters toward me, stopping between my outstretched thighs. There's a long slit at the side of her dress. I hold her thigh and rub circles over her soft skin.
Her breath hitches.
“What are you doing?” she asks.
"Admiring you." I drag my hand farther up her thigh.
She shifts on her feet. Her eyes are wide and confused.
"You knew it was only a matter of time before this would happen." I stop when I reach the inside of her thighs, brushing my index finger over her panties. "I've had my eye on you for a long time now."
I pat my thigh, asking her to sit on my lap.
She perches herself on my thigh. I keep my hand inside her dress, cupping her pussy possessively.
"Doesn't that feel good?" I ask her.
She blinks at me. "Are you supposed to be touching me there?"
"Answer my question, sweetheart," I say, tracing my finger up and down her slit. "Does it or does it not feel good?"
She blushes harder when I squeeze her pussy from over her panties.
"When you're sitting on my lap, you do what I tell you to," I say. "Is that understood?"
"Yes, my king." She lowers her lashes.
I spread her thighs until I can see the thin panties molded to her sex. She's soaked all the way through.
"Show me your pretty tits, princess." I lean in and press a kiss against her breastbone.
"But—"
"Do what I say before I get impatient and rip your dress open,” I order, slipping my hand inside her panties now. She's soaked all the way through.
My dirty little girl likes it when I boss her around.
"I don't think this is right," she says.
"I don't care about what's right," I say. "I fucked you a thousand times in my head. I filled you with my seed and knocked you up already. Now show me what's mine."
She pushes the fabric of her dress aside to show me her perfect breasts.
"These bratty tits," I say, leaning down to suck on one of her nipples. "They haunt every dream I have. They're the bane of my fucking existence."
As I suck on her nipples, I drag two fingers up and down her slit.
"I have no business dreaming about this pussy, but it's all I can seem to think about. I can't eat, I can't sleep, I can't get any work done. Only you can put me out of my misery now, princess,” I say.
She gasps when I plunge my fingers inside her slick entrance.
She fits around me like a dream.
“This is a pussy men will go to war for,” I say. “I’m supposed to be protecting it, but I’m a greedy bastard. I want it all to myself.”
She whines when I start pumping my fingers in and out of her pussy. My cock aches like a motherfucker, so I undo my zipper and free it. Her eyes widen when she sees the size of it.
"It'll feel good once it's inside you, little girl," I say. "It might be a little too big for you at first, but you'll get used to it. I'll make you bounce on top of it until you realize you can't live without it."
The desperation I have for this woman feels like a necklace of thorns. And it digs into my skin the longer I go without having my cock inside her.
I push her panties all the way to the side and replace my fingers with my cock.
"I'm going to hell for this, but you're going to feel like heaven, aren't you?" I ask.
I piston my hips and impale her on my cock. She digs her fingernails into my shoulders and throws her head back.
"I'm a sick bastard for wanting you, but I can't help myself," I say, pumping into her tight fuck hole. "I need this pussy like I need oxygen."
I bounce her on top of me, fucking her with rough, shallow thrusts that have her pretty tits bouncing everywhere.
"You're milking me so good," I say. "My perfect little girl."
She lets me use her like she’s a toy built for my pleasure. She moans softly every time I bottom out inside her. Her bedroom eyes are fixed on me.
It fills me with pride that I'm the one doing this to her.
I'm the only man she'll ever look at this way. I'm the only man she'll spread her thighs for. I'm the only man who gets to protect and cherish her.
We end up on the carpet.
The rest of the world ceases to exist as I lose myself inside her.
"I'm going to spend the rest of my life trying to breed you," I say. "And you're going to like it."
Our foreheads are pressed together as I jackhammer my cock inside her. She keeps her thighs wrapped around me and takes it like a good girl.
"The least I can do is pull out, but this pussy feels too good," I say. "It's designed to make me lose my mind. And I've finally lost it. There's no way I can pull out now. Not when you're trying to milk me with your walls, trying to seduce me into spilling inside you."
She moans as I start fucking her harder, bottoming out inside her with every thrust.
"You're supposed to be treated like a soft princess," I say. "But when my big dirty cock is inside you, you'll be treated like a whore. And you secretly like that, don't you? You like being my little slut."
My filthy words make her climax. It feels like a thousand tiny hands clenching and unclenching around me, telling me that it's okay to sin. It's okay to give in to this forbidden temptation of a girl.
"Fuck, baby girl," I say. "Take my come now. Keep these thighs open as I fill you up to the brim."
She's panting as I empty myself inside her.
"Good girl," I say, thrusting my come into her. "You take it like a good little princess."
I roll over on the carpet and hold her close to my chest.Our heartbeats syncopate, becoming one.
I kiss her forehead.
"I want to stay like this forever," she says.
“If you change your mind about coming to the auction, just let me know,” I say.
She looks at me. “You don’t want me to come along, do you?”
"To be honest, it goes against my every instinct," I say.
I never feel this way, but I’m anxious about having her here. I spent a whole week planning every detail of our trip to Monaco, but things can always go wrong.
“Dimitri, it’s going to be fine,” Briar says, touching my face.
I take her hand and kiss it.
One of the reasons I brought Briar with me is because she needs this closure. She needs to see her mother being destroyed once and for all.
My phone starts ringing. I glance down at it to see that it’s from an unknown number. I pick it up anyway because only my closest men have this number.
"Hello?"
" Pakhan , it's me," Pavel says.
I glance at the number again.
"Why are you calling from a new number?" I ask him.
"Because our phones have been compromised," he says. "I have news about Rurik. His life is in danger."
"What are you talking about?" I ask.
"He came to Monaco, and Malorie Thorne found out about it,” he says.
It gets harder to breathe. I extricate myself from Briar and head toward the balcony for fresh air. I shouldn't be out here, but I don't want Briar to pick up on my nervous energy.
"Explain," I say into the phone.
"Hold on a second, my service is poor on this phone," he says.
I drum my fingers against the balustrade as I wait. I can't stop thinking that this is all my fault. I shouldn't have let this happen. I should have been there for my family when they needed me. I failed my sisters, and now, I’m failing my brother too.
"Can you hear me now?" Pavel asks, breaking the downward spiral of my thoughts. His voice is still going in and out.
"Yeah, I can hear you fine," I say.
“We saw him on one of the traffic cameras,” he says. “He was driving a rental. We followed his movements and saw his car being totaled by a truck. It didn’t look like an accident. By sheer luck, Rurik managed to get out of the car. He was injured, but he ran a few blocks. That’s when a group of masked men took him. I have no way of knowing of course, but I suspect it was Malorie’s men who took him.”
"Why do you keep calling her that?" I ask.
"What?"
"Malorie," I say. "You know that's not her name."
He's quiet for a moment.
"You know what I mean," he says.
An unsettling feeling takes root inside me. I feel like I have something crawling on my skin, but I can't pinpoint where it is.
“Okay, send me the location where he was last seen,” I say. “Also, let Igor know about this as well. It’s a small country, and I’m sure he can hack into all the CCTV cameras here.”
“Will do,” he says. “I’ll let Igor know.”
My heart stops beating for a moment. And then it starts galloping.
While Igor is a popular Russian name, I don’t have anyone by that name in my Bratva.
"I don't know who you are, but I'm going to fucking find you and end you," I say before I hang up.
I stare at my phone.
Whoever I just spoke to was not my second-in-hand. Someone was using artificial intelligence to mimic Pavel's voice. The only question is...why?
I quickly head back into the hotel room.
And instantly, I know something's wrong.
"Briar?" I call out, heading toward the bathroom. She's not here. I quickly check the rest of the rooms in the suite.
Fuck.
The phone call was a trap.
And I fell for it.
Whoever called me knew that I would go to a private place to take the call about my brother. They knew that I wouldn’t want Briar to see me worry.
My palms are sweaty as I call my men.
"Briar is missing. Stop whatever you're doing and focus on finding her," I say.
And then I hang up. I can't believe I let this happen right under my nose. I have nobody to blame but myself.
I was supposed to take care of her, but I failed.
I fucked up.
I'm about to head out of the room, but it gets harder to breathe. I rest my hand against the wall as my body starts working against me. I try to push through the resistance, but my lungs aren't having it.
I know what this is.
I've seen Olga have these before. I'm having a panic attack.
All of my thoughts and past mistakes seem to be collapsing in on me, and I don't know if I'm strong enough to ever push past the rubble. It feels easier to stay buried underneath it all.
But I make myself focus on one thing and one thing only—my woman.
I take deep breaths as I envision her face. It appears in front of me like a beautiful dream. I envision meeting her at the altar. Those beautiful violet eyes fixated on me as we're pronounced man and wife. I have something to live for, something to fight for. I need to be there when we welcome our child into this world.
The fear is still pumping furiously through my veins, but I focus on my love.
I stand.
There's only one thought left in my mind now—I'll stop at nothing to find her again.