Chapter 23 – Emika
At this point, it was safe to say that I was gradually getting used to my life being in danger every now and then. The more assassins and near-death experiences I survived, the stronger I grew.
To make matters worse, I’d killed a man today. He was an enemy, sure. He was going to kill us if I had hesitated; it was self-defense. Yet that didn’t change the fact that I took a life. That man’s blood was on my hands, and no amount of scrubbing could ever wash it off.
I was becoming a version of myself that I couldn’t recognize in the mirror. Bold. Fierce. Unafraid. Watching Adrik take on those armed men all by himself broke something in me. It reminded me that being the wife of a Mafia boss meant that I must show no sign of weakness.
It was his duty to protect me. Yes. But it was also my responsibility not be a liability to him all the time. I didn’t want to be the woman who would always need saving. I should at least learn to defend myself.
I hated my new reality and all the death and destruction that came with it. But if I was going to survive in this world, I must learn to stand up for myself. It was a necessity that would save my life at any given time.
It had been a few hours since the attack, and I was still trembling. He’d asked me to try and get some rest. However, I couldn’t do that. Not while everyone else in the mansion was working on cleaning up the mess.
Together with Hannah and Natalya, I helped treat the injured maids. It was the only way that I could get my mind off the myriad of thoughts that plagued me.
What was Richard talking about before he died? What secret was he referring to? Was there something going on that I should know about but didn’t?
These questions overlapped in my head, making me wonder what I was missing here. My emotions were all over the place, my heart was racing, and the voices in my head wouldn’t shut the fuck up. It was like I was losing my damn mind.
A lot had happened in the last few hours, and my brain was still trying to process it all. After I was done helping out, I headed back to the master bedroom with shaky legs.
I took my clothes off and walked naked into the bathroom. As the warm water from the shower touched my skin, I began washing off the dirt and the blood. My hands were trembling, and my whole body was aching.
I was unharmed, yet I felt like I’d been run over by a truck. My joints hurt, my head ached, and my pulse wouldn’t stop racing. I could still hear the sound of rapid gunshots—could still see the blood and corpses when I closed my eyes.
Everything that had happened today was going to traumatize me for a really long time.
When I finished in the bathroom, I stepped out and changed into an oversized T-shirt. With my hair still damp, I strolled through the recently mopped hallway, looking for Adrik.
I found him in the ruins of his office. He was sitting on the couch in the dimly lit room, cradling a glass in his hand. Breeze whistled in through the shattered window behind his desk, rustling papers and documents.
He sat there in silence, a half-empty bottle of whiskey standing on the side stool. The minute he noticed me at the door, he rose to his feet, concern dancing in his eyes. “You should be resting.”
“I can’t.” I waltzed inside, my bare feet padding softly across the floor. “The voices in my head won’t let me.”
He sipped from his glass.
“How’re you holding up?”
He hesitated for a second. “Never been better.”
I halted in front of him, quietly taking the glass from his hand. After setting it on the stool, I straightened, looking up at his face. “I need a distraction from all of this,” I whispered, my hand sliding underneath his shirt.
He got the message, and without a word, he cupped my face in his palms. The air crackled with electricity as his intense gaze fueled my hunger. We rushed at each other’s lips without warning, the fervency of our kiss leaving us breathless.
He pulled me to himself, and I moaned in his mouth when I felt his erection. Heads tilted to the rhythm of our desire as tongues invaded mouths. He grabbed my ass, squeezing and spanking my butt cheeks.
Consumed by the flames burning within us, we began undressing each other. My fingers undid as many buttons as I could in a matter of seconds. The more our kiss deepened, the more I craved him.
Completely overwhelmed by sheer desire, I pushed against his chest, sending him down on the couch. Without thinking twice, I dropped to my knees, piled up my hair into a messy bun, and unzipped his pants.
His hard cock bounced up into frame, standing tall in my face like the Eiffel Tower. I dipped my head, taking his cap in my mouth.
He let out a satisfying groan.
I glanced up at him just in time to catch the expression on his face. He seemed to be enjoying what I was doing.
This was the kind of distraction I needed.
I sucked as though my life depended on it. I stroked, sucked, and even choked on that hard, veiny cock. Every few seconds, I’d glance at his face for motivation.
My whole mind was invested in pleasuring him in ways he’d never expected. I drowned out everything that could distract me from this.
He grabbed a handful of my hair while slightly bucking his hips. My eyes became glassy the deeper I took his cock down my throat. The blowjob was sloppier than I’d intended, rougher, and I loved it.
I gasped loudly when I pulled back from his groin with a thick thread of drool lingering on my lower lip. I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand.
He leaned back on the couch, watching me take off my underpants before straddling him. I reached down and took his cock, my fingers caressing his length for a moment.
I bit my lip, positioning him outside my entrance, and then slowly slid down his cock. He ripped the buttons of my shirt apart and buried his face between my boobs.
A soft purr escaped me as my pussy swallowed him whole. I swayed my hips delicately, twisting and twirling on his cock. He squeezed my breasts, his tongue working its magic on my nipples.
I felt a rush of excitement and soon began quickening my pace. The faster I rode his dick, the more slippery my pussy became. I threw my head back, reveling in the sensation coursing through my blood.
His groans fueled my passion, prompting me to ride even faster. I moved my waist back and forth, side to side, and even up and down. However, after noticing that he responded better to my back-and-forth, I decided to stick with that.
He grabbed my waist, his hands guiding and controlling my speed. I locked eyes with him while grinding at the pace he chose. Not too fast, not too slow.
I arched my back, my hands in my hair, my eyes rolling back. The feeling was elastic, each thrust drawing us closer to the edge. He lifted his waist and began ramming me from below.
My peaks were bouncing up and down as he drove into me with relentless strokes. The harder his waist ground against mine, the louder my moans grew.
“Oh, fuck yeah!” he groaned deeply.
Neither of us slowed down our paces. I continued grinding faster and faster. And he wouldn’t stop hammering me from under.
“Yes, yes, yes…!” I cried out, hands in my hair.
He kept going. Harder. And harder. And harder.
My face was contorted in pleasure, my mouth open in a silent scream. The sensation left me voiceless and weak. In that moment, nothing else mattered; the world had by now faded into the background.
I wrapped my arms around his neck, and he did the same around my waist. His primal growl signaled his arrival, and in the next second, he exploded inside me.
My cunt tightened around him, accepting every drop of his essence. Breathless, I slumped onto his heaving chest. I remained there in his strong arms, spent but satisfied.
I’d really needed this.
As minutes ticked by, reality started to dawn on me again. I was a murderer, my grandfather was dead, and Adrik was keeping a secret from me. Slowly, I slipped out of his hold and sat on the couch, fingers combing my hair back.
“Can I ask you something?” I looked at him.
He didn’t speak, but I saw the fear and unease flash in his gaze.
“What secret was Richard talking about?”
His breath hitched, even though his expression remained neutral. The silence that followed was louder than a gunshot.
Adrik rose to his feet. “There’s something I haven’t told you.”
My heart skipped a beat, unsure of what to expect. I had no idea what he could possibly be keeping from me, but I was eager to find out.
“A few years ago, a man came to the Tarasov Bratva for a loan,” he began, his voice rough but steady. “He couldn’t pay it back when due.”
I squinted, trying to guess where he was going with this because at first, nothing he was saying seemed linked to me.
“As the Fixer, the one who makes Bratva’s problems go away, I was asked to track him down and end his life,” he continued. “They told me he wasn’t just a debtor. They said he also stole some vital information and planned to sell it to a rival gang.”
Adrik’s story still wasn’t making any sense to me.
“I underestimated the man’s ability to stay hidden. And for months, I couldn’t find him.” He paused, meeting my gaze. “That was, of course, until Richard Beaumont promised to tell me exactly where he was.”
He mentioned someone I knew. But the dots were still not connecting.
“Your grandfather sold me the man’s hideout,” he went on. “I tracked him down and ended his life.”
I waited for more, yet he didn’t say anything else.
“That’s it?” I raised my brows. “That’s the big secret? What does that have to do with me?”
“Everything.”
I pulled my head back, confused. “I don’t understand.”
He hesitated, his eyes closing for a fleeting second. “That man’s name was Kenji. Kenji Morgan.”
My eyes widened in shock, and my heart began hammering in my chest. “Kenji Morgan?” I swallowed hard, rising to my feet. “That’s…that’s my father’s name.”
He nodded.
My hands flew in my hair, a wave of strange heat spreading through my body. I placed my hand on my beating heart as if having a panic attack.
“You’re… are you…” I stuttered, tears welling in my eyes. “Are you telling me that all this time that I thought my father abandoned us, he’s been dead?”
“I didn’t know who he was at the time.”
“Oh, God, my head’s spinning.” I sat back on the couch, my face in my palms. “I hated the man for years. I called him a deadbeat dad.” My voice broke into sobs. “I thought he’d left us, and you’re telling me you killed him?”
He lowered his head in dismay.
“How long have you known?” I looked at him, my face contorted into a faint frown. “How long have you known that I’m the daughter of the man you killed years ago?”
“Since the day of our wedding,” he answered. “Your grandfather revealed it to me himself.”
Tears streamed down my cheeks uncontrollably.
I was angry at him, at Richard, and at myself for hating the man. The truth was a hard pill to swallow, especially after finding out that I’d been wrong this whole time.
My father had never abandoned us. He’d been murdered in cold blood by the man I was starting to fall for. How twisted was that?
There was no point asking why he never told me; he couldn’t have. But even though I understood how difficult it was to always tell the truth, it still didn’t make it hurt any less.
I rose to my feet, put my panties back on, and walked away while buttoning up my shirt. Adrik didn’t stop me, though his gaze followed me until I disappeared from his sight.