Chapter 5
Mariya
The bloody Russian didn’t release my wrist, and his two goons followed us into the lift. The initial shock of seeing him again threw me off, and the thought of him trying to take my children from me terrified me. I tried to pull away from him again, but he leaned down.
“If you don’t behave, I can take off my belt,”
he whispered.
I stopped struggling and looked at his men, but they stood facing the door. The hot memories flooded back to me as if it were yesterday. It had been two years and three months since I last had sex—the story of my life.
The doors pinged and slid open. The men stepped out but waited for us to exit before they followed us down the hall.
“I will send you instructions,”
the Russian said as he opened a set of double doors.
He moved me into the room, but I saw the two men standing in front of the door, guarding it.
“Are you a criminal?”
I blurted out.
“No. Why would you think that?”
he asked with his accent deepening, sounding offended.
While he had been looking at our children, I had been looking at him. He hadn't changed at all. His hairstyle, suit and facial features. He released my wrist, and I rubbed the flesh. The feel of his fingers lingered around the flesh, reminding me of the handcuffs. He waved his hand forward for me to step into the room.
“Please take a seat,”
he said when we reached the living room.
He certainly loved his spacious hotel accommodation. I sat on the single armchair and fixed the split on my dress. The Russian was busy on his phone and didn’t notice, but I realised it was a little late in the day to attempt modesty. I didn’t have any concerns about Orla. She would take the children home. She had been with me from the beginning and was the only person I trusted with the children.
“My name is Rurik Abrosimov. I have a global steel manufacturing company, and I can confirm that I am not a criminal. The company is run by me and my younger brother. The men outside usually travel with me. I travel to various countries, and security can be essential at times. I am thirty-eight years old, and I have no children,”
he said, shooting out facts as he paced before he paused mid-step. “Who is the woman the children went with?”
For the first time, I looked at him as Alexei and Tatiana’s father because he turned pale at the thought of some woman absconding with the twins. I winced, thinking about my father. There wasn’t a chance in hell that I would allow my family anywhere near my children.
“That was Orla. She is their nanny and has been with us ever since I gave birth to them,”
I said softly, watching as the relief cleared the frown away, and he sat down with a sigh.
“I looked everywhere for you,”
he said, shaking his head before he looked at me.
“I didn’t know about the split condom. If I did, I wouldn’t have left the way I did,”
I said, but when his eyes dipped to my neckline, more memories flooded back.
I guess I knew why the twins loved their breast milk so much.
“I want to see them,”
he said, raising his eyes.
Fear struck my heart again, but they were his children. I considered how the children would react to him. He spoke again while I was mulling over the dilemma.
“That is non-negotiable,”
he said. His icy voice made me shiver. “I missed everything.”
This was not in my plan. Fucking fate was here to uproot me again.
“Where do you live?”
“I have homes all over, but our company is based in Russia,”
he said before he stood up again.
He stuffed his hands into his trouser pockets and walked toward the balcony windows until I could no longer see his face.
“I am willing to do whatever it takes to spend time with my children. I missed your pregnancy, their birth and the most vital formative part of their young lives. They are as much mine as they are yours, Mariya,”
he said, and I closed my eyes.
They were all facts that I couldn’t deny.
“Rurik, a sudden change will unsettle them. I keep them in a tight routine and ensure they have a secure and stable environment.”
“I have no intention of waiting, Mariya. If you deny me access—”
His words trailed off, leaving the threat dangling in the air between us.
“What do you want?”
I said flatly.
“At this point, all I want is to see them again. Now,”
he said, turning to face me while the sun shone into the room. It made him look larger than life.
I swallowed down my fear. There was no part in my past that I felt genuine fear, but the thought of losing my children terrified me.
“Will you—I mean can—have you—”
My mind was divided as I tried to verbalise a series of questions. He was a one-night stand with consequences. I didn't know him.
“I will follow your lead,”
he said, cutting into my rambling. “Do you reside in Dublin?”
“For now. I was waiting until Tatiana and Alexei were a little older to move,”
I said with a sigh.
He remained silent before he returned and sat down.
“Tell me everything about them,”
he said earnestly, and I pulled my phone out before joining him on his couch.
I went back to the beginning, the weekly pictures of my bump that I was obsessed with. The images of their scans. Their birth and he looked at every single photo of them since then. I added a few comments for some of the pictures to give context or additional information. He laughed at some of their antics and commented on the outfits I chose for the holidays.
“I can send you all their videos. I record everything,”
I said when he got to the end, but he didn't look away from the picture.
I couldn't blame him. It was one where Tatiana was hugging Alexei, and he had a huge grin on his face while she was smiling and looking up at him.
“I missed all this,”
he choked out. “Look at them. My—our children.”
I wiped my eyes because I often wondered if I ever saw him again and how he would react. The men in my life were always selfish, and had I not had the twins, my heart may have hardened from the weight of my past.
“They truly are special,”
I said when I could talk again.
“They are,”
he said, but this time, there was a steely resolve in his voice that put me on edge again.
“Their home is their sanctuary, and I do not raise my voice or scare them in any way,”
I said with an equally hard voice.
There were some memories that never left you. As a child, I had many that I chose to ignore, but now I would be introducing a new person in their young, impressionable lives, I needed to be careful.
“Understood,”
he said as he eyed me speculatively before he stared at my breasts again.
My dress wasn't low cut, and his gaze almost made me look down in case I had a boob hanging out like in the early of feeding the twins. I gasped when I realised the cotton pads were wet.
“Uh, I have to go,”
I said, standing up.
“No,”
he said, shooting up.
I stomped my foot down angrily, losing my patience with him.
“No, I really have to go. I don't have my express machine with me, and the kids will want their milk.”
His jaw slackened, his lips parted, and his eyes dropped to my breasts.
“You're still breastfeeding them?”
he choked out.
I narrowed my eyes at him and scowled at him.
“A two-year period is recommended—”
I began to say, ready to spit out all my research data, until I saw him lick his lips.
“If you need some assistance with your breasts, then I am more than happy to help you,”
he said, his eyes lighting up with an unholy glow as taking a step closer.
I glanced at his crotch, and sure enough, there was a prominent bulge in his trousers.
“We need to go,”
I said, crossing my arms over the breasts that were hypnotising him.
Yet it took every last bit of my resolve not to look down at his dick again.