Chapter 33 Dahlia
DAHLIA
Tomorrow, the secrecy will end. I will take his hand, and we will walk hand in hand into my brother’s house. Together.
I refuse to live in secrecy any longer. Enzo will accept our love because we won’t give him an alternative.
I refuse to go to my bed alone when I want to fall asleep in his.
I refuse to be afraid after I’ve been terrified for years. The girl I used to be is gone.
The metamorphosis is now complete. It took years, but I’ve emerged from my cocoon and become a woman. And this woman is not afraid to go after what she desires.
At the piano, I touch my lips. They still tingle from his possessive kiss. This man can kiss. Kiss me silly. Kiss me mad.
The phone call with my sister-in-law just a few minutes ago gave me the final push.
“Love hates secrecy, Dahlia. It wants to be in the open. It’s self-centered like that.”
I smiled at her reply. “Thank you for giving me tonight. But tomorrow, it ends.”
I am so thankful to her for having distracted my brother for the last few days.
Tonight, I will reveal to Mika what I’ve worked on tirelessly. A completely new composition. A declaration of love resounding in every key.
Inhaling deeply, I straighten my shoulders and offer him a soft smile.
He pats his chest in return. He’s not hiding in the shadows anymore, but sits in the middle of the first row.
Turning my attention to the piano, I pour my endless love into every note. Floating beyond time and space.
The hour ends, and silence greets me. My heart twists, thinking I did a horrible job, and then the audience explodes, easing me instantly.
Everyone jumps from their seats, clapping in a frenzy. Overcome with gratitude, I bow my head to the audience in thanks. As my eyes sweep the crowd, I see a flash of a shadow that resembles my brother. My nerves must be at an all-new height, making me paranoid.
My sister-in-law organized a romantic date tonight, and they’ll be holed up in their penthouse at the hotel.
Mika’s eyes glisten as he blinks at me, rooting me in place. I am terrified that it was too much. That he didn’t like it, but that all goes away when he rises to his feet and strides to me.
Cupping my cheek, he lowers his face, breathing me in.
“Thank you.”
Two simple words, but with a world of meaning behind them.
The curtains close around us just in time for him to claim my lips in the softest kiss possible.
“You liked it?” I murmur.
He closes his eyes for an instant, but not before I glimpse an unbound love burning in them. “I loved it. I have no words, baby girl.”
I take his hand and place it on my heart, saying in Russian, “Ty muza za vsem etim, lyubov’ vsey moyey zhizni.” You’re the muse behind them all, the love of my life.
“You know Russian?” he asks, the awe clear.
A cheeky smile teases my lips, quite proud of myself for surprising him. “I’ve learned to feel closer to you.”
A big grin stretches across his face. “So, you’ve known all along what I’ve been telling you.”
“It gave me hope that…” I shrug, not needing to continue what he already knows. We overcame that. We bid unrequited love farewell.
“You don’t need to hope anymore, zhizn moya,” he rasps, impatience threading his voice. “Right now. I’ll tell him right now. Fuck it all.”
He grabs my hand and is about to move when I put all the force into standing my ground.
“Tomorrow. Please. I want this night to be about us. Our love.”
His eyes battle with indecision, but I know he will always respect my wishes even if they go against his beliefs.
“Tomorrow then,” he says with finality.
“Don’t leave me.” I am terrified something might happen to him.
I would sacrifice my happiness if that were what it took to keep their brotherhood from ending. While I prefer to stay positive, the nagging thought chews at my happy bubble.
“Nothing and no one has that power. Say you believe me. Say you trust my word.”
My throat swells with emotion. I nod, incapable of forming words.
Whatever tomorrow brings, I know one thing for certain. Our love is worth it. And a love like ours will bend the rules of morality, twist the laws of time and space if needed.
“What do you want to do, baby girl?”
I am so greedy to experience it all. Go out and shout to everyone that we’re together. But that can wait one more day.
“Take me home.”
“Home it is. And you can bet your sweet ass that you’ll stay starting tomorrow. For good.”
“Aren’t we getting ahead of ourselves?” I ask in a playful tone.
I am so drunk on him that I barely register that we’re walking to his car.
“Oh, baby girl. Playing hard to get won’t work. What is the only acceptable answer?” he asks as he opens the passenger door for me.
“Yes,” I reply as I slip inside.
“Good. You’ll use it often.”
There’s a promise hidden behind his words. My voracious little heart latches onto the only scenario. Oh my God, is he implying what I think he is?
Once he’s in the car and drives away, I emerge from my mental haze. “Don’t play with me like that.”
The traffic light turns red, and his arm shoots to cup the back of my neck.
Bringing my face to his, he says above my lips, “The only thing I intend to play with for a lifetime is your body. But that’s where the playing ends. I will not play or gamble with your heart, your safety, or our life and future together. Got it?”
My insides melt into a pool of warmth, I might as well liquefy in the seat.
“Got it,” I say through a big smile.
Placing his hand on my thigh, he drives with the other. I stare, captivated by the thick vein running along his perfectly manicured but calloused hand. Just like him, polished on the surface, rugged on the inside. He looks so sexy and powerful as he controls this beast of a car.
“Stop looking at me like that or we’re not making it until home,” he groans.
Hmm. An idea pops into my head, and I glide a finger down his arm.
It’s like he has a direct connection with my brain because his hand grips the wheel harder, his chest vibrating.
“Dangerous game, baby girl.”
I lick my lips, ecstatic to affect him.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I play coy.
There’s no excuse for my behavior. I just love driving him wild.
His mouth curves into a knowing smirk as I brush my finger down his chest and palm his cock. “So hard.”
“You just have to fucking breathe in my presence and I get hard,” he says seriously. “I will never jeopardize your safety. Whatever you’re thinking can wait until we get home.”
The gates open before my eyes, and I breathe a sigh of relief. By the time he parks, I stumble out of the car, intoxicated. But he’s faster, catching me and lifting me off the ground.
“I have to have you right fucking now.”
“Take me.” I urge him, tugging at the ends of his hair as I wrap my arms and legs around his thick neck and trimmed waist.
Hopefully, our exhibitionist desire will fade. It would mortify me if someone saw me in the act. Fantasy is one thing, but reality is something else entirely.
He climbs up the stairs two at a time, but doesn’t stop kissing me, his body rippling with ferocious lust.
We don’t make it to bed. Inside the bedroom, he backs me against the wall by the door, rips my thong and is inside of me in one go. The groan he lets out is feral. The moan I let out is desperate.
“Fuck, what are you doing to me?” Thrust. “I can’t get enough.” A harder thrust. “The more I have you, the more I want you.”
A succession of quick thrusts follows, leaving me gasping for air, until he switches to slow, passionate ones—the alternating rhythm a testament to our love, erratic and desperately passionate.
“Never stop loving me like you can’t breathe without me,” I moan, clawing my nails down his back.
Eyes locked, he slams his mouth on mine, pouring his soul into mine.
“Never, zhizn moya.”
We come together in sheer bliss.
My brain swims in a cocktail of endorphins that I doubt I will ever come down from this ultimate high.
Burying his head in my neck, he breathes me in, nibbling along my neck. “You’ve turned me into a madman.”
I caress down his back, nibbling along his jaw. “You’re my madman.”
“Only yours. Only fucking yours.”
He places me down gently. My legs shake, threatening to give out on me, but he holds me by my waist, supporting me until he’s sure I won’t lose my balance. I don’t care, knowing he’s here to catch me.
“I’m so happy, Mika. I am terrified it won’t last.” I look up at him, suddenly emotional.
He grips my chin, brushing his thumb along my jaw. That gesture instantly soothes me.
“Please, don’t be terrified. I can take any fucking thing but that.”
I nod, smiling softly, feeling his love threading through the fabric of my being.
Inside the bathroom, he undresses me, and we slip into the shower where he gently cleanses me.
“I’m craving ice cream,” I say, not caring that water slips in my mouth. “And then I want to go to bed and watch a movie.”
He kisses my forehead, the sweet gesture making me weak in the knees. “Then that’s what you’ll get.”
He’s spoiling me terribly. I grin, and he catches the meaning behind it.
His gaze reflects acceptance. “So be it.”
“Wise man.”
“Wise my ass,” he grumbles, and I burst into laughter.
He wraps me in a fluffy towel, and I squeeze my hair, getting all the wetness out. As he dries himself, I dress in his shirt, loving having something of him on me.
“Not that I mind you wearing my shirt, on the contrary, but I want your stuff next to mine. In our closet. If I have to bring them from the mansion or buy you an entire new wardrobe, I don’t care.”
I giggle. “You might go bankrupt because of how much you spend on me.”
“I’ll make sure that doesn’t happen.”
He gazes at me as if to test his theory. My wonderfully crazy man I love with everything in me.
He’s in shorts, and I wear his shirt as we descend the stairs.
I am too wrapped up in him to notice the sudden shift in the air, but he does because even in the dark, a predator feels someone lurking around.
His body tenses, as if preparing to attack. He pushes me to his back at the exact moment a familiar voice roars, “My fucking sister.”
Enzo switches on the light. My brother looks disheveled, eyes shifting from left to right, taking on a mad gleam. His chest pants with suppressed rage. His state reveals the carnage ensuing, and my heart stops.
I gulp, looking around frantically. Where is my sister-in-law? Without her here, this night will end up in a catastrophe. Panic punches me straight in the gut and I can barely stand upright.
He points his Glock right at Mika’s chest. “I didn’t want to believe what my own eyes, my own ears, my brain told me. But you went there…”
“Let me explain. Put the fucking gun down.” Mika tries, raising his hands in the air in a non-threatening response.
“Now you care about your fucking life?” my brother shouts, his finger shaking on the trigger.
“It’s not fucking about me,” he shouts back, nostrils flaring as he stares my brother dead in the eyes.
“It never was. It’s always been about Dahlia.
I live for her. So, if you kill me, I’ll fucking bargain with the devil himself to let me torture you for eternity if you cause her that pain.
For some fucked-up reason, she wants me.
Loves me, and I’m done questioning why. I’ll be damned if I don’t give her everything she desires. Me included.”
My brother still points the gun at him, seemingly unimpressed by the declaration of love.
Tears stream down my face. “Nooo,” I plead with him. My brother, the only other man I love, can’t be the one to tear my happiness away.
A shot rings out. The bullet rips through the air and shreds my love story to pieces. A piercing sound follows, and I realize it’s coming from me.