Chapter 28
I have been pacing the hardwood floor barefoot for hours, staring at the door like I can magically will Nik through it.
He left hours ago with Cillian and Enzo, the three of them tight-jawed, with sharp eyes, and cold, like they were bracing for the job they knew was coming.
When they leave for work like that, it’s never good.
My nerves have been fraying to threads, and my stomach ties into knots with every tick of the clock.
The door finally swings open, and Nik looks like he just fought his way back from hell.
His shirt is bloodied and wrinkled, and the jacket he left wearing is nowhere to be seen.
Beneath the blood on his hands, his knuckles are split and raw.
This seems to be normal for him. He looks anxious, or maybe wound tight from the events of the evening.
Relief that there doesn’t appear to be anything seriously wrong with him causes my heart to stumble. “Nik,” I choke, my breath catching in my throat as I cross the room to him before I can think. My arms fling around him, pulling me into his broad chest—desperate to feel that he’s still here.
He lets out a heavy exhale, and the rigidity of his body relaxes with it as his arms wrap around me. I press my face to his chest and breathe him in, and in a split second, the world no longer feels right. Beneath the scent of blood and cigarette smoke is a sweet and unmistakable aroma.
Cheap perfume.
My relief curdles into something sour and ugly, my stomach flipping at the thoughts my imagination is quickly cultivating. I take another deep breath to be sure, but there is no mistaking it. It clings to his shirt and skin like he bathed in it.
Slowly, I pull back, my eyes narrowing on him. “What the fuck is that?” My tone is sharp, but my voice cracks as I fight the trembling of my lower lip.
His brows draw toward the bridge of his nose. “What?”
Placing my hands on his chest, I shove him from me. “What?” I snip, glaring at him. “That smell. Cheap-ass perfume. You reek of it.”
He blinks for a moment, and the realization of being caught creeps over his expression. “Ani—”
“Don’t,” I snap, my chest heaving and hands trembling. “Don’t you dare. Don’t you fucking stand there and act like I don’t know what that smell is. We are a lot of things, Nikolai, but we do not lie to each other.”
“I am not lying,” he asserts with conviction.
“You expect me to believe you came home this”—I gesture at his bloodied and disheveled appearance—“and just happened to lose your jacket and get perfume all over you?”
His jaw tightens, and his eyes narrow—anger flashing within them—as he takes a step closer until he’s towering over me. “Ani.”
I’m not na?ve; I know that this is how most arranged mafia marriages work. Not na?ve, just stupid. I thought he was different. “If you have a mistress, or plan to have one, just tell me that’s what this marriage is going to be.”
“I wasn’t with anyone.”
I snark out a bitter laugh. “Right… because men come home smelling like cheap whores every night. How stupid do you think I am?”
“I said I wasn’t with anyone,” he barks, his nostrils flaring as he takes a few heated breaths. “Do you actually think I’d fuck around on you?”
“Why wouldn’t you?” My voice kicks up an octave, tears burning my eyes as he stands before me and spews lies. “I’m just some woman you had to marry. A pawn in my brother’s play for power. Nothing more than a convenient pussy keeping your bed warm. We both know that’s all I am to you.”
Nik’s whole body goes rigid, like I just drove a blade between his ribs.
The look in his eyes darkens—absolutely furious, like the night he nearly beat that man to death at the club—and his jaw clenches so tightly I think he might break a tooth.
“Do you really think that’s all you are to me?
” His tone is low, vibrating with barely restrained rage.
I cross my arms and blink back tears, forcing myself to hold his angered stare. “Isn’t it?”
The air between us grows so thick it couldn’t even be cut with a knife, the two of us staring at each other in heated silence for what feels like an eternity.
“I didn’t ask for you,” he snarls, stepping so close the heat of his angered breath burns as it blows over my skin. “Didn’t want you. But when I look at you, Ani, all I see is the one fucking thing in this world who could bring me to my knees.”
The words hit me harder than any slap ever could, and the air in my lungs punches out of me. It’s ragged and sharp as my pulse hammers chaotically.
Still upset, I shove him away from me. Before I can put any distance between us, he grips both of my arms bruisingly hard and drags me against his chest. Our mouths crash together with such force that our teeth clatter together.
This isn’t just a kiss. It’s a war. His hand fists my hair, and my nails rake down his back, as we kiss each other so violently—both of us trying to hurt and claim in the same stolen breath.
I gasp against his lips, and he takes it as an invitation, shoving his tongue past my lips. He plunders my mouth until my knees buckle. Heat burns through me, fury and need coursing through my veins.
Nik rips at my clothes, tearing the straps of my tank top, yanking it down until my breasts spill free. His mouth covers them in an instant. He bites, sucks, and leaves bruises that I will feel for days.
“Fuck you,” I breathlessly snarl, grinding against him with desperation, despite my words.
“Already planning on it, little pet,” he growls, spinning me around and slamming me against the nearest wall. The impact rattles through me, knocking the wind out of me. But I don’t care.
He hikes my skirt over my ass and tears my lacy panties off, quickly replacing them with a rough hand between my thighs. His fingers push into me without warning. I cry out, my back arching and nails digging into the wall as he thrusts them into me relentlessly.
“So fucking wet for me,” he gravelly whispers against my ear. “Do you really think I need anyone else when you’re always like this for me? Dripping. Ready. Begging me to ruin you.”
“I’m not begging,” I lie to myself even as my hips buck against his hand.
A dark, knowing laugh rattles against the side of my throat. “You’re seconds from coming for me. Tell me you don’t want me. Let me hear you say it, Ani.”
“I—” The word breaks into a moan when he adds pressure to my clit, firm, hard circles that leave my whole body shaking.
“You can’t.” He chuckles, almost triumphantly. “Because you do. You want me. You fucking crave your Daddy.”
I want to deny it, push from this wall and spit in his face, but the orgasm he’s demanding crashes through me, tearing the words from my mouth in a strangled cry. My body convulses as I come on his hand, coating it with my slick release.
Still at the peak of my high and struggling to breathe, Nik spins me again and bends me over the arm of the couch.
His cock slams into me in one hard thrust, filling me so quickly that I scream.
Without giving me a moment to adjust, he pounds into me.
Each brutal thrust is both a promise and a punishment all at once.
He uses his grasp on my hips to drag me into him, gripping tight enough to bruise my skin.
“You’re mine,” he growls, fucking me harder and deeper. “And I’m yours. You are the only fucking smell I want on me. Your expensive fucking perfume. Your sweet fucking cunt. You! Do you fucking understand me?”
Tears spill down my cheeks, both ecstasy and my heart tearing open. “Yes…” I sob. “Yes, Daddy.”
His rhythm falters for a few thrusts before he desperately surges even harder. He folds over me, biting my shoulder as my legs begin trembling beneath me. “That’s Daddy’s good fucking girl.”
We come together violently—my pussy clenching around him as he empties his release inside me—as our cries of pleasure fill the apartment.
Nik collapses on top of me, his forehead resting against the back of my neck, both of our bodies quivering as we struggle to catch our breath.
Still buried deep inside me, he maintains his bruising grip on my hips like I’ll vanish if he lets go.