Chapter 30
I wake with the warmth of Nik still wrapped around me, his arm heavy across my waist and his breath steady on the back of my neck. For once, there is no battle between us—just the steady drum of his heartbeat where he’s pressed against my spine. It feels safe. Safer than it should.
When I try to untangle myself from him, he grunts and drags me back like I’m nothing more than a weightless pillow he refuses to give up.
I stifle a laugh, my chest tightening at how absurdly normal this moment feels.
This marriage might have been forced upon us both, but right now, he feels like my husband.
I lie in his arms, staring at the ceiling, fighting against the quiet truth lurking in my thoughts. If I’m not careful, I’m going to fall for him. Maybe I already have, and that’s fucking terrifying.
“Good morning, little pet,” he groggily whispers against the nape of my neck when he finally gets up. He peppers kisses across my shoulder and along my neck for a moment before pressing his lips to my ear. “Get up and get dressed. We’re going out.”
“Out where?” I ask suspiciously, swinging my legs from beneath the sheets and perching on the edge of the bed.
“Out,” he repeats, smirking when I glare at his non-answer. I consider pushing, but curiosity is getting the better of me. We both shower and dress, after which I find myself quickly ushered to the parking garage and his Range Rover.
Excluding my coffee order when he parked at the curb and ran into the coffee shop on the corner, barely a word has passed between us as he drives across the city and walks me down the sidewalk into a jewelry store.
The air inside smells of leather, velvet, and polish. Overhead lights glint off the endless glass cases filled with the shimmering sparkling diamonds. Barely past the threshold, I stop short. “What are we doing here?”
With his fingers laced through mine, Nik practically drags me behind him as he strides toward one of the displays.
His presence fills the room, and the sales clerks practically trip over themselves to come greet us.
“I think it’s about time I bought my wife a wedding ring,” he shares casually, as if it’s the most obvious purchase in the world.
“Nik…” I choke on my swallow.
“What?” He turns toward me with an unreadable expression. “Did you expect me to leave you bare-fingered? Let every man in this city wonder if you’re really mine?”
Mine…
Heat creeps into my cheeks as the clerk brings out multiple trays of rings—row after row of glittering diamonds—in every size and shape imaginable. I hesitantly run my fingers over them. This isn’t a moment I was prepared for. Actually, I don’t know if I ever expected this moment to happen.
Nik watches me closely, excitement flickering in his eyes at my reaction to each of the rings. “Which one?”
My gaze wanders over the rings again, and I hesitate before pointing to a delicate band of platinum with a single oval-cut diamond. It’s beautiful, without being overtly loud. “That one,” I exhale.
Nik doesn’t bat an eye or even look at the price.
“You heard her.” Nik extends his hand to the clerk, exchanging the ring for the credit card in his hand.
The ring is cool as he slips it onto my finger, but my entire body warms at the notion.
Nik isn’t just buying me a piece of jewelry.
He’s stamping his claim on me for the whole world to see.
“It looks good,” he states simply, his eyes lingering on the ring as his thumb dusts along my hand.
“Thank you.” I swallow hard, my gratitude about far more than the ring.
“Don’t thank me yet, little pet.” He smirks before leaning in close enough that only I can hear. “I still plan to see how good it looks when it’s the only thing you’re wearing. Well, your wedding ring and your collar.”
I roll my eyes, trying to mask my true reaction—flushed cheeks and a fluttering pussy—to being collared and leashed for him again.
We leave the shop hand in hand, the band squeezing between my fingers and his.
As we step onto the sidewalk, Nik’s entire body tenses when he sees the men lingering a few feet down the street.
One glances in our direction, and his hand tightens around mine.
He pulls me flush to him, and we walk briskly toward the parking garage, with me tucked into him.
He’s silent as we cut between cars, and my stomach drops when I hear footsteps stomping across the concrete behind us.
Nik unlocks the car and shoves the key fob into my hand. His voice is sharp, with an edge of worry, as he barks, “Get in the fucking car.”
“Nik—”
“Now, Ani!”
The command in his tone leaves no room for argument.
I run the final few feet to the car, clutching the key.
A sharp whistle draws my attention, and I glance over my shoulder to find the three men from the sidewalk quickly approaching Nik.
I hastily climb into the car as they laugh and call out things I can’t quite make out over the pulse pounding in my ears.
I slam the door shut and push the lock button the second I’m inside.
My chest is heaving as I stare through the windshield at Nik. I clutch the handle of the door, watching as the men surround him in seconds. Three against one. They circle him like wolves, waiting to pounce. I should do something—anything—but I’m frozen with fear.
“You look nervous, Romanov,” one sneers, his muffled voice carrying through the slightly cracked-open window. “Not so tough without your brothers backing you up, are you?”
Nik spits at him, the spray landing just short of his target. “Come closer. I’ll show you just how not-so-tough I am.”
They laugh coldly as two of them lunge forward and grab his arms. He fights, his muscles straining, as they wrench them behind his back. But it’s useless… they’ve got him pinned. The third pulls a knife, and it glints under the harsh garage lights. “Nik!” I scream, my stomach lurching.
“After I gut you,” the man threatens, waving the blade inches from Nik’s chest, “maybe the three of us will have our way with that traitorous little bitch of yours. Show her what it’s like to get fucked by an Armenian man.”
Something shifts in Nik, and a terrifying stillness falls over him. His eyes darken, growing colder than I have ever seen them. The sight chills me to the bone.
With a roar, he jerks free of the men holding him. He grips the wrist of the man before him, twisting it until the knife clatters to the ground. Without hesitation, he drives his fist into the man’s throat, sending him sprawling across the garage floor.
A second man tries to grab hold of him again, but Nik throws his head backward so hard that blood sprays across them as he throws an elbow backward into the man’s gut.
The third scoops up the knife and lunges toward Nik. He grabs the handle and twists it, the man howls as Nik snaps his wrist and changes the direction of the blade. Slamming it home, he buries it in the man’s chest.
I gasp, my hands flying to my mouth as the man collapses at Nik’s feet.
The garage echoes with the sounds of their scuffle.
His chest heaving, he stands over them as he pulls his gun.
There isn’t so much of a second of hesitation from him, and I startle when gunfire echoes off the concrete.
It’s brutal and fast, Nik leaving all three of them on the ground—broken, bleeding, and lifeless.
Wiping his hand across his sweaty face, he leaves a smear of blood from his busted knuckles.
He spits again before lifting his eyes toward me.
My hands are still clamped over my mouth, and my body is trembling uncontrollably.
Nik strides to the car and yanks at the driver’s side door handle.
“Open the door, Ani.” I push the button, and he slides in with his jaw clenched so tightly that his teeth are grinding together.
Slamming the car into gear, he peels out of the garage.
I can’t speak. I can barely breathe. My heart is still hammering against my ribs as I stare at him with wide eyes.
His grip on the steering wheel is white-knuckled, and his other hand is squeezing my thigh almost as tight.
Warm liquid trickles onto my bare leg, and I realize he didn’t make it through that fight unscathed.
There is blood seeping through the sleeve of his shirt, a long cut slicing across his forearm.
“Nik—”
“I’m fine,” he promises, his tone still vibrating with adrenaline. “They didn’t lay a finger on you, and that means I’m fine.”
I sink back into my seat, the ring heavy on my finger and heart even heavier in my chest. He just killed three men without an ounce of hesitation.
To protect me. It should horrify me. And it does, at least a little bit.
But it also breaks something inside of me, because even as the blood stains his hands and my thigh, I can only think one thing.
.. I don’t know what I’d do if I lost him.