Chapter 28
CHAPTER
TWENTY-EIGHT
BIANCA
The night of the casino fundraiser is my undoing.
I spend the next week feigning illness, an excuse to curl into the fetal position with Eris and not leave our bed. Because lying in the dark, questioning my every choice, my every decision that brought me to this very moment, is the only thing I am capable of currently.
Nothing makes sense. Not Jorge accosting me on the stairs. Not Daniil, supposedly a dangerous and lethal bratva boss who treats me like a true printsessa and protects me like I’m the most precious thing on the planet. He would do anything for me.
My final act of betrayal cost me dearly. It cost me my sanity.
It’s late afternoon by the time I drag my sorry ass into the bathroom.
I shower because after days in bed, I can’t stand how I smell.
Afterwards, I wrap myself in a towel, and brush my teeth, even though it feels like a lot more work than I’m capable of right now.
I’m thankful for the fogged-up mirror so I don’t have to look at my treacherous face.
Finishing up, I turn off the tap, and make a move to flip off the light, but something stops me. The knowledge that I haven’t checked the phone I use to communicate with Deidre since I planted the final bug in Daniil’s office a week ago.
Hands shaking, I bend down to open the cupboard door, then reach for the box of tampons. My hand hovers above the cardboard for one long moment. Is this what I want? Deidre will have undoubtedly sent me a message. And once I see it, I can’t unsee it.
But what’s the alternative? How long can I ignore her for? Because if she doesn’t hear from me, it’s not like she’ll back off the Kozlovs. The feds got what they wanted—four high-tech listening devices planted in the homes and offices of one of the most powerful crime families on the East Coast.
I log into our messaging platform to find that Deidre has left me only one message, sent earlier today.
USER3498: We need to meet ASAP. I’ll be waiting for you tomorrow @ 1500. Same place as last time.
Do they have something on my uncle and the Zegas? Hope flares for one brief moment before another thought takes over, a much darker one. She might have something on the Kozlovs.
Bile rises in my throat, but I swallow it back down. I need to keep my shit together long enough to find out what Deidre knows. I can’t hide from my actions any longer. But I also know I can’t face Deidre in person, not when I trust her even less than I trust myself.
USER9684: I have the flu, can’t leave the house. Call me at 1500. I’ll make sure I’m alone.
I put the phone back into hiding and crawl back into bed to block out the real world for as long as I can.
Sometime in the middle of the night, Daniil joins me under the covers. This is usually when things take an X-rated turn between us, but he’s been hands-off all week since he thinks I’m sick. Which I am. In the head. Instead, he just spoons me, breathing in my scent.
“How are you feeling, printsessa?” he asks, stroking my hair back from my face, dropping a sweet kiss on my cheek.
“Better,” I whisper. Although that’s not entirely true. Anticipating Deidre’s call tomorrow has brought on a fresh wave of anxiety. “How was your day?”
He stills for a second but then melts into me. “Bloody. Card counters, repeat offenders. They had already been warned and told to stay away from the blackjack table. I had to teach them a lesson.”
My body stiffens. “At the casino?” I ask, hysteria tinging my voice. Because if so, who knows what the feds picked up on.
He sighs as he brings me against his chest. His hand snaking around me to cup my breast, holding me against him.
“No, we keep bratva business far away from the casino. We own a garment factory in Brooklyn, that’s where we handle our shit. It’s one of the few places we can talk freely.”
Lead drops in my chest, hot and heavy, and the pressure knocks the breath from my lungs. Why did he have to go and tell me that now? I want to curl up into a ball and scrub that piece of information from my brain, but I can’t erase what I’ve learned.
Daniil nips at my neck and grinds me against his hard dick. “I’m glad you’re better, printsessa.” He flips me on my back. “’Cause I desperately need to fuck you.”
I open my mouth to protest because I don’t deserve him. I don’t deserve his tenderness or his heart, but he swallows my words with his lips and tongue, devouring me like a starving man. One hand wanders down my body, snaking under my nightgown to land between my legs.
Pulsating arousal and a blinding rush of ecstasy fill me, as happens every time his hands are on me.
Lighting me up from the inside out, as if we’re connected by electrical currents that flow between us.
With each touch, each drugging kiss, all those wretched feelings bouncing around inside me melt away.
He consumes me with such intensity that all I can do is take shelter in his arms, in our physical connection, and not think about the road to hell I’m leading us both down.