Chapter 39
CHAPTER
THIRTY-NINE
ALYONA
Leaving Kira was hard. Not just for me, for all of us, judging by the tense silence on the journey back to Moscow. Belov arranged for his private helicopter to transport us. Tensions being what they were, I didn’t think it was wise for us to spend the night.
Anyhow, Kira was adamant that we leave. It was only after we said our final goodbye and the bird lifted into the air did her face fall. Doubt creeping in. But by then, it was too late. She’d made a deal with the devil.
And the devil happens to be my father.
Belov was surprisingly easygoing about swapping me out for Kira, and honestly, it makes me uneasy.
Why did he go along with her plan so readily?
I get that Kira has her motivations, though those are still a mystery to me, but Belov?
He’s an enigma wrapped up in a mystery, wrapped up in a ten-thousand-dollar suit.
I don’t trust him as far as I can throw him.
But he’s my biological father who is (weirdly) going to marry my best friend, so I can’t shut him out of my life completely.
But as we left his compound tonight, I warned him he better treat Kira like the fucking queen she is. Biological father or not, I will kill him by my own hand if he hurts one hair on her head.
Behind me, Leo carefully runs a loofah along my arm, trailing it up to my neck before gliding it back down. A pleased hiss escapes me. “I can practically hear your mind working,” Leo says, releasing a small chuckle.
“I’m still shell-shocked,” I admit. “I never imagined that tonight would end with us together and Kira being tied to Belov for life.”
“It’s crazy.” He sighs. “And if I thought for a second Kira sacrificed herself for us, I wouldn’t have allowed it. But she offered herself up for a reason.”
In the end, this here is all that matters—Leo and I, moving forward without secrets and lies. It broke me to hear the truth that Leo had buried for so long, knowing how it ate him up all this time. But would it have been better if he’d told me the truth all those years ago? I honestly can’t say.
Knowing the ugliness Serge was capable of is still a bitter pill to swallow and not just for me, but Yulian too.
After we got back to the suite, we all sat around and talked well into the night. Some things can’t easily be fixed. Some pain takes time to heal. It’s the way it is. But Leo and I, we’ve agreed to leave the darkness in the past and move towards the light. Together.
Leo’s warm breath cascades over my neck, causing my eyes to flutter closed. “What are you thinking?” he whispers, dropping small kisses along the nape of my neck.
I glance out the window at the sun rising above the horizon. “I’m thinking it might be time for some sleep.” We’ve been wrapped up in each other since we got back to the suite and haven’t had time for much else.
“Sleep is for the weak,” he jokes, allowing his hands to wander over my breasts and under the water. I sigh, warmth growing in the pit of my stomach. “Before we go for another round, tell me what’s going on in that pretty little head of yours.”
“My head is …” I close my eyes and marvel at the truth. “Quiet, actually. It’s my heart that’s making a racket. I didn’t think I’d ever see this day.”
He lets out a deep sigh of contentment, and I can feel the steady rhythm of his heartbeat against my back.
“Neither did I. But fuck, I feel like I’m getting a second chance at life.
” I turn to him and see a mischievous glint in this eye.
“And I want to say … I’m ‘sorry, not sorry’ for fucking with your love life in Paris. ”
“There was never going to be anyone else for me,” I admit. “Even before you scared them away. It didn’t help that I was still in love with this one man from my past.”
“Oh yeah,” he purrs in my ear. “Tell me about him.”
“He’s six three, hot as sin, tattoos everywhere. Although he has this one tattoo of a butterfly that I think is really sweet. He has great hair—thick, dark—looks best when he grows it out to shoulder length … hint, hint … and”—I raise my left hand out of the water—“I’m already wearing his ring.”
He threads his fingers with mine, his thumb brushing over the diamond glinting on my finger. “It’s very convenient indeed. Know why?”
“Why?” I ask, playing coy.
He turns me around so I’m straddling him, looking into his soulful brown eyes. “Because I’d really, really like it if you married me. How about it, butterfly. Are you gonna say yes and make me the luckiest man in the world?”
“Yes! Fuck yes!” I laugh and kiss him, my chest feeling like its going to burst with all the happiness in the world.
“The only thing I care about is being with you. But there is one more thing.” Because this time, it needs to be his choice.
“If being part of Kozlov Bratva is what you want, if it makes you happy, I won’t take that away from you. I can make peace with it.”
“No, butterfly, I’m ready to cut the ties. Andrei is not my father, he doesn’t see the honor in forcing a destiny on someone who never wanted it in the first place. My brothers will always be my brothers, that will never change, but you and our future is all that matters to me now.”
Emotion clogs my throat as I wrap my arms around his neck. Our tongues meet and intertwine, break apart and meet again. I can’t get enough of him. His taste, this touch, his scent. Not only in this moment, but forever.
I want to uncover all the layers of him I didn’t know about—the good, the bad, the messy—all of it. As long as he is by my side for this crazy journey of life.
When I finally pull away, he grins and cups my jaw, guiding my gaze to his. I can feel the head of his cock nudging against my opening under the water, and I adjust my hips, my core lined up perfectly to take him in. His voice is hoarse when he says, “You look damn hot with my ring on your finger.”
He groans, his fingers digging into my hips as I slowly sink down on his hard length, loving the way he fills me up to bursting. “And you feel damn good with that piercing in my cunt.”
“Butterfly,” he whispers, his voice thick, “there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you. Whatever you need, whatever you want. You are my fucking queen, and I will obliterate anything that stands in our way.”
I writhe against him, barely able to form the next words out of my mouth, lost in the rising tide of pleasure. I raise my hand, covering the butterfly right above his heart. “I’m ready for forever with you, Leonid Kozlov.”
“Fuck, you’ve stolen the word right from my lips.”