Chapter 16 – Elijah
16
ELIJAH
W e stepped out into the cool night air, and walked towards the parking lot. Music was still blasting inside, people getting drunk on expensive champagne and whiskey. The underground world was having a wild night.
“That was some Oscar-deserving acting. You had Naevio eating out of your hand.” Nikolai said, expressing his satisfaction with her success.
She did well. Not the Lebanese’s most dangerous secret weapon for nothing.
My sweet Zanae grinned, she was proud of herself, I could see it, proud that someone acknowledged her skills rather than her success.
“It’s not every day I get to play with men. It’s so easy with them.”
He chuckled, satisfied with the outcome of our first mission together, “You did good, Little Z. Let’s not forget the man of the hour.”
He turned to me. I know this fucking smile on his lips, he’s going to provoke the shit out of me. “Elijah, you looked like you were ready to break Naevio’s neck when he touched Zanae’s hair.”
I wanted to eat his heart out.
“I was just keeping an eye on the mission,” I lied.
Niko laughed heartily, “Sure, sure the mission where you weren’t even supposed to be there in the first place. I haven’t seen him this worked up in ages. Please do it again, Zanae.”
Zanae raised an eyebrow, looking at me, “Oh, really? I guess I’m just too irresistible for my own good. You know what they say, between hate and love there’s only one step.”
“You want me to take that step, Milaya ?” I asked, turning toward her.
A pause. Her lips parted, but no word came out of it.
No. That’s what I thought.
Her cheeks reddened, and I pictured the kind of red her skin would turn to when she’s slapped, smacked, and sucked everywhere.
The vivid one that pulsates with life.
A fucking burning red, the kind that attracts my demons.
I smiled proudly at the effect I had on her and looked at her walk-in front of me. Her hips swang, dark hair cascading on her back. Moving with the grace of a shadowy feline.
Sensual, hypnotic, dangerous .
I was so stupid thinking I could survive being that close to the fruit of my own obsession for years and not be able to touch her.
I fucked up and I think it’s too late to do anything else.
I’m engulfed in her, immersed in her, and I want nothing more than to see her consumed by me, to possess every part of her, to make her as obsessed with me as I am with her.
If I’m going down this path, she damn well better be descending into the same fucking madness.
We took the same car, because that idiot of Nikolai, didn’t want to go home with his bodyguards. And we needed to brief everything she had learned with Naevio.
“So, Naevio spilled quite a bit. I have details on three potential locations where his father might be hiding.”
I was driving, Nikolai next to me glanced at her through the rearview mirror, with a serious expression, “Go on, Zanae.”
“The first one is a secluded mansion on the outskirts of Vesper’s east side, next to the lake,” she began, her eyes focused on me, “It’s heavily guarded, and Naevio mentioned it’s a place where his father often retreats for safety every time he feels like a threat is hanging on his head.”
So he might not be too far from here.
“What about the second location?”
“The second one is even more discreet. It’s like a property owned by Naevio’s family in Italy, I think it’s in Valence. It seems to be just a fallback option if things get too hot here.”
My grip on the steering wheel tightened as I absorbed the gravity of the situation. “And the third?”
Zanae leaned back, heads up, crossing her arms. “The third one is outside the country, too, but it’s not a family property. It’s a remote area with limited access, and Naevio hinted that his father might have connections there, it may also be in Russia, which seems really bizarre knowing that Italians and Russians don’t like each other that much.”
Oh, we know damn well, when we created this alliance, between the Bratva and the Cosa nostra, we almost caused the biggest war in history. But then, we are the leaders, if I do my best as the Pakhan, and Niko as the Don, no one will dare touch our positions. Our men trust us.
Niko is half Italian half Russian; they do hate each other but the parallel made his jaw clench. Memories flooded back into our minds, and I knew he was thinking about his family. I tried to bring him back to our focus.
“So, we have three potential locations, each with its own problems.”
“We’ll need to plan carefully. If we make a move, it has to be precise.”
Zanae nodded, “I agree. Naevio doesn’t know we’re onto his father, he thinks I’m just into him and even invited me to a date.”
My eyes betrayed me and as I looked at her reflection, I saw her little cheeky smile. She wanted to see me react.
She’s such a tease, I fucking love it.
But she got her reaction, I could feel my eyes go dark, I started seeing red, but then she spoke again, giving me those brown eyes, I could stare at every-fucking-day.
The car pulled up in front of Nikolai’s house, and I turned to face Zanae in the backseat. Nikolai, already stepping out, waved goodbye to us.
“Don’t kill each other and have a nice night, you two,” he exclaimed before disappearing.
His guards opened the gates, and I don’t know what he said to them, but they laughed and followed him inside.
A few minutes later, we arrived home.
“Looks like our first mission is officially over,” I announced, a faint smile playing on my lips.
She furrowed her brows, bit her lips and tilted her head, showing me that fucking gorgeous neck. My mouth was salivating to taste it and mark it, either with my saliva or with blood.
Fuck , she’s making it hard to decide.
I don’t know if I want to kill her or fuck her.
Or both.
Certainly both.
I’m fascinated by everything about her: body and mind.
My obsession with her is fucking a chimera, deepening my craving to own her soul and ruin her completely. It’s a feeling between ecstasy and torment, bliss and misery.
That urge to be the one and only hearing her cry, hearing her laugh, scream. I can only imagine and fantasize about the way those blazing eyes would look like on the verge of pleasure, the edge of giving up from satisfaction, from arousal.
That’s the thing with me, it’s everything or nothing, and she’s having the ‘everything’, and I hate it, I hate it so fucking much.
She’s making me feel , and I don’t want to.
She smiled ironically, clapping her hands to mimic excitement, “So, does that mean I get to go back to my father’s cozy home now? I’m so happy to see my lovely dad again.”
That son of a bitch.
“Not quite,” the corner of my mouth lifting almost sadistically, “You’re staying with me tonight, Milaya .”
Zanae’s eyebrows raised in surprise, “And what’s the occasion for that little pajama party if you don’t mind explaining to me?”
Hilarious, isn’t she?
I opened the car door for her to step out, my voice low and filled with desire, “You’re not going back to your father’s place tonight.”
“Scared to be alone? Or maybe you’re simply scared of the dark? Either way, I’m intrigued. Lead the way, Lucifer .”
A chuckle escaped me unintentionally. She fucking called me Lucifer .
The elevator doors closed, enclosing us, with her looking edible, smelling delicious too, and me? Weak .
So weak, I don’t even recognize myself.
I was standing on the other side of the elevator. My eyes held a myriad of emotions—desire, conflict, and a feeling of something unresolved.
She wasn’t even aware of how much power she held over me. She was just smiling, marking her dimples even more.
Completely ignorant of her significance in my life.
This is the thing that makes me reconsider everything, the flame I see in her, this excitement, she made me feel so much just with her eyes, while I stopped feeling a long time ago.
“Are you finally going to tell me what’s going on with you and this insane amount of hate toward me? I’m a bit tired of this chasing game.”
How can I explain that I hate being obsessed with her? I hate the part she took from me years ago and never returned.
My lips turned into a smirk, my gaze never leaving hers.
She’s fierce, I knew it even when she was younger, she had a spirit that could be overwhelming for normal people, but guess who’s not fucking normal?
“ Fuck, I love hating you so much.”
She took a step closer, eating the distance between us, never leaving my gaze, “Bullshit.”
I released a soft laugh as the elevator dinged.
She amused me. Really.
The doors slid open, I gestured for her to step out first, my eyes still locked onto hers, she swung her hips again at me, offering me a sight of her perfect body and back that gives her the allure of a fucking dark creature.
I was leaning against the kitchen island, watching her every move with curiosity.
My little obsession, so deadly.
I will shatter her spirit so no one can ever mend it.
She approached me slowly, fire emanating from her. “If you hate me so much, why don’t you just end it right here? Take your gun or knife and slash my throat. It’s what you want, isn’t it?”
Oh , she wanted to test me.
I tilted my head, trying to know what’s going on inside that pretty head. That fucking attitude again. Reckless mind. Pure insolence.
I needed her to give in, let herself go under my control.
“I loathe every fucking breath you take. I want to steal them so you can beg me to give them back to you, Zanae.”
Her eyes widened, her pupils dilated slowly growing bigger, fire and abyss melting together.
She didn’t know that those same eyes haunted me like an endless curse, nor that I needed to break her, just to feel the twisted satisfaction of possessing and owning what destroyed my sanity all these years.
She circled me, as if testing her self-control too. “You think you can control me, Elijah? Try to steal them, and I’ll drown you with me in death.”
Tempting .
I smiled at that audacity she had, savoring the blush in her chest, the anger and frustration in her gaze, the chaos behind that exquisite face. “Threatening me with death? Zanae, I’ll shove something deep inside that pretty throat of yours and show you how pleasurable gasping for air can be. That near-death experience will teach you to shut that mouth.”
She stopped in front of me, looking at me from her height. I’m way taller than her, but she has the confidence of a man the same stature as me, maybe even more confident.
“Not intimidating enough. Try again.”
“You’ll learn obedience, Milaya . Even if I have to force it.”
With a swift movement, she took my hand and guided it along her thigh, making me pull her knife from its sheath and placing it against my palm. She smiled darkly, no ounce of doubt in those eyes. “I’ll never, ever, be afraid of you.”
We stood there, breathing heavily, the knife poised between us.
My mind was at war with my body for her.
The edge of control cuts both ways when it comes to us.
My hand rested on the knife, the blade a mere breath away from her throat. I felt her pulse throbbing in her neck. She was scared but she wanted to see how far I could go.
Her neck looked delicious.
Pale, soft, silky even, screaming at me to brand it as my own canva. “Second time tonight that you put a knife between us, are you trying to tell me something, Zanae?”
She met my gaze, her eyes burning, and with a bored sigh she said, “In your dreams, Elijah. I think you enjoy having me around but hate it at the same time. If you have to act all possessive over me, at least explain it to me.”
My lips curved into a half-smile, a mixture of amusement and something more sinister surged within me, “You have a way of making everything so much more painful in my life.”
She tilted her head, a smirk playing on those rosy lips, “Is that a compliment or a warning?”
My thumb traced the line of the knife’s edge, imagining the blood she’s going to bleed. Am I going to see red? Or still see brown everywhere because of her eyes.
“Take it however you like, Zanae. I could open your throat, let you die and cover my ground with that pretty shade of red that beats inside your heart in a few seconds.”
“Are you showing off one of your talents?”
I leaned in closer, taking a lock of her hair between my fingers, appreciating way too much the feel of the soft darkness enveloping my skin. “I have many of them if I want to show off.”
She was clearly testing me, I saw it in her eyes, she was trying to win me, to be right about her stupid diagnostic as if I was a case to study.
She added with the softest voice ever, “You’re all talk, Elijah.”
“You also have a way of turning any conversation into a temptation to make me want to fuck the hell out of your pretty head, Zanae. It’s almost impressive.”
She chuckled, trying to look all unfazed, but that damn redness on her cheeks, accentuating her freckles was telling me otherwise, “You haven’t seen anything yet.”
I leaned in, my lips dangerously close to her ear, her scent enticing me, “I’m curious, then. Show me.”
The knife remained between us, the blade reflecting light in her amber eyes. Fucking ablaze.
She was blushing. My little Zanae was aroused, I could feel it in the air, I could smell how turned on she was, maybe burning as much as I burned to taste her.
“You’re not easily scared, are you?”
Her grin widened, her eyes shining with provocation, “No.”
I chuckled, “Oh, Why are your eyes watering, then? Why is your chest so red? And why are you clutching your thighs? If it’s not fear, then what is it, Milaya ?”
She didn’t back down, maintaining her insolent smirk, “You think you’re the big bad wolf, but I’ve dealt with worse.”
My hand tightened on the knife, “Careful, Zanae. I might just enjoy being the big bad wolf.”
She raised an eyebrow, unyielding, “Is that why you want to eat me alive Mister Volkov?”
It’s a fucking game for her and the thing is I find this game really amusing.
I leaned in, my lips brushing hers, “You see that little fire in your eyes? I want to feel it, but I also want you to feel mine, Zanae.”
Zanae
What happens when your body craves something deadly to you? When your body screams to touch someone your heart wants to fight and resists? It’s toxic and sweet.
Elijah was my own venom.
Everything with him took on a threatening edge. Even now, as I handed him the knife, I never felt more in danger than when he leaned closer, killing me with his presence.
I couldn’t care less about his demands or threats.
But I was curious about him—curious about why he loved provoking me so intensely. Curious about that jealousy, that intense need to control everything that concerns me.
His eyes shone with a surreal green. They never felt as vivid as at that moment.
With him, it was always a competition, a power play. He believed that making threats gave him dominance, but the truth was, I wasn’t letting him infiltrate my mind.
At least, I’ll try.
“I will end this little fucked up competition, and I’ll fucking love it when you’ll be on your knees Volkov.”
He looked at me, grinning pleasingly, “Say that again.”
My brows knitted in confusion, “What part did you not understand?”
He leaned closer, breathing me in, “The part where you want me on my knees for you.”
God, he had a filthy mouth.
Vulgar thoughts about us giving in sent shivers down my spine.
Just a few minutes ago I wanted to test him and now the image of him on his knees for me was so much more attractive in my mind. This man was a lunatic.
“You’re completely insane.”
With the same little smirk on his face, he added, “What makes you think you can talk to me like that, Zanae?”
“The fact that I don’t give a fuck about the way you want me to talk to you, Volkov.”
He smiled again proudly. “You’re trying to turn me on with this little attitude tonight, aren’t you?”
This man is insane.
“I hate you.”
“I can still be on my knees while you’re hating me. Doesn’t matter to me,” he whispered back brushing my cheek with his lips before backing off.
God I wanted him to stay there. What’s wrong with me?
Insanity.
“You’re seriously messed up. You need professional help Elijah.”
“With you, I feel like madness is needed.”
Sometimes your mind isn’t strong enough to control what your body craves the most. Maybe he’s right, maybe it’s just physical, no need to be ashamed of that.
I didn’t even understand what’s happening as my hands moved to his chest. He looked down at my fingers on his shirt, then at my eyes, and finally my mouth .