Chapter Seven #2
Katya’s breath hitches beside me. I can’t look at her.
I find my voice. “How long have you known?”
“About a year before I killed him.”
My gut twists. “You killed him?” The question escapes before I can stop it.
“Yes.” He says it like a confession and a curse. “He left me no choice.”
“Alexei…” I ache to comfort him but know I can’t—not now. I still need answers. “You knew for that long and said nothing?”
He meets my eyes. “If I had told you, you would have been in danger. I had to strategize. Yuri was losing control. The kidnapping of Elena Marino forced my hand sooner than I was ready.”
Katya crosses her arms. “That still doesn’t explain why you didn’t tell us after. He’s been dead for months. What was the excuse then?”
Alexei’s gaze flicks between us. “I don’t know,” he finally admits. “Maybe I didn’t want to see you in pain. Maybe I didn’t want to lose you. Knowing the truth changes nothing.”
“No,” I whisper. “It changes everything.”
He lifts his eyes to mine. I can see the exhaustion, the guilt, and the weight of the secret he’s had to carry.
“You gave us justice,” I say. “Even if you didn’t mean to.”
“I wish I felt that way,” he murmurs.
Something cold trickles through me. “Who else, Alexei? Who else did he kill?”
He drops his head, elbows on his knees. “Ivan,” he says in a rough whisper. “My mother. Two more of his wives.”
My breath catches. Though I know I shouldn’t, I stand up and crouch in front of him. I take his hands in mine, feeling the tremor in his fingers.
“Alexei…” My voice breaks. “I’m so sorry. You lived with that…knowing your father murdered your family. And yet you protected mine.”
He doesn’t look up, just lets out a breath that sounds like it’s been trapped for years.
Behind me, Katya stands quietly. Her face is pale but steady. “I need some air,” she says softly. “I’ll be on the balcony.”
She crosses to the glass doors and steps outside without another word.
It’s just Alexei and me now. We stare at each other for a long, suspended beat. Then I stand, take his hand, and pull him up with me.
“Show me the guest room,” I say.
He hesitates, then nods and leads me there.
The room is tidy, sterile…just like the living room. I push him gently down onto the bed and lie beside him, placing my head on his chest. For a while, neither of us speaks. His heartbeat thuds steadily under my ear, grounding me in a way nothing else can.
He finally breaks the silence. “Can you forgive me?”
I tilt my chin up to look at him. His eyes are searching mine, vulnerable in a way I’ve never seen before.
“Yes,” I whisper. “As long as you never keep something like that from me again.”
A ghost of a smile touches his lips. “Then I have one more secret.”
I tense but meet his gaze. “What?”
“I love you,” he says simply. “I’ve loved you for years.”
My chest tightens, my breath catching in my throat.
And just like that, all the pain, all the anger, folds in on itself.
I lean up and kiss him softly, then deeper, stroking my tongue along his the way he has done so many times.
Alexei moans deeply into my mouth, the sound reverberating in my throat.
Then I pull back, chuckling when he pouts at me like a petulant child.
“I love you,” I whisper against his mouth. “I always have.”
He pulls me into his arms and kisses me again, slowly, deeply, his hands caressing my body from my shoulders down to my breasts.
My nipples harden under his touch, poking eagerly through the material of my dress.
Alexei squeezes both of my breasts in his hands, his thumbs stroking my aching nipples until I moan.
Then slowly, he strips me, his hands gentle as he pulls my dress over my head. Then he unclasps my bra and releases my breasts before skimming my damp panties down my legs. He pulls back just enough to hurriedly undress as well.
When we're both naked, he cups my breasts in his hands again, then trails his fingers down my ribs, over my stomach and lower until his fingers graze my entrance. He touches me gently, and I gasp, pressing against him.
I nuzzle his neck, nipping at the corded muscle.
I can feel the unsteady beat of his pulse against my lips, and there's something so arousing about that…
the fact that I affect him as much as he does me.
I trail my hand over his muscular chest down to the taut muscles of his stomach, then lower, slowly wrapping my fingers around his already hard cock.
His body trembles at my touch, very much to my delight.
Alexei slips a finger into me, and my walls contract in response.
“Hmm… so wet,” he drawls, his fingers caressing the folds of my pussy so gently I almost scream from the pleasure coursing through my body. “You're always so ready for me. Taste yourself, milaya."
He takes his finger out of me and slides it between my parted lips.
I close my eyes against the unexpected pleasure of tasting my own desire.
I moan low in my throat, reckless with my need as I palm his heavy erection in my hand.
I stroke his soft tip, swirling a drop of pre-cum around the velvety head until he grabs my hand and drags it away.
“I want you inside me, Alexei,” I whisper, the sound of my voice foreign even to my own ears. “Please…”
“I know, milaya, I know.” He sits up, pulling me onto his lap. I wrap my legs around his waist, his erection nudging the cleft of my pussy.
“Please, my love,” I whine shamelessly, helpless against the need gripping my core.
“I'm all yours, Anya,” he says, lying back on the bed and pulling me with him. “As much as you want. Take it.”
Our bodies press together, shoulder to hip, and I only have to shift my weight before he’s inside me. I look down at his magnificent face—rugged, handsome—as he buries himself completely inside of me.
I moan at the feeling of fullness. Completeness. I start to rock against him, slowly finding a rhythm that works. Alexei lets me take control, his hands grasping my hips.
I lay across his body, pressing my clit into his flat, muscular belly.
I can see my desire mirrored in his expression…
can feel his pulse in the flesh embedded inside of me.
In this moment, we're not two, but one body lost in a sea of ecstasy.
I increase my pace, move faster, clenching harder around him…
“I'm close, milaya,” Alexei says gruffly, his face contorted almost like he's in pain, his hands on my hips tightening as he clenches his teeth. “Fuck!”
I stare into his eyes, mesmerized by the sheer beauty of this moment. His breath comes out in short, rasping pants that match mine. I can feel myself getting closer to the edge, too, and the need for release becomes desperate with each thrust.
I shift my weight, grinding against him, and that's all it takes. I cry out as a powerful orgasm rocks my body. Alexei pulls my head down to him and kisses me, swallowing the sound.
I whimper into his mouth, tasting him, tasting myself. The climax rocks my body, and the waves of pleasure seem endless. Alexei tenses beneath me, his moan growing louder, deeper against my lips. I swallow his breath, my pussy walls clenching uncontrollably around him as he comes.
Minutes after, we lie together in a warm, damp tangle of limbs, with him still half-hard inside of me. I lay my head over his heart, a little smile forming on my lips as I listen to the irregular thud of his heart.
He may be the fearless, powerful pakhan of the New York City bratva, but he's still just a man whose heart beats for me.
Mine.