Chapter 22 – MAKSIM
Twenty-Two
MAKSIM
You want something done right? Do it your goddamn self. A lesson I learned young, and one I live by.
I check my watch and grind my teeth. I shouldn’t be the one hauling my ass across town to close a deal.
That’s why I hired people—to keep things moving until my men arrive from Moscow.
But the idiot I trusted suddenly has “food poisoning.” And no one else is available on such short notice.
That’s the downside of being thousands of miles from the people I actually trust.
My hand tightens around the wheel before I reach for my phone. I start to dial Valentina without thinking. Just like that, my mood shifts. The sour burn in my chest vanishes the second her face fills my mind.
Most nights, I’m a man awake in the dark, staring at the ceiling, haunted by too many ghosts to count.
But last night I didn’t mind losing sleep.
I replayed every detail—her coming apart in my arms, her body breaking open for me, the heat of her skin against mine.
That sweet little pussy I’m dying to taste more thoroughly, and the sound of her voice when she finally lets go and screams my name.
It took everything in me not to get in the car and drive to her.
A sharp knock at my driver’s side window jolts me from the sound of Valentina’s voice still echoing in my head. Instinct takes over. I snatch the Glock from the console and aim it at the glass. My finger tightens on the trigger, a heartbeat away from firing—
Until I recognize the face.
Silas.
Unfazed by the barrel pointed between his eyes, he grins like a man who’s never known fear and gestures for me to roll the window down.
“You almost ruined my new hairstyle there, son,” he says, running a hand over his freshly faded sideburns.
The sound of my own pulse is still pounding in my ears, aggravation burning hot under my skin. What if I hadn’t caught myself in time? What if I’d pulled the trigger? How would I live with that?
Maybe he sees the storm on my face because his grin slips away, and his hands sink into his pockets.
“My apologies, Maksim. I should’ve called first.”
I nod once, stiff, lowering the gun but not the guilt coiled in my chest.
“You heading out?” he asks.
Another nod. I force my heart rate steady, but the truth needles at me. There are only a handful of people in this world I give a damn about. Silas is one of them. And yet here I am, realizing just how easily I could’ve taken him out.
“I came by to talk. Maybe get a bite to eat.”
“Get in,” I say, unlocking the passenger door. As he slides in, I make a mental note to call Valentina later.
Having someone in my corner who I trust completely isn’t a luxury. It’s survival.
“Are you armed?” I ask.
“Always.” He doesn’t hesitate, doesn’t ask why. Just as I trust him, he trusts me. That’s how we’ve always worked.
I ease into traffic, the city’s glow flashing across the windshield, and even though I already suspect where this is headed, I ask anyway. “What is it you wanted to discuss?”
Silas exhales the kind of sigh that says too much without words. I can feel his stare burning into the side of my face.
“After our talk yesterday before dinner…and what happened later that night—”
Panic rises in my gut. For a second, I wonder if he saw. If he’d been close enough to catch even a glimpse of what went down in that hallway.
The thought makes my grip tighten on the wheel. I couldn’t care less if anyone came for me—but Valentina? No one gets to see her like that. Sure, we knew the risks. But that moment was ours alone.
Mine.
I wait for him to continue, to see exactly where this is going.
“Is there something going on between you and my niece?”
There it is.
“Maybe you should be more specific.”
“Don’t play dumb, Maksim. Just answer the question.”
His voice shifts from uncle to father figure. I know Valentina is his niece by blood, but in his heart, she’s the daughter he never had.
“You know, before I left, Valentina and I were close. We’re just…getting to know each other again.”
It’s not a lie, not completely. But it’s not the whole truth either. I’m not ready to put it into words. Not when I’ve barely had the chance to process it myself. What am I supposed to say? That I had her pressed against a mirror and made her come while he and the others were in the next room.
“That was over fourteen years ago,” Silas says firmly.
“Like I said, she’s changed. She’s a woman now, son.
Beautiful. Smart. And you’ve been spending a lot of time together.
But I didn’t miss the looks being exchanged at the table…
hell, I don’t think anyone did. Especially Derek. Is that why he’s pissed?”
I rake a hand against the stubble on my jaw.
“He’ll never forgive me for what happened.”
Or maybe it’s not about that at all. Maybe he just never forgave me for existing.
After Mom and Silas took me in, he looked at me like I was a mistake.
Like he regretted not finishing the job when he had the chance all those years ago.
And life was punishing him by throwing me back in his path.
After a while, he stopped looking at me altogether.
“That’s not true. Derek will come around eventually. No one will ever be good enough for her in his eyes. And I can’t pretend I don’t feel the same. But I know that if anyone ever came close, it’s you.”
I glance over, a strange knot pressing in my throat.
“Not me. Valentina deserves—”
“Someone who loves her, respects her, who’d die and kill for her,” Silas cuts in.
I lean an elbow on the car door, tutting under my breath. “Silas, I’ve never felt…never wanted…” Even talking about her ties my tongue in knots.
His hand lands heavily on my shoulder. “Then I’ll only ask one thing of you. Take care of her heart. She’s got a whole army in her corner, but not even your mom can save her from a broken heart…or you from Derek.”
I nod, and neither of us speaks. Nothing else needs to be said.
The car hums along for another ten minutes, daylight fading into dusk. Finally, he glances over.
“So, are you going to tell me where we’re going?”