Chapter 24 – VALENTINA
Twenty-Four
VALENTINA
“Valentina, I’m going to kill you.”
I laugh and prop the phone on the glass counter, crouching to straighten the pistol display while Remi rants.
I let her get it all out, knowing damn well I’m not listening.
Just like I know she wouldn’t either. One of my employees got sick mid-shift, and with Remi busy, there was no way I was leaving Callahan and Trent to close the range on their own.
Sloane’s might be a small establishment, but we stay pretty busy.
Down one leg or not, the world keeps spinning.
“It’s fine. I’m fine. Just light, clerical duty. I’ve basically been sitting the whole time,” I lie, even as a dull ache starts to climb my spine.
“You’re a terrible liar,” she snaps. “You forget I have access to surveillance. I saw you in the range bay.” She pauses, and I can hear her exhale…frustrated, tired, scared in that way she’d never admit. “Val…you’re vulnerable. And we have enemies. You know that.”
I push to stand, bracing against the counter, the fucking crutches looming in my peripheral.
“When has that ever stopped us?”
“Ugh, you’re so stubborn. At least call my mom. She’s not busy. Her exhibit ended two hours ago.”
“I’ll think about it,” I say, my finger hovering over the end call button.
I love Remi with every fiber of my soul, but I’m not in the mood for another reminder of how useless I am right now.
Especially after being stood up by Maksim yesterday.
If I were honest with myself, he’s the reason I needed to get the hell out of my place.
The walls felt like they were closing in on me, my thoughts racing a mile a minute, taunting me with reminders of how foolish I’ve been.
Stop running.
It’s what I said to him just before he finger fucked me just feet away from my family. Again, no call and no text. I could scream.
“Val?”
“What?” I snap and immediately regret losing my temper with her. “Look, I’m sorry. I’ve got a lot on my mind. We’ll talk later. Okay?”
She’s quiet for several moments.
“Okay, I’ll wait to hear how Maksim pissed you off.”
Of course she knows. “Only if you promise not to punch him in the dick.”
I might need that for later.
I’m pathetic, I know.
“I can’t make those types of promises, but I’ll think about it. In the meantime, take it easy.”
“I will. Besides, Hermes and Apollo haven’t left my side.”
“Hermes and Apollo can’t stock inventory, Val.”
“I love you,” I say flatly, pure dismissal.
“Yeah, yeah. Bye, pendeja.”
The call ends, and I shove the phone into my back pocket, exhale through my nose, and push all thoughts of Maxsim out of my head.
I’ll deal with him later. For now, I’m going to focus on getting through this shift without having to prove Remi right.
Times like these make you realize how much we take for granted.
The simple act of walking and shifting gears.
Fuck, I miss my car. Miss racing.
“I see your phone still works. So you have been ignoring my calls.”
That voice scrapes down my spine like nails on a chalkboard. I lift my gaze to find Cole just feet away, hands shoved in his pockets, and a face begging to be punched.
“Get out.”.
“Val, come on, at least let me talk.”
“I think I’ve heard enough from you.” I straighten, every ounce of patience gone. “Or did you forget when you told Romina you wanted to lick her asshole while you fucked her friend?”
The color drains from his face, then floods back an angry red. His eyes dart around the range, scanning for witnesses.
Pussy.
“I was drunk, okay? I wasn’t in my right mind,” he says, inching closer.
Without taking my eyes off him, I signal my boys.
“Pass auf.”
Hermes and Apollo react instantly. Their posture sharpens, weight shifting forward, muscles tight and ready.
“You cross that threshold,” I say, voice like ice, “and they won’t stop unless I tell them to. And wouldn’t you know, I suddenly forgot the command.”
Cole dares a step closer, and both dogs bare their teeth, growling an octave darker, hackles rising in warning.
“They know me.” His voice is shaky, like he’s trying to convince himself. “They know I’d never hurt you.”
Liar.
I lean my hip against the counter, arms crossed.
“Please,” I say with a hard grin. “Test their loyalty to me. I’d love to prove you wrong in the most satisfying way possible.”
“Fuck, Valentina, you’re really willing to just throw three years in the trash?”
The laugh that rips out of me is anything but amused. The fucking audacity.
“You absolute bastard.” I slam my fist down, and the glass shudders under the force. “When you fucked the two women who hate me, that was you showing exactly how little you gave a shit about us, so spare me.”
He opens his mouth to argue but freezes when a shadow moves behind him.
Maksim.
He appears out of nowhere, silent, looking like he’s there to kill someone. Cole doesn’t even have time to turn before Maksim shoves past him. And I barely manage to call off the dogs before he reaches me.
“Stand down,” I order as he crosses the threshold. Maksim’s expression is a mask of controlled fury, like he’s barely holding himself together. He slides one arm under my ass and lifts me. My breath hitches at the sheer possessiveness in his grip.
When we lock eyes, he murmurs a single word, as if branding it into my skin.
“Mine.”
A shiver rolls through me. And God help me, I need to hear it again.
“What the fuck, Val? Who the hell is this?” Cole blurts out, eyes darting from Maksim to my cast. “And when did you break your damn leg?”
I don’t answer. My focus is on Maksim as he heads for the elevator.
“Fu?,” I say, patting my thigh, and both dogs move in sync, falling into step beside us without hesitation.
Cole’s voice echoes after us. “Valen—”
The elevator doors close before he can finish.
Silence.
“Put me down,” I demand, annoyed that he thinks he’s got any right to be the one angry here.
But he doesn’t respond.
“Where is your office?” he asks when the doors open. His voice is all gravel.
“Let me down and I’ll show you.”
“Where?”
Arguing is useless while I’m one-legged and in his arms, so I point down the hall. “Last door on the left.”
We move without a word, and somehow, this feels like our first real fight.
Hermes and Apollo take position outside the door, holding heel like statues.
“That’s him?” Maksim asks once we’re inside, setting me gently on the desk.
“Yeah. That’s Cole.”
The muscles in his neck flex as his fists clench. He turns toward the door like he’s already imagining tearing through it…and through Cole. But he stops, one hand gripping the knob, his back to me.
“Did he disrespect you?”
“Nothing he says or does now matters,” I tell him. “He’s no one. Not anymore, and not ever again.”
He turns back around slowly, and that’s when I really see him. His wild blue eyes rimmed in red, sleepless, and restless. His voice is quieter now, but there’s a tremor underneath it.
“It’ll always matter because you matter. And is that your way of saying he did and you’re just brushing it off?”
I cross my arms, rolling my eyes. “You think I’d let him? He was two steps away from being eaten alive, and I would’ve watched with a smile.”
The sound that leaves Maksim isn’t a laugh. It’s darker. Before I can blink, he moves. Two strides, and he’s there, palms slamming onto the desk on either side of me, the wood groaning under the weight of him. “Is that so?”
I want to stay mad, channel the rage and disappointment that’s been eating at me since he stood me up, but having him this close chips away at my resolve.
Damn you, Maksim.
I keep my chin lifted, refusing to back down even as his closeness makes my skin tingle.
“Why are we in my office?” I ask.
Maksim surprises me by resting his forehead against mine. “Because I knew it was him. And if you knew the things I imagined doing to his face...it might scare you.”
“It’s a good thing I don’t scare easily.” I shove at his chest, but not hard enough to make him move far. “But I do have a short temper and razor-thin patience.”
His eyes lock on mine. “About yesterday,” he starts, but I raise a hand, cutting him off.
“I waited for you,” I snap. “You could’ve at least sent a text saying you were too chicken shit to show up…Or that you don’t want me.”
He smirks, tongue tracing the ridge of his top teeth. I hate that I want to lick them too.
“Is that what you think?” he asks, wrapping a hand around my throat, his thumb under my chin until all I can see are those eyes. The ones that undo me every damn time.
“What else am I supposed to think?” I shoot back. “Your hand’s inside my body one day, then the next—”
My words shrivel when I see it. The bandage wrapped around his knuckles, stained through, with smaller cuts surrounding it. I grab his other hand, and it’s the same story.
“Ran into a little snag yesterday. Business deal gone sideways. Silas was with me.”
Guilt twists in my stomach. “What happened? And don’t bullshit me, Maksim. Tell me the truth.”
“We got set up,” he says simply. “An ambush. Killed some assholes, dodged a few bullets, got pinned for a while. Made it out with Mom and Santino’s help.”
My eyes widen. “Wait—Aunt Leni? Santino? Why didn’t you call me?”
“Why the hell would I do that? So you could worry? Or end up in the middle of it? Neither were options.”
“So, leaving me in the dark was better? Stop trying to protect me when I’m not asking. It’s the last thing I want from you.”
He has the nerve to grin. His fingers find my ponytail and twirl a strand like he’s testing how far he can push me.
“Isn’t that what you told me? I make you feel safe. That we’re a close-knit family, and we protect our own,” he says, throwing my words back at me.
“You’re not family,” I bite out.
There’s a small twitch in his grin, barely there, but I catch it. It almost makes me feel guilty. Almost. Then he laughs, and I take it back immediately.
“You’re insufferable.”
“Why? Because I care?”
“No.” I glare up at him. “Because you storm in here out of nowhere—seriously, where the fuck did you even come from?” That earns me another laugh, which makes me angrier.
“You literally throw me over your shoulder like a caveman staking his claim but then stand me up when it matters because you think you’re protecting me.
You’re not my dad. Or one of my uncles.”
Maybe it’s the way my voice drops at the end, anger softening into something that sounds too much like hurt, but his laughter dies. What replaces it is darker.
Before I can react, he moves. One smooth, effortless motion, and I’m lifted off the desk, settling onto his lap as he drops into my office chair. His arm slides around my waist, and his breath skims my throat.
“That’s bullshit,” he rasps, pulling me flush to him by the nape of my neck. “I know I’m nothing like them. You know why?”
I shake my head slowly, pulse hammering. “Tell me.”
His eyes dip to my mouth, then drag back up.
“Because I’m the only one who wants to bend you over this desk and split you open on my cock.”
Oh, fuck.
His teeth graze my jaw.
“Then I’ll watch that pretty mouth fall open while you take every inch, Kolibri…deep and messy, until you’re dripping and screaming for more.”
“Do it,” I whisper, almost begging, squeezing my thighs together.
“You keep grinding on me like that…” His voice is thick, the sound of a man losing his grip on control.
Good.
This is the moment it all tips. The point of no return. Where want becomes need, and I’m ready to fall, and drag him down with me.
“Maksim,” I breathe, hips shifting, his cock hitting the right angle through his jeans. “Don’t fuck with me. Just fuck me like you mean it. Be with me because there’s nowhere else you’d rather be right now…and no one else you want.”
His thumb presses against my bottom lip.
“When I fuck you, you’ll never have to question if I mean it.
” He kisses up my neck, the pace agonizing, then hovers over my mouth.
“There’s no one else. You’re all I want.
All I see…even in my dreams.” A pause, and a breath.
“And I don’t even fucking dream, Valentina. Not until you.”
The confession shatters the last shred of uncertainty holding us back. I move against him in a soft grind.
“Again,” he growls, hands locking around my hips as his mouth crashes into mine.
The kiss is messy, desperate, his lips rough like he’s trying to brand me from the inside out. And I give it back just as hard because the truth is simple.
I’m already his. I always have been.