Chapter 46 – MAKSIM
Forty-Six
MAKSIM
My hands clamp around the wheel, eyes locked on the blood spattered across my sleeves. I didn’t stop to change or talk to Derek. There’s only one thing on my mind. Valentina.
The whole drive to Furia, my head’s been spinning, replaying every word that came out of Callum’s ruined mouth. The Architect. Not a title, not a job, but an alias. And a Ledger. What the fuck does that mean?
More importantly, what does it mean for her?
As I pull onto the strip, a race has just ended, and the crowd erupts around the winner, cheers echoing through smoke. When the haze parts, that’s when I see her.
My girl.
In her element, basking in victory.
I climb out of my car, heart pounding for reasons I can’t name.
And she spots me and stills, smile faltering for a fraction of a second, but long enough for me to catch it.
I follow her gaze as it sweeps down. I realize the blood isn’t just on my sleeves.
It’s splattered across the front of my shirt.
When her eyes meet mine again, her smile returns, brighter this time. Then she’s running, straight to me.
She knows where I’ve been. What I’ve done.
And still, she runs to the monster.
“You came.”
“You won.”
She nods and leans in for a kiss. “First round down.” Her fingers brush my cheek, gentle at first, until her expression shifts. “Maksim…are you okay?”
“I am now.”
“And is he—?”
“Very much so.”
Valentina looks past me, lips pressed tight, like she’s fighting to keep something down…grief, anger, guilt. My first instinct is to tell her not to waste it. Not on a man who sold her out to save himself. Someone who betrayed her trust and took secrets to the grave that could still burn us all.
But I stop myself.
I don’t want her to be like me, to bury her feelings until they rot and turn to poison. And I know she needs this night, her way of redeeming her loss to Balterra.
“Remi come with you?”
Her smile works its way back. “She did but left early. AJ, Madden, and the boys snuck a ride in her trunk. Matteo got into it with some kids from school, so she ended up taking them home. Grabbed a ride with a friend.”
“She left you here alone?”
“Don’t do that.” Her tone softens, but her chin lifts with defiance. “I spent weeks sidelined and stuck in a cast. I’m not living like that again. I refuse to let some asshole scare me away from the one thing I love most.” She cups my face, meeting my eyes. “I’m not afraid.”
I contemplate telling her what Callum revealed, but it can wait. I won’t be the reason her moment is shattered.
“Maksim,” she whispers, “you can put me down now.”
“Old habits die hard, beautiful.” I squeeze her ass, pressing her closer. “I missed you.”
She laughs. “It’s only been five hours.”
“Too long.”
She tilts up to kiss me, but her gaze snags on something over my shoulder. Whatever she sees wipes the smile clean off her face. I set her down and turn, already half-expecting to add another body to tonight’s list. It’s her piece of shit ex, two women clinging to him.
Valentina’s already walking toward her car, fury in every step.
“I don’t care about him,” she grinds out.
“I know.”
And I do. I believe her.
“But a crowbar to that fat head of his might make me feel better.”
She yanks her door open. “I just hate his stupid face. Hate that I was so dumb.”
I spin her, pinning her against the car. “Say the word, and you’ll never have to see him again.”
Asking is just a courtesy. When I decide a man needs to die because I don’t like the way my girl’s face drops when she sees or remembers he exists, then he dies.
She chews her lip and looks away, conflict written across every line of her face. Valentina’s a Cain. Violence doesn’t scare her. But she’s also Evangelina’s daughter, and I know outright murder isn’t something she takes lightly either.
A slow, resigned sigh escapes her, and she shakes her head. “No. I’d rather see his stupid face when I beat him in a race instead.”
“Are you up next? Against him?”
“I’ll make sure of it.”
I turn her around again, my mouth at her neck before she can take another breath. “Then I want to give you something before you go. A little good-luck charm.”
She moans, tilting her head, nails dragging through my hair. “And what’s that?”
I don’t bother answering. I shove her into the car, circle the hood, and slide into the passenger seat.
“Off,” I say, already unbuckling my belt and pushing my pants down.
It doesn’t take long before she’s straddling my lap, her back pressed tight to my chest.
One hand snakes around her throat, while the other slides down her body and between her legs. I growl against her ear when I find her already so fucking wet for me.
I slide two fingers inside her, slow and deep. She rocks against my hand, my name spilling from her lips in a soft, drawn-out moan.
“You just need to say it, Kolibri. Tell me to take care of the problem, and it’s done.”
My thumb circles her clit, and her head drops onto my shoulder.
“Open your eyes,” I murmur, tightening my hand around her throat. “Look at him out there while you’re in here, with my fingers buried in your cunt.”
Her lashes flutter, and she forces her gaze forward, a shiver running through her when she sees him.
“Fuck him,” she breathes.
A dark laugh rumbles out of me as I slip another finger inside her, stretching her open, curling them just right against that spot that makes her fall apart for me every damn time. Her hips jerk, her breath stutters, and she grips my forearm hard enough to leave marks.
“That’s my girl,” I growl, working her. “You’re not thinking about him anymore, are you?”
She shakes her head, but it’s not enough. I want the words. I always want the words from her.
“Say it,” I demand, fingers thrusting deeper. “Tell me who you’re thinking about.”
“You,” she gasps, rolling her hips into my hand. “Fuck, Maksim…you. Always you.”
“Good.” My thumb drags tight circles over her clit, faster this time, and her breath catches on a broken sound I feel all the way to my cock.
“Because while he’s out there, pretending he’s happier, pretending he doesn't want you back, you're in here with me...wet, needy, taking my fingers like my good little slut.”
Her thighs tremble. She’s close. I can feel it in every desperate grind of her hips.
“Come for me, baby,” I rasp, kissing the edge of her jaw. "Right here, right now. Let him hear who you belong to now and always."
She breaks with a cry, hips jerking as she comes hard around my hand, riding out the aftershocks.
I hold her through it. One hand on her throat, the other still deep inside her. My own breath is heavy, my cock hard and throbbing beneath her.
When she finally slumps against me, trembling, I press my lips to her ear.
“That’s my good girl,” I whisper against her cheek. "But I need to be inside you now.”
I pull my fingers from her, dragging them up her thigh, letting her feel how soaked she is. Her hips lift instinctively, already searching for me.
“Look at him,” I urge again, squeezing her hips, guiding her down. “He’s looking this way…knows you’re in here with me.” My cock lines her entrance. “Let’s give him something to see.”
Valentina braces herself against the console and passenger door as she lowers herself. The moment I sink into her, a low growl rumbles from my chest, and her head falls back, lips parted as a broken whimper slips free.
“That’s it,” I breathe. “You can take it."
She does—every inch until she can't...until she’s stretched tight around my cock.
“Now ride,” I whisper, kissing her jaw again, slower this time.
Her palms brace on the dash and she starts to move, slow at first, rolling her hips, grinding down on me until the whole car rocks with her. I tighten my hand around her throat from behind, tilting her head back onto my shoulder.
“Faster.”
She obeys, lifting and dropping onto my cock.
“Look at you,” I rasp in her ear, squeezing her throat just enough to make her breath hitch. My other hand drags down her torso, over her stomach, sinking between her legs to circle her clit in messy, desperate strokes.
“Fuck—feel how greedy you are? Taking me so deep.”
Her fingers slip on the dash when I thrust harder.
“Fuck him. He doesn’t matter,” I murmur against her neck, biting lightly. “Say it.”
“F-fuck him,” she gasps, her voice caught on a moan. “He doesn’t matter.”
“That’s my girl.”
My grip tightens around her waist as I fuck up into her, hard enough that her breath breaks, hard enough that the whole damn car shifts beneath us. And then, low against her ear, I give her exactly what she needs.
“You’re going to smoke that bastard,” I growl, thrusting deep, “and when you cross that finish line, you’ll take me with you, Kolibri. Dripping down your thighs the way you were always meant to be.”
Her entire body clenches, a strangled sound tearing from her throat. She shudders, falls apart, comes so hard around me she nearly folds forward. But I hold her through it, grinding into her until I lose it too, burying myself in her with a rough groan against her shoulder.
Valentina collapses, breath fogging the window in soft, shallow puffs. I slide my hand from her throat to her jaw, turning her head just enough to kiss the corner of her mouth.
“Fuck him up.”