Chapter 4
Alyona
The alley emptied out so abruptly that I’m hyper-aware of everything else. The brick at my back, the weight of Kazimir’s jacket still draped over my shoulders, the way my pulse refuses to slow down even though the danger has passed.
Or has it?
The leader of the Savannah Bratva is looking at me like he wants to devour me. It sparks something dark and hot in me, a curiosity that makes me want to reach out and touch him just to see what would happen.
My skin hums from his touch. He stands before me, close enough that I can smell his warm, decadent scent – like leather and spice, almond and something darkly floral. As always, Kazimir Baranov stands in this space like he owns it.
Maybe he does…
The idea is unsettling, irritating, and I cross my arms over my chest as if that can distance me from him. But I’m starting to realize I might never get away. Not after what he just did to a man who barely touched me.
“Well,” I say, forcing my voice to steady and trying to hide my annoyance, “I guess I should thank my dad for sending his guard dog.”
His eyes flick to my face, unreadable and sharp. “Your father didn’t send me.”
I blink, caught off guard by how quickly he answers. And the guilt that flashes across his strong features. “That’s what this is, right?” I ask, suddenly unsure. “Liev worrying and being overbearing.”
Something shifts in Kazimir Baranov’s expression; it’s subtle, but unmistakable. “Do you know,” he asks, voice cold and flat, “what I do?”
For a moment, I hesitate. Because the truth is, from the second I set foot on U.S. soil, I’ve been trying to ignore the fact that my father is a Vor v zakone, a respected member of the Bratva. And Kazimir is his Pakhan.
When I nod, the corner of Kazimir’s lips quirks up. “Then you understand that I don’t take orders from anyone. Not even your father.”
The words land heavy. There’s something off about them. Because even though he answered my question, it was indirect; using his power to distract me.
“He knows you’re here tonight, right?”
His gaze drops, just for a second, to the line of my mouth. When it comes back there’s something that wasn’t there before. Something dangerous and intent.
“He believes I’m elsewhere.”
The alley seems to tilt. Elsewhere.
Not busy, not on his way, not handling something. Elsewhere – which makes it sound like Kazimir Baranov might not want my father to know that for the past seven months, he’s been lurking in the shadows of The Foundry.
Watching me.
“How long?” I ask before I can stop myself.
His brows furrow, beard hiding his frown. “How long what?”
“How long has he believed that?” My heart is pounding now, and I hate that I’m as curious as I am scared.
He doesn’t answer, and somehow that feels louder than any confession he could make.
My annoyance sharpens, burning away some of the nervous energy buzzing under my skin.
“So what,” I ask, “you show up here to make sure daddy’s little girl isn’t doing anything too dirty? Is this entertainment or reassurance?”
Kazimir reaches out and I almost flinch away.
After watching what he did to the tech mogul, it’s hard not to.
His hand wraps around my throat, calmly, loosely.
He squeezes and my thighs squeeze in response, cheeks burning with the realization that I like this.
His thumb on my pulse slows things down; my mouth drops open, fuzziness filling my head.
He leans in and whispers, “It’s restraint.”
“That’s funny,” I breathe. “You’ve done a great job pretending I don’t exist. And suddenly you feel the need to watch me?”
When he pulls back, the movement is decisive. His hand drops away, skimming down my throat, over the swell of my chest. I try to catch my breath.
“I’ve spent years,” he murmurs, “learning to restrain myself. All for you, I think, Alyona.”
The words settle in my stomach, heavy and suggestive, and before I can talk myself out of it, I lift my hand and touch him. It’s small, almost nothing; my fingers brush the front of his shirt, just below his collarbone. But the reaction is immediate.
His breath stutters, barely perceptible, and his eyes darken in a way that makes my pulse spike.
Oh.
The realization hits me all at once, heady and exhilarating. He isn’t untouchable or immune. Whatever control he prides himself on, it fractures under my touch, and the power of that sends a rush of confidence through me I’ve never felt before.
“I thought men like you had boundaries,” I murmur, hand lingering, tracing the line of his lapel. “Or is that just my father’s rule? One you seem to be breaking.”
“Alyona.” He says my name like a warning, low and rough on his tongue. The sound of it makes my skin prickle. I should stop. I know that. Instead, I lean in closer, my voice dropping.
“You’re hiding this from him, aren’t you? That you come here and watch me. Do you like to watch, Mr. Baranov?”
The moment breaks in a way I didn’t expect.
Anger roils like a storm across his features, twisting his upper lip.
In one swift movement, he turns me, pressing me back against the brick wall.
It’s jarring enough that the shirt Devin brought out earlier falls away, leaving my bare tits against the cool brick.
His mouth is at my ear, his voice a dark whisper.
“I don’t want to watch you with other men.
” Slowly, his hand comes around to my front, palming and hefting my breast as if he’s weighing the consequences.
Or savoring them. “I don’t ever want anyone to lay a finger on you. You’re mine, Alyona Demsky.”
He rocks his hips into my ass, the length of him hard and hot, earning a gasp from my lips. How is he so ready? Did I really do this to him?
“If it was up to me,” he continues in that dark, sultry voice, “you would never step foot in here again.”
A shot of defiance goes through me, straightening my spine. But Kazimir only handles me more roughly, one hand on my hip and the other on my throat as he tips my head back, lips ghosting along my shoulder.
“I come here and watch you, Alyona. I watch the way your body moves. I see the way you fake it for them, laughing politely, giving them your attention. But I can promise you, it wouldn’t be fake with me.”
His hand moves from my hip to my waist, ghosting against my belly. Somehow, without my fuzzy mind noticing, he’s already unzipped the back of my skirt and now his fingers dance down to my panties, snapping the elastic in warning.
“No polite smiles.”
Two massive, rough fingers ghost over my clit.
“No pretending you don’t want to be there. If I have you, Alyona, you’ll be thinking only of me. And the things I’m doing to you.”
With one hand tightening on my jaw, his other plays my clit slow and sensual. Teasing until my knees are shaking and my panties are soaked. Each ragged breath I take drags my tits against the brick, the feeling rough and too much and somehow not enough all at once.
I let out a whimper, unable to stop from rocking my hips back against his throbbing dick.
I can feel the heat of him through our clothes, how badly he wants this, and my mind is drunk on adrenaline and lust and thinking Why shouldn’t we?
Completely ignoring the fact that it’s 2 a.m. on a main street in Savannah, cars passing by slowly, completely exposed as he inches me toward an orgasm that I know I won’t forget.
“You’re mine,” he breathes, suddenly slapping my pussy, the cotton rubbing harshly over my clit as I cry out.
“Even if I can’t have you, Alyona, you’ll always be mine.”
Without another word, he dips two fingers under the elastic, into my soaked slit as his thumb strokes my oversensitive clit.
The orgasm rushes over me like an ambush, every part of me shaking as Kazimir crushes me against the brick wall, holding me up with one hand between my legs and an arm wrapped just under my breasts.
“Yes,” he slurs, voice like warm honey as I gush over his fingers, “yes, lyubimaya, darling, you’ll never forget this. Never.”
It’s a promise and a threat all in one, rocking me toward another climax at just how wrong this is and how badly I want it.
When it’s over, I’m shaking, my legs weak, thoughts scattered. It feels addictive. Forbidden.
Kazimir steps back first, straightening my clothes with careful, almost reverent attention. The button of my skirt is invasive, pulling me out of the lust-heavy trance.
When I turn his face is unreadable. He doesn’t say another word.
He turns and walks away, his stride unhurried, controlled, as if nothing out of the ordinary has happened. I watch him go, chest tight. The fire he lit inside me has calmed to embers, but they make my throat so hot I worry they’ll never go out.
Cinn’s voice cuts through the haze, the exit banging open obscenely. “Hmm. Looks like I missed something… were you ‘thanking’ your knight in shining armor?”
I ignore her, forcing my breath to steady as I step inside and Devin pulls Cinn away. It takes only seconds to arrange an Uber, minutes for it to arrive. No one at The Foundry says anything to me as I walk out, but I can feel their eyes trailing me.
In the uber, I replay everything I shouldn’t want. My phone rings halfway home.
Dad.
He can’t know…?
“Hey.” My hands are still trembling when I answer, though thankfully my voice is flat.
“Aly,” Liev says, his voice polite and restrained. It makes my heart ache, and for a moment guilt pricks at me. “I just wanted to check in. When we talked earlier… I’m sorry I upset you.”
“I’m fine,” I lie automatically, not wanting to think about his suggestion that I take an office job at Baranov Tech.
He hums, ignoring my words. “I talked to Kazimir earlier. He’s been busy tonight, tied up across town. But I let him know that you gratefully declined the offer.”
Across town.
The confirmation hits like a cold splash of water, sobering. My grip tightens on the phone.
“Oh,” I say, forcing myself to sound uncaring. “Thank you. I—I’m sorry if I overreacted. I just have my own plans, Dad, and—”
“I know. I’ll try to stop changing your plans. I just wanted to let you know, and to offer… if there’s anything I can do…”
You can ask your boss to stop stalking me.
But as my heart thuds loudly in my ears, I know that’s not what I want.
I say a tired, quick goodbye, squirming under the discomfort of lying to my father and finding out that Kazimir Baranov has been lying to his right-hand man. His supposed best friend.
Has been watching me for months.
Whatever is happening between us, it’s far more dangerous than I could’ve imagined. And I might just have the Bratva boss under my control.