Chapter 3 - Diomid
I’m still grinning, even after the elevator doors have slid closed and her gorgeous little body is out of my view. That pure white little angel.
Fuck me, she was fun. She was beautiful, adventurous, sweet, sassy, sexy—what a perfect way to wake up, with her in my arms.
I step back into the penthouse and close the door. Reaching my arms behind my head, I stretch my body awake, wishing that she’d stayed. Dammit. It’s a rare occasion when I want the girl to still be here the morning after.
In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever invited someone to stick around for breakfast. Maybe a morning fuck and a shower—but that’s the end of it.
I wanted her to stay all day. All weekend, if I could have convinced her.
With a low chuckle, I head back to the bedroom, past the bed, and into the bathroom. Wide windows stretch around the entire bathroom, one-way glass showcasing views of the city in every direction, as far as my eyes can see.
I flick the shower on, and steam begins to press against the mirror, misting it.
Angel was eager to leave, though. Even if she did steal more than one lustful glance at me with those beautiful green eyes of hers.
Shit. I didn’t get her number.
Double shit. Since when do I ever want a girl’s number?
My own thought shocks me as I step beneath the hot flow of water pelting down from the rain shower head above me.
Dammit. I can’t let her make me soft.
There are millions of women in the world.
Can’t let one of them steal all my attention. It wouldn’t be fair to the others.
I laugh at the thought, but even as I tell myself that, I’m already wondering if I can ask Arseni to give me Mila’s number so I can ask Mila for Angel’s number.
After the shower, a cup of dark, rich coffee, and a slice of toast, she’s still on my mind.
Standing by the closed balcony doors, I’m looking at the view, but all I can see is her in my mind.
The curve of her back. The swell of her hips and the soft gasp she made as I thrust into her.
Her flat, toned stomach, and the way it moved when my cock penetrated her.
She was tiny in my hands. Petite and beautiful and mine to control.
I saw her hesitate, the flicker of panic when she felt the monstrous size of my cock pushing into her.
I moved more slowly until her face changed, and she spread her legs wider for me. An invite.
Fuck. Just thinking about it, my cock has gone rock hard.
Turning around to find my phone, I’m even more determined to track down her number.
But as I pick it up, it rings. My brother’s name flashes across the screen.
Matvei. He only calls when it’s work-related, and I don’t want to work now. I feel too good.
“Matty, what’s up?” I ask, cheerful.
“You need to come to an urgent meeting at the Shevchenkos’ office.”
“Seriously? It’s Saturday, man,” I groan.
“This isn’t a request, Diomid. Get here now. And I really do mean now. Drop whatever you’re doing. Kick her out. I don’t give a shit. Hurry up.”
I roll my eyes. Rude of him to assume I’m just hanging out with some random girl from last night.
I grin as I hang up.
She was something special. Dammit. And she managed to escape me before I could pull myself together enough not to let her go.
Mm. This feeling is new to me.
I’ve never wanted to chase someone down.
Maybe I should leave this alone. Give myself space to think.
For the high of her perfection to wear off.
I can’t go getting caught up in some girl.
She’s not just some girl, and you know it.
With reluctance, I leave the penthouse and head down to where my driver is waiting for me.
I can’t believe I have to deal with the Shevchenkos today.
Can’t I have one day without them infesting my life with their drama?
I didn’t even go to the stupid wedding, to my sister’s disappointment, but I was making a point.
They aren’t our family. We can’t trust them.
I’m still not ok with them. I don’t care if they tied to the family. Sure, Valery married the asshole leader, Jaroslav, but it’s not a guaranteed ticket that forces me to like any of them.
They’re all psychos, and I’m not interested in making friends.
But here I go, obediently following my brother’s orders to play nice.
Whatever. The sooner I get this over with, the better. Then I can go back to my Saturday and the rest of my life. Looking for her. No, not looking for her. Just doing my own thing.
Looking for her.
I sigh and shake my head at the argument going on inside me. It’s amusing. Entertaining. I already know I’m going to hunt her down and see her again.
Because I want to.
And I always get what I want.
She has no power over me. It’s not about that. I just want more of what we had last night.
***
The Shevchenko office is already packed with all the Shev morons and my own brothers.
I walk in and they hardly greet me, but Matvei nods and gestures for me to sit down.
The meeting carries on, and I’m left to catch up on whatever the reason is that we got dragged in here.
“When did you last hear from her?” Timofey asks.
“Yesterday in the evening, around seven or so,” Jaroslav replies.
“She spent the night at a friend’s place, but her guards were with her.
We’re questioning them now to figure out everything they know, but it seems like the last time she was seen was after nine last night. Just before she went to bed.”
“Ok, so we don’t know if she was taken last night or this morning,” Jaroslav remarks thoughtfully.
“Unsure. But I reckon we have to work from nine pm. The last official time she was seen. Her friend said she was already gone this morning, but she assumed she’d gone home early.”
“Fair enough.” My brother nods, making note of the information. He turns to me and says, “Jaroslav’s sister is missing. We’re going to rally together and start looking for her right away. There was a kidnap attempt on her a few months ago, so this is pretty serious.”
“Missing? But it hasn’t even been twenty-four hours. She could be with friends?” I scoff. Sheesh. The girl sleeps over at a friend’s house and goes out for breakfast or something, and they want to send out a search party.
“You guys need to relax,” I chuckle quietly.
“Are you fucking kidding me, Diomid? This is my sister. Don’t you dare tell me to relax. She’s a smart girl, and she wouldn’t do something without telling us where she was going.”
“Ok, ok, chill,” I say, holding my hands up.
Jaroslav sneers at me. His other brothers look just as pissed off. And to make matters worse, my own brothers are glaring at me, too.
“Ok, seriously, how can I help?” I ask, trying to recover and ease the tension so my brothers don’t lecture me later. I really need to learn the art of shutting-the-fuck-up sometimes.
“I don’t know. We need to trace her steps,” Jaroslav says, rubbing his hand over his jaw. I sit back, resigned to just listening instead of involving myself.
The conversation drones on. This and that.
She’s such a good girl. She wouldn’t have run away.
Something bad has happened. We need to rescue her.
Blah blah blah. A couple of times, I have to stifle a yawn.
That cute little angel kept me awake most of last night.
I could do with a few more hours of sleep. Or at least another coffee.
“Diomid, you know the nightlife in this city?” Jaroslav asks, pulling me from my pleasant memories of the fun I had last night.
“I do,” I nod.
Evengil and Zakhar lean forward in their seats, their eyes on me. “You’re pretty connected. Maybe you can start asking around. Show her picture to your contacts,” Zakhar suggests.
“Can do,” I sigh. “It’ll require some footwork, but ye, no problem.”
“I think it’s the Popovs. Those fuckers are up to no good, and this is their way of messing with us,” Jaroslav says.
He isn’t sitting, but rather pacing up and down, his agitation clear.
At this point, I’ll agree to anything they ask because I want to get out of here.
This whole meeting has gone on unnecessarily long.
Find the girl. Cool. Got it. There’s really no reason to talk about it for an hour and a half.
Evengil opens a brown folder in front of him and pulls out a glossy photograph. He slides it toward me.
I catch it as it skids over the smooth table surface and almost slips right off the edge onto the floor.
“Take a photo of it using your phone and start spreading her face around amongst your contacts. See what you can find out,” Zakhar is talking to me, but his voice becomes a distant, incoherent drone. I’m staring in utter shock at the photograph of the beautiful girl in my hand.
It’s Angel.
The girl I woke up next to this morning.
The girl I did some very dirty things to last night.
I swallow hard.
“What was your sister’s name again?” I stammer.
“Angelika,” Zakhar replies.
“Right.” Of course. Angelika. Angel. What the fuck. This is bad. I slept with a Shev. And if that’s not bad enough, she’s missing now, and technically, I’m the last person to see her safe and sound. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
“Take a photo,” Jaroslav insists. When I look up at him, he’s scowling at me. “Why are you staring at her picture?”
“Uh, just memorizing it. If I have to go out there and help look for her, I should know who I’m looking for,” I snap back, sounding a little too defensive. Rein it in, Diomid.
Pulling my phone out, I take a photo of the photo and slide it back to Zakhar, who returns it to the brown folder.
“Let me take the lead for now. I have enough people on the ground to spread this around quickly.” Standing up, I push my chair away from the table and lean forward, resting my hands on the table. “Is everyone ok with that?” I ask.
The guys nod, glancing at each other to make sure we’re all in agreement.