CHAPTER 27
BETWEEN BLOOD AND LOVE
ARELLA
My father ran to the window, pulling the curtains aside so hard that he almost ripped them off the metal bar they hung on, then he swore in Spanish. I couldn’t see much except the orange lights of flames, and he angrily turned, breathing heavily through his nose and walked towards the door, his steps making the glasses shake on the desk.
“Stay here!” He shouted at me when I walked behind him.
I didn’t move for a while, because just as I waited seven days, I could wait five more minutes, even if impatience burned as bright inside me as the flames outside.
I watched him pull out his gun as he walked out of the office, then probably waited half a minute before running after him, tightening the cord of the robe around me as my bare feet slapped against the cold marble in the corridor.
I stepped into the entryway exactly when my father went out the front door, slamming it shut behind him, and I stopped next to the window.
The gates that opened onto the property were destroyed, and some of the fence had crumbled down from the explosion. Gunshots sounded loudly, dozens from the guards that defended the perimeter, only two from behind the opened doors of an armored Hummer that was stopped a few feet away from the gates.
When I saw him raise his head from behind the car door, pulling the trigger twice, my heart seemed to fall back into place, at peace that he came for her.
I walked outside without thinking, barefoot and wearing nothing but my panties and the black robe, but before I could run down the stairs and sprint towards him, two arms wrapped tightly around me, the same ones that stopped me from getting to my mother all those years ago.
“Don’t even think about it,
mija
,” he pulled me back forcefully, trying to push me back into the house.
But I wasn’t the same weak child from back then, I wasn’t the same woman he could effortlessly maneuver. I was stronger, more determined to return to where I belonged.
“Stop,
por Dios
!”
“No, let go of me.”
I struggled in his hold and scratched his face, same as before, but this time it had a different impact, and it made him grit his teeth, weakening his hold enough for me to raise my foot and knee him between his legs.
I ripped myself out of his hand and started running for Grimm, passing through the guards who kept shooting.
The stones in the walkway dug into my soles, making me remember those that had grazed my knees when mom died, but right now, the pain subsided with every step I took towards him, almost as if his presence was my morphine.
Hope burned inside me like the flames of hell, and all I wanted was to touch him, feel his scent seep through my pores, piercing me down to my soul, and feel his arms envelop me in the quiet his chaos offered every time.
Two names were called out simultaneously, by two men who were more similar than they would ever admit.
Reina
, the girl who shunned her father and left her whole life behind, running from her past as if she ran from the plague, and
Arella
, the woman who raised out of Reina’s ashes, who wished to heal everyone’s pain, hoping that by soothing others, she could fix herself.
The woman who, no matter how long she searched for harmony in work and volunteering, finally found her peace and her entire future in the arms of a criminal.
When I realized why they were calling me, it was too late, because the bullet dug into my shoulder blade from behind, and the impact made me collapse to my knees with a whimper on my lips, the sharp stones carving into my skin until they drew blood.
All I could hear were my ragged breaths and Grimm’s agony ridden howl.
“Ceasefire!” My father’s voice thundered, and I turned my head towards him enough to see him running toward me.
Before the gunshots stopped completely, Grimm was shot in the leg, but he still limped towards me, as if no bullet could stop him.
They were face to face now, gripping their guns in their hands, pointing them at each other, and in the middle of them, was me.
Caught between the man that gave me life, who raised me and kissed my forehead every night, promising that the monsters in my closet could never take me away from him, and the man who brought me back to life after years of lying to myself that I was alright, that I was healed of my mother’s death and that it didn’t impact me anymore.
Caught between my past, and the only future I wished for.
Caught between blood and love.
I winced as I struggled to raise my head towards the source of every ruin inside me, who was also the only one who held the power to rebuild me.
Had he always been this beautiful?
Grimm’s eyes boiled with rage, the black of his pupils swallowing the globe thistle blue in his irises, but his face read relief, and I was convinced that he contemplated his end happily, only because he saw me once more, even if he wouldn’t die as long as I was still breathing.
I would never allow anyone to take him away from me, not even my own father.
He looked rugged, as if he’d barely closed an eye during the last few days. His hair was longer, and his beard had grown, a sign that taking care of himself was the last thing on his mind.
I winced as I struggled to rise to my feet, and panted when I finally stood up, but he wasn’t looking at me, since he was paying attention to my father and the weapon in his hand.
He knew.
He knew the stranger in front of him was my father, otherwise he would have killed him by now, especially since there were no more shots being fired, even if every barrel was pointed at him, and I was sure he didn’t care about the bullets that would have gone through him the second he pulled his trigger.
He would have died for me, just as I would have died for him.
A small woman came up behind him.
Her hair was short and pinned in a bun, dressed in the tightest clothes possible and covered in all different kinds of weapons, from knives and guns, to the two Twin Sai blades that were holstered in an X on her back.
I didn’t give her much importance, but a wave of jealousy washed over me when she took her stance to his left.
“I hate to interrupt this touching staring contest, but we’re dead if these guys start shooting again.”
I scowled at her for a moment, then turned my back to Grimm and straightened, raising my chin in defiance.
“If you want to shoot him, that bullet will have to go through me.”
“I can shoot him in the head,” my father wrinkled his nose in disgust, scrutinizing the man that raised above me like a shadow.
“You wouldn’t get the chance,” I answered, so sure of myself. “He found me,” I pronounced each word individually, highlighting every letter.
“I’ll hide you better next time,” he narrowed his eyes without allowing the hatred towards Grimm to wash off his face.
But I could see the fight leaving him. I could see that he wasn’t going to pull the trigger, not necessarily because he didn’t want it, but because he knew that the second that gun went off, he would lose me forever, this time without any chance of forgiveness.
“I love him,” my tone softened, and I stepped towards him as I felt the blood slowly running down my back. “I love him the same way mom loved you, and if my love for him would one day kill me, then so be it, but don’t take away my chance at happiness just because you’re afraid that history will repeat itself, please,” I begged.
Grimm caved first, throwing his weapon somewhere to his right before embracing me in his arms, careful not to touch my wound, and the warmth he enveloped me in made all the pain inside dissipate. I felt the kiss he pressed to the top of my head as my father exhaled a long breath, his hand trembling on the gun as he finally allowed his tears to fall, then he lowered his weapon and let it crash at his feet.
“You have to be seen by a doctor, right now,” he said as he turned on his heels, then left without giving us a second glance, gesturing for the men to wrap it up.
I breathed out in relief, watching as the guards scattered, rushing to put out the fire and clean up the remains of the fence.
All the weight I carried on my shoulders crumbled to the ground, and I turned to Grimm with my heart in my palm, ready to return it to him.
“We have got to stop meeting like this,” I whispered, and a huge smile spread over his face, his eyes returning to that globe thistle blue, regaining their warmth.
“We will never meet again,
Snezhinka
.” He cupped my face in his big palms, tears running down his face. “Because I won’t ever let you out of my sight again, not even for a fucking second.”
I sobbed, wrapping my palms around his wrists, then touching his chest, his neck and finally, his face. I blinked rapidly, allowing my hands to fall back down to his bullet-proof vest, pulling at it.
“You’re here,” I cried. “You’re really here.”
My eyes burned, my heart burned, my whole being burned. The adrenaline drained out of me, leaving a puddle of emotions behind, and I sobbed as I cupped his face again, pushing back the hair that had stuck to his sweat.
“I’m here,” he whispered as he leaned down, his breath fanning over my face for a second before his lips crashed down on mine.
*
We were in the infirmary, where I was seated in a chair, watching as the medic finished stitching up Grimm’s leg, who was now only wearing boxers and a T-shirt, the rest of his clothes sitting in a pile at the foot of the medical bed.
He was looking at me as if he wanted to eat me alive, and that only intensified the pressure inside me.
I hadn’t forgotten how intense his gaze was, but its effect on me had started to cloud, and right now, he was doing everything in his power to remind me.
“Try to keep strain to a minimum in the next few days and both of you should be alright,” the doctor said, stuttering his words because his English wasn’t strong.
“
Prosto uydi otsyuda, chtoby ya mog dotronut’sya do svoyey zhenshchiny
[22]
,” Grimm rasped, his voice a low, almost growly tone.
I tried to stop my giggle, but I couldn’t, and my family’s doctor looked at Grimm as if he had just threatened him with death.
“
Ne nado yego tak pugat’
[23]
,” I scolded, but I was sure he could hear the amusement in my voice.
The doctor kissed his rosary when he heard me speaking Russian, then stormed out of the cabinet as if another second in our presence was about to hang him, and we started laughing as the door closed behind him.
Tension filled the air, so thick I could cut with a knife, and I nearly tasted it on my tongue when Grimm stood up and locked the door, then pulled the cabinet from the side and barricaded it.
I stood up in sync with every fine hair of my body, my breathing catching in my throat when he purposefully stepped towards me, the grin on his face promising that I was going to be punished for all the days I had been away from him and, God, how I wanted it.
“Reina,” he whispered in my ear when he leaned over me and encircled my waist, gluing me to him.
“I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to that name on your lips.” I gulped audibly and stifled a moan when his lips fell greedily onto my neck.
“It describes you perfectly,” he licked up my pulse. “Because you’re not the good little angel I first met.” He blew air over the wet patch as his fingers skillfully undid my robe, pushing it down my shoulders, and I was left in my panties in front of him.
“No?” I exhaled, wrapping my palm around his erection over his underwear. “Then what am I?” I bit my lip, watching as his eyes succumbed to the madness.
“You’re my queen,
Snezhinka
,” he grinned as he bent down and wrapped his lips around my nipple.
“Oh?”
My head fell back when he possessively cupped me over the thin lace of my lingerie, holding it in a tight grip.
“The queen of my darkness.”
He hooked a finger under the material and ripped it off my body, then spun me around and pressed me to the edge of the table.
When two of his long fingers sank inside me without so much as a warning, I swallowed all the words, allowing nothing but desperate moans to fall off my lips. He settled into a rapid pace, meant to punish, but I was melting with each thrust, spilling over his hand without a drop of shame.
“Cat got your tongue?” he bit into my skin as he tangled his fingers in my hair at the base of my skull, wrapping it around his fist before pulling my head back.
“Less talk, more thrusts,” I reached my hand back, grabbing his throbbing erection again.
“I won’t be gentle,” he said as his teeth grazed the shell of my ear, suddenly pulling his fingers out of me.
I huffed, frustrated because I was so close.
“Good,” I turned my head to the side, wanting to say something more, but he didn’t allow it.
His wet fingers pushed past my lips and into my mouth while he pushed his knee between my legs, nudging them apart, and I barely had time to breathe in once before feeling him sink into me in one move, cruel and without an ounce of regret, and I exploded around him, incapable of stifling the scream of pleasure that ripped out of my throat.
“Fuck,” he swore over my neck as he gripped my hair tighter.
“Grimm,” I said his name when he started moving.
He seemed possessed, like he wanted to break me, and I welcomed every tear with open arms, savoring how he filled me to the brim, how he speared through my entire body with each thrust and how he seemed to put me back together with each touch. He took bites out of me, he devoured me mercilessly, until I couldn’t tie two coherent thoughts together.
But then he suddenly pulled out, knocking the air out of my lungs as he flipped me around to face him, his mouth claiming mine in the most disarming of kisses.
I didn’t fight back, not even for a second, because I was just as hungry as him.
He picked me up and sat me on the table, then I felt him again. Harder, ruthless, devoid of restraint.
His fingers dug into my waist, and I was sure that I was going to see the consequences of the fervent brutality he bent me with in the morning, but I didn’t care.
I wanted him to break me into as many shards as he wanted.
“I fucking love these,” he sank his teeth into the star on my shoulder, keeping up the pace.
“I kneel to no one.” I whispered when he cupped my breasts and pushed them together, shoving his face between them, almost as if he didn’t know which one to kiss first. “Except you,” I continued, sinking my nails into his shoulders, clinging to him as I felt the orgasm rip through my body.
“Fucking hell,” he groaned deeply, then pulled out of me and came in thick, long lines over my chest and abdomen, his face hidden in the crook of my neck.
We were both panting as if we’d run the marathon, and slowly lost ourselves in our embrace when a knock on the door interrupted our moment of euphoria.
“If you two are done, father would like a word with the Russian gangster,” Julio’s amused voice made me slap my forehead.
Grimm only grinned, then took a piece of gauze and dampened it before coming back to clean me up.
I watched with utter fascination as he licked his lips, his hand gently gliding over my skin, totally contradicting the downright barbaric way in which he’d claimed me only a few minutes prior.
“Are you ready to meet the devil?” I giggled.
His eyes bore into mine, then he bent down to pick up my robe and helped me into it.
“Someone once told me I’m the
only being in all of hell that Satan himself refuses to have a confrontation with,” he said with a smile that weakened my knees.
“I thought you didn’t want to associate yourself with the Biblical meaning of your name,” I whispered as he kissed my shoulders before covering them with the robe, tying it around my waist.
“Not only do I associate myself with it, baby, but for you I’m capable of becoming that demon of absolute destruction, because I’ll bring the world to ruin before anyone takes you away from me again.”
He turned me around and hugged me from behind, his arms hanging over my shoulders as something golden dangled from his wrist, and I shivered when I noticed it was my necklace.
My heart twisted and turned when he put it around my neck, letting the cross fall over my chest. I looked down at it and brushed my fingers over the metal, then turned to face him, my eyes welling with tears.
“You kept it with you?”
He nodded, a bittersweet smile curving his lips.
“Every day,
Snezhinka
,” he whispered. “Every day I prayed that I’d get to hold you again, and my prayers have been answered, because you’re back in my arms.”
“I’m back where I belong,
moya lyubov’
[24]
.”