Chapter 2
Chapter Two
AINSLEY
S itting in this motel room is driving me stir-crazy. I have no idea what’s going on. Every day for the past few days, Selene has stopped by to check in, making sure I’m not doing anything reckless. She’s assured me that, through a friend, she’d be able to get me a meeting with Dmitri and Lennon today.
Selene confirmed that Lennon is pregnant, and she told me about my half sister’s ordeal with the Triad. Lennon was captured and almost taken out of the country, but Dmitri saved her. That, unfortunately for him, doesn’t change anything for me. I’m still going to get my revenge. I need to prove that he murdered Lyric’s and my father. Lennon needs to understand she’s literally sleeping with the enemy. But I keep that part to myself.
Looking in the mirror, I take in the dark circles under my eyes from lack of sleep. I’ve been dreaming of my mystery man so much lately that I wake up aching with need. But no matter how hard I try to get myself off, I can’t.
I’m wearing a pair of ripped jeans, the knees completely gone, that Chloe dropped off for me. My black crop tee clings to me just right, and I’ve paired my outfit with high heels because I like the extra height. My hair is up in a high ponytail and hangs in curls down my back.
I grab my little clutch and walk out to the car Selene sent for me.
By the time we make it to the gated community in Summerlin, I’m beyond stressed out. Maybe if Selene or Chloe had ridden with me, I wouldn’t be so wound up.
I fidget with my purse as we wait for the secondary gate to open in front of Dmitri and Lennon’s house. One of her guards approaches and opens my door. I step out and head straight for the front entrance.
Dmitri opens the door. At six and a half feet tall, he’s imposing. When he stares at me with shock, I get it. I do. I look so much like both Lennon and Lyric except for my red hair. Of the three of us, I resemble our biological mother the most.
“Ainsley, I presume,” he says as he offers me his hand.
I can’t stop the anger and disgust. He actually expects me to shake his hand when I know what he did to my father.
I brush past him without a word, needing to see for myself that Lennon is truly safe.
“Lennon,” I call out just to make sure this isn’t a trap. That Selene wasn’t tricked by her contact.
“Here, Ains,” Lennon says, and I rush down the long hallway toward her voice.
I don’t take in my surroundings but walk right to where she is seated on a sofa with a blanket over her lap. I hear Dmitri moving behind me.
“Oh my God, Lenny, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know.” My voice cracks as I take her all in to make sure she really is okay. I hug her tightly, then step back. I have to say this now or I won’t be able to get the words out. “Lyric is with the enemy.” The words spit out from my lips. I finally got a message from Lyric. She told me she and Belyaev are together. She wouldn’t explain more. “I’m so sorry, but I have to do this.”
I move away from Lennon so she won’t get hurt if Dmitri attacks me. I look over to where he is standing with his back to the patio, facing the room.
“I know what you did.” I point at him. “You killed my father, and I’ll prove it. You’ll go to jail, or you’ll die in revenge.” I start to move toward him, wanting to hit him or something worse. I watch as he slowly shakes his head, but he isn’t focused on me.
“I didn’t kill him,” he says in his thick Russian accent.
“I did,” a deep voice growls behind me. “And I’ll tell you why soon enough.” I start to turn, but before I can, he grabs me by the hips and throws me over his shoulder. “You’re mine now.”
He turns and heads toward the door I came through only a few moments ago. I push my hair back and look up as my sister yells.
“Don’t hurt her. She’s my sister.”
“I know,” the man says, and closes the door behind us.
I start kicking and screaming. I’m going to be taken to one of those warehouses and killed, just like my father was. I won’t ever see my sisters again. I start fighting and crying at the same time.
Why do I always do this? How do I get myself into trouble?
“Stop it now, zayka. ” He smacks my ass, and something inside me unfurls. Desire I haven’t felt in months comes alive again. My core throbs.
“Who are you? I’m not Zayka. ” I try to pronounce the name he called me. “I’m Ainsley Duncan. Now put me down,” I yell.
He smacks me again, and I moan from the feeling of his hand hitting my ass. His long legs are moving, and before I know it, we enter another house and he’s climbing a set of stairs. He drops me onto a bed and falls over me, blanketing my body, his face not far from mine. His dark hair is wavy and falls over his forehead. He’s handsome, and I know exactly who he is.
“I’m Mikhail Sokolov, and you’re mine now,” he says, and I just stare up at him.
“What does that mean?” I can hear the panic in my voice. “Why would you do that? I know who you are?”
He wraps his hands around my neck, holding me down, and I instantly calm. Desire floods my body. He has no clue that I like to be constrained.
“You’ll marry me and become mine. It’s the only way to save you.”
“You just want to marry me?” I doubt that, but it sounds like it could be fun. I lick my lips, already imagining how this could work in my favor. Maybe I could use him to forget about Master.
His eyes follow my tongue, and I see desire flare in them. I can’t hide the small smile that spreads across my lips. I’ve got him now. I’m used to using my body to get what I want. Ever since I was younger and men took from my body, I’ve learned to use it against them.
He rears back. “I’m taking one for the team,” he says, then he’s off me and out of the room so fast I’m not sure what just happened.
I lie there in the bed, processing what he just said.
He’s taking one for the team. Did they draw straws, and he lost?
Just what a girl wants to hear.
* * *
Mikhail
I almost took her right there. I wanted to. My cock was hard as a rock as I watched her tongue, as I saw my fingers wrapped around her neck again. The last time I had my hands on her neck, they were gloved. This time I could feel her warm, soft skin. I wanted to yank her hands over her head and shackle them to the top of the bed, allowing me to really hold her down while I pounded away in her body again.
I can’t stop the memories as I collapse in my desk chair.
“Master, take me harder,” she begs me, and it takes everything in me to remember to cover my accent.
“Little bunny, I’m going to fuck this cunt so hard you’ll never forget me.”
She moans long and loud, and I want to see what her expressive eyes are doing. But this is part of what I have to do to keep my identity hidden. I’m one of the few Doms at the club who wears a mask, clothing to cover all my tattoos, and I barely speak, or I cover my accent if I do. Part of moving here at such a young age is I can speak without an accent at times. But this woman tests all my nerves.
I pound harder into her sweet pussy over and over. When she comes on a cry, I continue moving in and out of her until I come in the condom. My arms shake, and my body is completely depleted for the first time ever. I don’t want to stop fucking her.
I’m shaken from the memory when the alarm for the bedroom door pings. I wired the house so I’d know when she’s moving around. The stairwell alarm goes off next, and I move to the doorway, watching as she comes down to the first floor. She pauses, glancing around, then turns and spots me standing there.
“What? Can’t I look around?”
“Stay in this house. Don’t leave without me or your guards.”
“I thought I was safe. When are you forcing me to marry you?”
“Soon.”
I contemplate her question. I never wanted to marry. I never wanted to have a woman. I thought I could use the club to satisfy my urges and needs, but she ruined that for me. I can’t have anyone but her now. That night changed me. I’ve kept my distance since.
A guard I pay lets me know when she shows up, and I watch and wait to see if she will sleep with another Dom. She hasn’t though. She usually looks around and then heads back to the bar, where she stays for the rest of the night. She doesn’t drink. She sits there and visits with the bartenders, her friends, and just watches.
I turn and head back into my office, trying to focus on work while keeping an eye on her through the cameras as she moves around and explores.
A couple of hours later, some of my soldiers arrive with her belongings from her apartment. I direct them to put everything in the master suite. She watches but doesn’t say anything.
I notice a book bag and reach for it, but Ainsley moves fast and rips it from my hands.
“That’s not for you to see.” She scowls at me as she takes the heavy bag and moves out of the room.
I’m interested in the contents, but I can wait until she’s asleep later.
* * *
H ours later, after I’ve had food delivered, I watch her sleep. Textbooks surround her on the bed. I reach for one and am shocked when I see it’s a corporate law book. I set it back down exactly where I found it and head to my office, where I start researching my little bunny.
Sure enough, I find the information I’m looking for. She’s enrolled in night classes at a local campus, working toward a law degree. That detail never came up in any of her background checks. I don’t know how she hid it.
I hack the bursar’s office to see how she’s paying for it. Turns out, her tuition is covered by anonymous donations.
Rubbing my eyes, I decide I’ve done enough digging for the night and head upstairs. I change into a pair of sleep pants and slide into bed next to her.
She shifts, knocking the books off the bed, and plasters herself against my body. I wrap an arm around her waist and pull her in close. We sleep like that for the night.