Chapter 57
CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN
Dimitri
I WAKE UP early, greeted by a narrow ribbon of sunlight spilling through the sheer curtains hanging above.
It warms my face and the smile that lingers there.
Fuck, I can’t stop smiling. Savina stirs slightly next to me, and I hold her tighter, not wanting to let her go.
We’ve been lying in bed, wrapped in each other’s arms for hours after an intense night of lovemaking.
I spent the early hours of the morning exploring every single inch of her body and memorizing her curves with my hands and my tongue.
I lost count of how many times I made her come.
I close my eyes, wanting to get lost in my dreams about her, when I hear a soft thud outside of the cabin, followed by numerous other thuds.
Savina jolts awake; but before I can even react or try to prepare for what’s coming next, the door to the cabin bursts open, flying off its hinges.
Savina screams in surprise as my father, my brother and several of my father’s men file into the room.
I grab the blankets, shielding Savina’s naked form from their eyes.
“What the fuck?” I hiss at my father, more worried about Savina’s dignity than my own damn life at this point.
“I could ask you the same thing,” my father says, stepping closer to us, his eyes narrowing. “Get the hell up. We’re leaving.”
“Give her some time to get dressed,” I say through a clenched jaw.
“I’ll respect Savina’s privacy, but you,” he says, pointing an accusatory finger at me, “can get dressed on the way to the car.”
Not giving a fuck in the world, I stand, naked as the day I was born, grabbing numerous items of clothing from the floor as I quickly make my way outside. The sooner I get out, the sooner they’ll leave Savina alone.
I take my time getting dressed as the cold air cuts into my skin. I want to give Savina as much time as possible before they go barging in again.
When I’m done, my father walks up to me.
Before I can even register what’s about to happen, his fist is flying towards my face.
It connects with my jaw, but I remain standing, barely budging as my nostrils flare in anger.
The side of my face aches with a dull throb as I stare him down.
He might have been able to beat me into submission when I was younger, but that was a long time ago.
If my old man wants to go toe to toe right now, then so be it.
I’ve been waiting my entire life for this moment.
“Fiu de c??ea!” he remarks with a scowl in our native tongue. “I was wrong to think you could ever be my successor!”
It should feel like he just punched me again, but instead I feel nothing.
I don’t know when I stopped caring about what my father thinks about me, but I’m at that point now.
I’m tired of being his fucking dog. Nothing he can say or do can hurt me anymore.
Well, unless it involves Savina. I’m thankful he used his favor from The Wolf to find her, and I had promised myself that I would back off; let Savina and Pavel enjoy their marriage.
But now that I’ve had her; now that she’s been under me, writhing, coming on my cock, calling out my name… all bets are off. She’s mine.
“Let’s go,” my father says, motioning to one of the blacked-out SUVs.
“What about Savina?” I question anxiously. If anything would happen to her, I’d never be able to forgive myself. It’s my fault that she’s here in this situation, and I’m prepared to take full blame for everything that transpired.
“She’s going to ride back with your brother,” my father informs me. “He is her future husband, after all,” he adds just to cut me deeper.
I grind my teeth together until I swear I hear a tooth crack under the pressure, but I decide I’ll fix things when we’re back home and I have leverage. There’s no sense in making things harder on Savina right now and everyone else involved.
Grumbling, I reluctantly climb into the SUV and stare at the cabin through the window.
“Drive,” my father says to the man behind the steering wheel, and I open my mouth to protest. I want to make sure Savina is safe and sound; but as if sensing what I’m about to say, he tells me, “Savina will be fine. Your brother will take good care of her. She’s his responsibility from here on out. ”
The SUV takes off, violently rocking back and forth as it careens down the bumpy, dirt road. Thick tension and uncomfortable silence fill the cabin of the vehicle, and it’s only once we’re on the highway that my father speaks again. “I’m assuming she’s no longer a virgin,” he inquires.
I hesitate. I consider lying, but then I slowly shake my head.
“Did you not think about what this will do to your brother? Did you not think about him at all?” he asks, raising his voice.
“I don’t think he’ll fucking mind,” I mutter.
“What the hell did you just say?”
“Nothing,” I say, louder this time. “He doesn’t care about her. Not like I do,” I point out.
He mutters a curse under his breath. “You really fucked things up, Dimitri.”
“No kidding,” I say despondently. I don’t regret a single second of my time with Savina.
I could die a happy man today knowing that I got to spend just one night with her.
And who knows, maybe my father will kill me for my indiscretions.
“What happens now?” I ask, desperately needing to know.
Surely us being together has changed everything; has changed my father’s mind about the contract.
“Everything that happened here will be kept between us. I don’t want anyone breathing a word of this to Savina’s father. We’ll make up a story, if we have to,” my father says assuredly. “And the wedding will go on as planned,” he adds, completely flooring me.
“The fuck it will. I can’t allow that,” I protest, but he holds up a hand, stopping me.
“You can and you will,” he says with finality. “So help me God, Dimitri, if you try to stop this wedding, I will fucking destroy you.”
He thinks that his threat will scare me, force me into compliance. And maybe at some point in my life, it would have. But I’m not a scared, little boy anymore, and his idle threats no longer intimidate me. He wants my brother to marry Savina? Over my dead fucking body.