Chapter 15
Chapter
Fifteen
Chloe
A baby’s cry came over the monitor.
I groaned, barely able to move. Maybe Sebastian would go back to sleep.
Kolya had fucked me twice. My body was sore, especially between my legs and the juncture between them. I wasn’t sure if they were from the stubble burns or the way his cock stretched me. He made sure I was wet. Extremely, deliciously wet.
He hadn’t changed. Whether he was this Nic of my weekend fling or my baby daddy, he was the same man between the sheets.
Feral.
Powerful thrusts.
Thrusts that could wreck headboards.
And he hadn’t used a condom both times. Good thing I was on the pill and meticulous about taking it.
Didn’t he worry about getting me pregnant again?
Especially since there was a one-to-nine percent failure rate and we’d already proven it.
He did murmur he was clean when I protested the second time he didn’t use one.
Sebastian cried once more. This time, more demanding.
The bed shifted behind me before a feathering kiss touched my bare shoulder.
“I’ll get him,” Kolya rumbled. “Don’t move.”
“Thanks,” I muttered, not even the least bit guilty about letting him take care of Sebastian.
He was half of my son’s DNA and Kolya seemed to enjoy bonding with him.
After that thought crossed my mind, a nagging feeling settled in my chest. I turned over in bed and stared out the open door.
I could hear Kolya fondly fussing at Sebastian.
Was it possible?
Was it wishful thinking to imagine us as a family?
Things were settling down. Once Theo and Aralina married, I could find my place in the family.
Something buzzed behind me.
Kolya’s phone.
I ignored the first vibration. And then it did it again.
Maybe it was important.
I tried to avoid reading the notifications, but one caught my eye.
Dima
Your fiancée keeps bugging me.
Fiancée? Did I read that wrong?
I exposed the next message.
Stop playing house with that woman.
Your duty is here. In Russia.
“What are you doing?” Kolya asked behind me. It was a lethal tone I’d never heard him use on me before.
My back stiffened. I slowly rose from the bed and turned around, still holding his phone.
“You have a fiancée?” I asked.
He cursed softly in Russian. Sebastian seemed happily settled in his arms and my chest ached that he was bringing our son into the room, maybe to lie down between us.
He stalked into the room. “Give me the phone.”
I handed it to him and bent to pick up the sleep shirt and slipped it over my head so I wouldn’t feel so exposed.
He scrolled through his messages and cursed again. “Fucking Dimitri.”
I tried to get Sebastian from him, but Kolya angled away.
“Give me my son,” I gritted.
“Chloe.”
“Give. Him. To. Me.”
He watched me warily as he finally let Sebastian dive into my arms. I backed away from Kolya, making for the door, but keeping our gazes locked.
“You didn’t answer me.” My voice was low. Controlled. “Do you have a fiancée?”
“No.”
“Then what the f— is that all about?” I asked.
He stepped forward.
“Don’t come any closer!” I hissed. My mind tried to recall the culture of the mafia. It was rife with arranged marriages to form alliances. “Let me rephrase. Are you promised to anyone?”
“It’s not that simple.”
I let out a scornful laugh. “It really is.” Then my brain fit the pieces of the puzzle. Why Kolya wouldn’t claim us outright while exhibiting actions to the contrary. “My son and I…we’re not supposed to exist in your life, are we? That’s why you’re hiding us.”
“Again, it’s not that simple,” he gritted. “Accept the bratva, then I can tell you.”
That bothersome feeling in my chest about how Kolya was bonding with Sebastian morphed into an uglier conclusion. “You’re going to take my son away.”
He scoffed. “That’s ridiculous.”
“Is it?”
“He has to be able to protect himself.” Kolya advanced another step while I slipped farther into the hallway.
“Was the attack on my apartment connected to your fiancée?”
A cloak shuttered his gaze, making it hard to decipher an answer. “Don’t know.”
“Don’t lie to me!” I yelled.
Sebastian started to cry. Tears burned my gaze. Kolya’s jaw set mulishly. He was an enforcer for the bratva. I wouldn’t be able to pry the truth from him even with a crowbar. “I want you out of here.”
“No.”
“Yes.” I rocked Sebastian to quiet him enough so I could finish saying my piece. “I want Dora back in this house. I don’t want my son anywhere near you until you tell me what’s going on. Then, and only then, will I determine my next move.”
“You can’t keep him from me.”
“Oh, I can.” I tilted my chin up. “You’re only allowed one custody visit, remember—”
“Don’t test me, Chloe,” he snarled.
“Watch me.”
I retreated into my room, slammed the door, and locked it.
Kolya’s shadow hovered underneath the frame. Sebastian was down to light crying. “Hold on, baby.”
Lowering him onto the sleeper, I fished my phone from his diaper bag and called the one person who might be neutral enough to tell Kolya to leave the house.