Chapter 21 #2
The vehicles are parked fifty yards from the house, hidden in a small clearing. We move quickly through the trees, Viktor scanning ahead while I watch our backs. Liesl stays close to me, her hand gripping the back of my shirt like she's afraid I'll disappear if she lets go.
We're almost to the clearing when I hear the snap of a branch, too loud to be an animal, too close to be anything but a threat.
"Down!" I shout, pushing Liesl to the ground and covering her body with mine as gunfire erupts from our left.
Viktor returns fire immediately. One of the men behind us goes down with a grunt, hit in the shoulder.
The other keeps firing while Viktor advances on the shooter's position.
I stay over Liesl, shielding her, my gun drawn and ready.
She's pressed flat against the ground beneath me, her breathing rapid and shallow.
I can feel her heart racing against my chest.
"Stay down," I tell her. "Don't move."
The deja vu is painful. And I feel a sudden wave of guilt for bringing her into all of this, for wanting to keep her here. This isn't the first time she's been beneath my body while gunfire rattled around us.
But I also know I can't let her go.
The gunfire stops as suddenly as it started. Viktor appears from the trees, dragging a body. "Last one," he says. "I did a sweep. We're clear."
I help Liesl to her feet, checking her over quickly. No blood. No injuries. "Come on." I keep my arm around her as we move the last distance to the vehicles.
Viktor gets behind the wheel of the lead car.
I put Liesl in the backseat and slide in beside her, while the two remaining guards take the second vehicle.
The wounded man is already being loaded into the back—he'll live, but he needs medical attention soon.
"Drive," I tell Viktor. "I'll send you the directions. "
The engine roars to life, tires spitting gravel as we accelerate down the narrow access road. I keep my gun in my hand, watching through the rear window for any sign of pursuit. But the road behind us stays dark and empty. We're clear, for now.
I turn my attention to Liesl. She's pressed into the corner of the seat, her arms wrapped around herself, staring straight ahead with wide, unseeing eyes. The adrenaline is wearing off now, leaving her shaking harder than before.
"Liesl." I reach for her, but she flinches away from my touch. Then her eyes focus on my hand—on the blood covering my knuckles, dried and dark in the dim light of the car. Her gaze travels up my arm to my shirt.
"You're covered in blood," she whispers.
"I know."
"Is it—" She swallows hard. "Is any of it yours?"
"No."
She's quiet for a moment, processing this. "You killed them. The people attacking the house."
"Some of them. My men killed the others." I watch her face, trying to gauge her reaction. "They were trying to get to you, Liesl. I wasn't going to let that happen."
"I know." Her voice is small and fragile. "I knew you wouldn't."
Something in her tone makes my chest tighten. She sounds so certain, so absolutely sure that I would come for her, that I would protect her, that I would kill anyone who tried to hurt her.
And she's right. I would. I would burn the entire world down before I let anyone take her from me.
"Come here," I tell her, my voice rough, and she hesitates, her eyes still on the blood.
Then she moves across the seat toward me, slowly, like she's approaching something dangerous.
I pull her onto my lap, positioning her so she's straddling me, her knees on either side of my hips.
She makes a small sound of surprise but doesn't resist. Her hands come up to rest on my shoulders, careful not to touch the blood on my shirt. "You're shaking," I murmur.
"I'm scared." The admission is barely audible. "I was so scared, Andrei. I heard the gunfire and I didn't know if—"
I cut her off with a kiss, hard and demanding, claiming her mouth like I claimed her body before, like I want to claim every part of her until there's nothing left that isn't mine.
She gasps against my lips, and then she's kissing me back with equal desperation, her fingers digging into my shoulders, her body pressing against mine.
The kiss tastes like fear and relief, and this thing that's been building between us since the moment I first saw her tied to that chair. Something that's only gotten stronger with every touch, every word, every moment we've spent together.
I break the kiss to trail my mouth down her throat, feeling her pulse racing beneath my lips. She tilts her head back, and the trust in that gesture nearly undoes me. She's giving herself to me. Offering herself. Even now, even after everything she's seen, everything she knows I'm capable of.
"Andrei." Her voice is a low whimper, low enough that only I can hear it. "I need—I need—"
"I know what you need, ptitsa." I bite down gently on the sensitive spot where her neck meets her shoulder, and she moans. "I know exactly what you need."
Viktor is in the front seat, so I don't undress her.
But she's wearing soft lounge shorts, and I nudge them to one side, finding the edge of her panties and pulling them aside, too.
In the dark of the car and the woods around us on either side of the road, it's hard to see what we might be doing back here.
With my other hand, I cup her breast, and she gasps softly. I run my thumb over her nipple through the thin bralette she's wearing beneath it, and I feel it pebble beneath the pad of my finger. "Beautiful," I murmur. "So fucking beautiful."
Her hand goes to the zipper of my pants frantically, and I lift my hips so that she can undo it, freeing my cock.
Her palm wraps around it, pressing against the piercings, and I bite back a groan as I pick her up just enough to angle myself between us.
I grab her hips and grind her down against my erection, letting her feel how hard I am, how much I want her.
She gasps and rocks against me, seeking friction, relief from the tension coiling between us.
"I need to be inside you," I tell her, my voice rough with need and low in her ear. "Right now. Can't wait."
"Yes, please, Andrei, I need—" Her hand strokes along my length, feeling the piercings, and I see the flash of nervousness cross her face—she's still not entirely used to them, to the way they feel inside her.
Good. I want her to feel every inch of me. I want her to remember this every time she moves tomorrow.
She's already wet—I can feel it when I slide my fingers through her folds. "So ready for me," I murmur. "Always so ready, ptitsa."
I position her over my cock and pull her down in one hard thrust, burying myself to the hilt.
She clenches her teeth and bites her lip hard enough to draw blood against the sound that threatens to escape her mouth.
The sensation is overwhelming—her tight heat surrounding me, the piercings dragging against her inner walls.
"Fuck," I grit out. "So tight. So perfect. "
I don't give her time to adjust. I can't—the need is too urgent, too desperate.
I grip her hips and start moving her, lifting and lowering her on my cock in a brutal rhythm, short movements that could look like the bouncing of the car if Viktor looks back.
She meets me thrust for thrust, her eyes fixed on mine.
But it doesn't take long before I know he can't possibly be in the dark about what we're doing, even though he keeps his eyes fixed firmly ahead.
The pleasure is too much. Liesl's gasps, my muffled groans clenched between my teeth…
we aren't quiet enough. We can't be. But I don't fucking care anymore.
Let him hear. Let everyone know that she's mine.
"Touch yourself," I growl. "Make yourself come on my cock."
She obeys immediately, one hand dropping between us to find her clit. I watch her face as she touches herself, watch the pleasure build in her expression, watch her get closer and closer to the edge as I rock her back and forth on my throbbing cock.
Fuck. She feels so fucking good. I can't ever stop, can't ever let her go. Nothing has ever been like this.
Her inner muscles start to flutter around me, squeezing my cock in rhythmic pulses. She's close, so close. I thrust up harder, angling to hit that spot inside her that makes her see stars, and she shatters.
Her orgasm crashes through her with enough force to make her whole body convulse.
She bites her lip hard again, her pussy clamping down on me, and I follow her over the edge.
I come hard, emptying myself inside her, the hot flood of my cum intensifying the sensations as I fuck it into her, wanting it all as deeply inside of her as it can go.
Mine. She's mine. And I'm never letting her go.
We stay like that for a long moment, both of us breathing hard, her body draped over mine and my cock still buried inside her. I can feel my release leaking out around my shaft, the way she's still trembling with aftershocks.
Slowly, carefully, I lift her off me and readjust her clothes. She's boneless and pliant, and I pull her against my side. She curls into me, her head on my shoulder.
"The meeting with your father," I say quietly after a moment. "It can't happen."
She goes still against me. "What?"
"You saw what just happened. That was coordinated. They knew exactly where you were, exactly when to hit." I stroke her hair, trying to gentle the blow. "Bringing him to another location, giving him another chance to set up an ambush—it's too dangerous. I won't risk you like that."
"Andrei—"
"No." I make my voice firm. "This isn't negotiable, Liesl. I almost lost you tonight. I'm not giving him another opportunity."
She pulls back to look at me, and I see the glint of tears in her eyes. "Please. Please don't do this. We need to try. We need to find a way to end this that doesn't involve more death, more violence, more—"
"There is no other way." I cup her face in my hands, forcing her to hold my gaze. "This is war. People die in war. That's the reality of the world we're in."
"But it doesn't have to be." Her voice breaks. "If you would just trust me, if you would just let me try to talk to him—"
"I can't." The words come out harsher than I intend. "I can't risk you. Don't you understand that? You're—" I stop, the words catching in my throat.
You're the only thing that matters. You're the only good thing in my life and I can't lose you.
I can't say any of it. But she must see something in my face because her expression softens.
"If you can't work with me on this," she says quietly, "if you can't trust me enough to let me try, then we can't work at all. I can't be with someone who won't let me be a partner. Who won't let me have any say in my own life."
The ultimatum hits me like a physical blow. She's serious. I can see it in her eyes, hear it in her voice. She'll walk away. She'll choose her principles over me, over us, over everything we've built together.
And I'll lose her.
The thought is unbearable, worse than any threat Alexander Baumann could pose, worse than any attack, worse than anything I've faced in my entire life. I've survived bullets and betrayal. I've survived things that would have broken lesser men. But I don't think I could survive losing her.
"Andrei." She touches my face, her fingers gentle against my jaw. "Please. Trust me. Let me try."
I close my eyes, feeling the weight of the decision pressing down on me.
Every instinct I have is screaming at me to refuse, to keep her locked away where she's safe, where I can protect her from her father and his allies and everyone else who wants to use her against me.
But she's right. If I do that, I lose her anyway. And I can't let that happen.
I open my eyes and look at her, at the hope in her expression, the determination, the absolute certainty that she can make this work if I'll just give her the chance. She believes in peace, in negotiation. In the possibility of something better than this.
I don't believe in any of those things. But I believe in her.
"Okay," I hear myself say. "We'll try."
Her face lights up like I've given her the world. "Really? You mean it?"
"I mean it." I pull her close again, burying my face in her hair. "Just him, no guards, no weapons. You'll have your chance to talk to him."
"Thank you. Thank you, Andrei. I promise I won't let you down. I promise—"
"I know." I tighten my arms around her, holding her like she's the only thing keeping me anchored to earth. "I know, ptitsa."
I don't tell her that I'm terrified this will end in blood anyway, that her faith in human nature is going to get her hurt, or that I'm probably making the biggest mistake of my life.
Instead, I just hold her as Viktor drives us through the darkness toward whatever comes next.
Toward the moment when I'll have to trust that love—because that's what this is, even if I can't say the word—is stronger than violence.
I don't believe it. But for her, I'll try.
And if it all goes wrong, if Alexander Baumann betrays us, if this hope she's clinging to turns out to be nothing but a beautiful lie—
Then I'll do what I've always done.
I'll be the monster, so she can be safe.