Chapter 13 - Simon
Her nails dig into my flesh, clawing at me as her pupils dilate so wildly, I can’t look away from her. Her lips are parted, full and beautiful. Begging to be kissed again.
My cock is sliding over her pussy, rubbing against her swollen clit. She is soaked. Absolutely soaked for me. She might be able to avoid me, to hide from me, but her body tells the truth of how she feels.
“I need you,” she whispers. The words almost break me. My cock throbs so hard I feel like I might explode before I’ve even felt her again.
A low, raw growl rumbles through my chest as I push my cock against her pussy. She gasps; her body goes rigid with expectation and excitement.
I push again, slipping inside her with ease. Halfway, then I pull out again. She is shuddering beneath me, her eyes closed, and her head tilted back. Her nails dig even deeper into my skin, pain I can’t feel. I wanted to tease her, but the pleasure of her pussy around my cock is too much to bear.
I thrust in all the way.
She cries out, louder than she means to, and I clasp my hand over her lips to keep her quiet. I thrust deep and hard and stretch her tight little pussy open, sliding back and forth, pushing in again and pausing because it feels so fucking good, I am going to lose my mind.
Selene spreads her legs wider, wrapping them around my waist. She clings to me, her eyes wide, and my hand over her mouth.
“You have to keep quiet, princess,” I whisper against her ear. “Or I’ll stop.”
There is no fucking chance in hell that I can stop.
I push into her again. My cock spreads her, and she pulls me into her pussy. It’s tight around me, massaging my cock as she coats me in her pleasure.
My free hand runs down her side, slipping behind her back and pulling her up towards me to arch her beautiful body.
My hand drifts from her lips and finds its way to her throat.
Her delicate bones beneath my fingers, her quiet, desperate gasps and moans filling the air.
My cock is pounding into her, and her perfect body is writhing beneath me.
I have waited so long for this. I have waited so long for her.
I tried to fill the empty void she left, but nothing… fucking nothing could replace her.
I groan and thrust into her, watching her stomach move as my cock moves inside her, pushing deep, filling her up.
Beneath me, she begins to shake with pleasure. Her breathing is faster.
I start to move faster, too. My cock is penetrating her perfect little pussy and growing harder and harder by the second. Her pupils are dilated again. She’s close.
The orgasm hits her like a tidal wave. Her body goes rigid as she arches, pushing her pussy against my cock. Inside her, the muscles spasm and contract, locking me in place. I slide deeper, and she can’t breathe for a moment as the intensity of her orgasm triples.
The sight of her beneath me is more than I can bear, and I explode inside her, shooting hot come into her perfect body. Claiming her. Making her mine.
My mind is blank. My body is humming. My breathing is steady but heavy.
I roll onto my side and pull her with me onto my chest. My cock is still inside her, and she wraps one leg over my waist and looks up at me in silence.
I am in awe when I look at her.
I am in awe of how perfect she is.
We lie together without speaking for the longest time.
All I can think of is how shocking my need for her is, even after having her.
Her physical body isn’t enough. I want her more than I have ever wanted her before.
In the months that we were together… I loved her.
But this… this is more than that. This is more than I have ever felt for anything.
I clench my jaw to stop myself from whispering to her and telling her how much she means to me.
When we kissed the other night, she pulled away from me and distanced herself for days.
What will she do if I overwhelm her with my true feelings?
I can’t. I can’t for other reasons too. This whole situation…
it needs to end. The fear she feels because of her father, being trapped in my home… all of this needs to end.
Selene stirs and tries to roll away from me.
“Where do you think you are going?” I ask.
“I’m falling asleep. I should go to bed,” she murmurs in her beautiful, sleepy voice.
“You are in bed already,” I say, tugging the blankets over us.
She giggles. “I thought I should go to my own…”
“Stop thinking and let me hold you, princess,” I whisper gently, pulling her up against my body and savoring the way she fits perfectly against me.
Selene falls asleep in my bed, wrapped in my arms, and I think to myself that there is no place I ever want her to fall asleep again. This is where she belongs. With me.
***
In the morning, we both wake up to the sound of Arron calling from his bed.
Selene sits up in fright. She has a mischievous grin on her face even though she’s not fully awake yet.
“He’s awake!” she grins. “I should…”
I pull the blankets aside. “I’ll go see to him. You grab the gown from the back of my door. Have a shower, take your time, I’ll steer them to the kitchen and make pancakes.”
She smiles, tilting her head to the side. “Are you sure?”
I grab her jaw and pull her into a kiss. Quick but intense. “Of course I’m sure.” I smile at the most beautiful woman in the world.
We are all sitting around the table with pancakes piled high on a plate in the middle. The kids are covered in syrup and having the time of their lives. Solenne is sprinkling hundreds and thousands over her pancake… and all over the table and the floor.
“Sweetheart, you need to slow down and pay attention to where the sprinkles are going,” Selene explains, making her shake the bottle more slowly and with more careful aim.
Arron is trying to fit a whole pancake in his mouth. Fascination keeps me from saying anything because I’m curious whether he can do it.
He’s got three-quarters of it in his cheeks, and I am quietly giving him the nod when Selene notices.
Then she notices me grinning, and she throws her hands in the air.
“You two are troublemakers!” she laughs loudly, taking the pancake away from him and telling him to spit it out and eat it properly.
My phone rings, and I see my brother’s name across the screen. “Sorry, I need to take this, it’s Matvei.”
“It’s not like you were helping control the chaos anyway,” she teases me.
“Hey, I was impressed he got that far,” I grin.
I slide my finger across the screen to answer the call as I walk away from the table, leaving the laughter and happy sounds behind me. I’m still smiling when I say his name.
“Matty, how are you this morning?”
“We need to talk. In person. This is serious. When can you get to the warehouse?”
“The warehouse? Did something happen? Was there another attack?” I ask tensely.
“No. This is about… It’s about her. You need to come here now, Simon.”
I sigh, pushing my fingers against my eyes. “What’s going on?” I ask.
“In person,” Matvei snaps. “We’re waiting.”
I slip the phone into my pocket and turn back towards the table. Selene is standing, her movements paused, her head tilted to the side, with the empty breakfast plates in her hand. “Is everything okay?” she asks.
“Yes. Matty is hyped up over some work stuff. I’ve got to go into the warehouse now. I shouldn’t be long though.” I wonder if she heard any of the conversation. I don’t want her to worry. Maybe I should tell her I will defend her no matter what they say to me?
Selene puts the plates back down on the table and walks over to me. She looks up at me with beautiful green eyes that pierce into my soul. “Please be careful,” she says, gently reaching up to touch her hand to my chest.
I smile at her. “I will be. When I get back, we can take the twins somewhere? Maybe they want to go to the toy shop?”
“They’d love that,” she smiles.
As soon as I walk into the office at the warehouse, I can feel the weight of tension in the room. Matvei, Adrian, Egor, and Trifon all turn to look at me.
“Where’s Vilen and Kiril?” I ask sarcastically. “They didn’t want to fly back to the city for whatever this is?”
“Come on, Simon. You have to understand that this situation affects the whole family. You can’t brush it off and…”
“Just tell me whatever you want to tell me,” I sigh, sitting down at the table with them.
Matvei stands and pushes the iPad across the table towards me. There is a photograph of a man on it.
“Jerimia Smirnov.”
“Am I supposed to know who he is?” I ask, looking over his features for any telltale signs.
“He’s the sniper. He’s the one who put a bullet in your shoulder.”
“Through my shoulder,” I correct Adrian without looking up.
“When Adrian put him down, he didn’t kill him. We had a chance to question him first.”
“Ok, and what did he have to say for himself? What did you find out?” I ask, leaning back in the chair after I slide the iPad back towards Matvei.
“Smirnov is the cousin of one of our rivals here in the city. But when we questioned him, he caved almost instantly. The name he gave us was Alex Mykros. He said he was working for Mykros, not the rival family.”
I grit my teeth together and wait to hear more. My chest is tight with tension.
“Her father sent the sniper, Simon. Selene’s family is taking literal shots at us. Her father put a bullet in you, and you’re fucking lucky it only hit your shoulder.”
“Look, man, we already knew he was gunning for us…”
“We need to interrogate her.” Matvei’s words come out clipped and final.
I shake my head. “No, absolutely not. You’re angry about the shooting. You’re linking things to her father, but that doesn’t mean you have a right to interrogate her. She didn’t do this. She didn’t pull the trigger!” My voice rises with my anger. All I want to do is protect her.
“And? It’s her family! Simon, you have to open your eyes. She knows something. She knows something that can help us stop this shit storm. You could have died in that warehouse and…”
“No, Matvei! I won’t let you interrogate her. She doesn’t deserve that,” I shout angrily.
“You can ask me anything you want,” Selene’s voice comes from the doorway, and we all spin to stare at her in shock.
I am on my feet and positioning myself between her and my brothers in an instant. “What are you doing here?” I snap at her.
She gently touches my arm. “Simon, it’s okay. They can ask me anything they want.”
“Where are the twins?” I demand.
“I called Raya. She is sitting with them at the penthouse. I heard pieces of your phone call. I saw the look on your face when you left. Simon, if I can help somehow—I want to help.”
I close my eyes, fighting the panic inside me. She has no idea what a Volkov interrogation looks like. Matvei can be ruthless. He can be brutal. I don’t want her to go through that.
Selene steps around me and takes a seat at the table with my brothers.
“You can ask me anything. I might not know all of the answers, but wherever I can answer as thoroughly as I can.”
Matvei looks from her to me, then back at her. My jaw is locked with frustration as I take a seat next to her.
Matvei strums his fingers against the table. He stares at Selene with coldness in his eyes. “Your father sent the man who shot Simon,” he says bluntly.
Selene stirs in her seat, swallowing hard, but she keeps her composure.
She says nothing as he asked nothing.
Matvei cocks his head to the side. “Who are you, Selene? What is your plan with Simon? Why did you reappear in his life?”
Selene takes a breath, considering the questions before she begins to talk.
“My reappearance in Simon’s life was not part of my plan at all…” She starts talking, and everyone is locked onto her.
I have to fight the urge to pull her away from them, to drag her out of there, to tell them they have no right to make her defend herself. I sit quietly, listening and watching my brothers’ expressions.
Selene speaks most about her father. She explains how he specializes in making people invisible—the reason people call him The Ghost. She explains how her family can make anything disappear: people, evidence, secrets…
anything you need. Selene speaks more quietly when she tells them how her father has kept her and the twins captive for five years, how she refused to spy on our family when her father discovered she was dating me, and how escaping from the prison that was his home was her only choice in the end.
“Are you in contact with your father now?” Matvei asks.
She shakes her head. “I was trying to leave the country when I stumbled across Simon. Simon understood immediately that the children were his. It’s not something you can hide…”
“So, what? You went along with him and moved into his house. Isn’t that a coincidence?” Matvei is pushing her, trying to make her uncomfortable.
“Actually, I tried to go back to my motel because I know my father and I didn’t think that Simon had any chance of keeping me safe,” she answers, fidgeting with a sheet of paper in front of her.