Chapter 11 - Nico
I scooped Vera in my arms and carried her up the stairs towards the master bedroom.
The moment we were inside, she jumped out of my embrace and slid both her hands behind my neck, pulling my face towards her own.
I didn’t even have the time to draw a breath before she began kissing me, each kiss hungrier than the last.
My cock was already straining against my pants, and I wanted nothing more than to slide it inside Vera’s throbbing pussy and fuck her for all eternity.
The worst part of it all was that I knew exactly what she felt like, and that made it impossible to control.
“Vera,” I moaned softly as she rained kisses down my neck, knowing exactly where to touch me just enough to drive me crazy.
Both she and I knew each other’s bodies too well.
Making her orgasm on the kitchen counter had been the easiest thing to achieve because I could sense how much she had wanted me.
She was a woman desperate and needy, and I was her only release.
I had always been her only release. She had never touched Adrian.
“Nico, I want you,” she whispered against my lips, and I forced my thoughts to shut down and return to the warm body in front of me.
“I want you too, my love,” I replied, grabbing her with one hand from the front of her neck and pulling her lips to mine.
Her tongue felt like a drug that had been made just to intoxicate me.
I could never get enough. I pushed her backward toward the bed as we continued kissing, and before she could comprehend what was happening, I pushed her down softly.
She went sprawling on the bed, her naked body looking glorious in the early morning sun.
Her dark hair was wildly messy, and her body looked needy in just the right ways.
“Have I ever told you how beautiful you are?” I asked, taking off my pants as I spoke.
“You can start telling me now,” she said, shrugging, a mischievous smile on her face.
My pants came off, and her gaze immediately went to my dick, which was hard and wet and in need of a release.
I wanted nothing more than to shove her with my dick, but I was not going to do that.
Not so soon. Instead, I crawled over her slowly, covering her nakedness with my body while still keeping all of my weight on my own hands. She was shaking with need.
“You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen, Vera,” I whispered, brushing her hair away from her face.
“And this beautiful woman just wants you inside her now, please, Nico.”
I trailed kisses from her earlobes to her neck and her lips before going further down.
She began shaking in anticipation as I ran my tongue over her stomach, followed by her aching pussy.
I licked her wet folds once again, savoring her taste like I would never get to have it again.
Her hands immediately reached between us and grabbed my dick, which was already hard for her.
“Nico, fuck me, please,” she moaned, stroking me softly.
I immediately aligned our bodies and positioned my cock on her pussy, poking her entrance with my tip. Her core tightened at every touch, and I finally slid inside, the warmth and tightness of her pussy driving me over the edge.
“Oh my god, Vera, you feel so good,” I moaned, fucking her harder with every thrust.
She began moving underneath me, matching me with every move, and I continued fucking her like there was no tomorrow. Her pussy tightened around my cock, indicating that she was about to come. I slid my hand between us, stroking her clit.
“Yes, yes, yes!” she shouted.
I rubbed her clit as I fucked her, both of us right at the edge of our climax.
Within seconds, Vera unraveled underneath me, and I orgasmed in unison with her moaning, suspending all my weight on top of her while I held her close.
The aftereffects of the orgasm shook us both as we stayed there, trying to recover from everything that had just happened.
It was intense.
For a long time, neither of us spoke as we lay beside each other.
The city stretched beyond the glass walls of my bedroom, bright and distant against the Miami night.
Somewhere outside, traffic moved through the streets.
Somewhere farther away, people lived entire lives completely unaware that mine had just tilted on its axis.
Vera lay beside me, her head resting against my shoulder, and for the first time in months, I felt something dangerously close to peace.
It lasted exactly three minutes.
Then she laughed, and the sound caught me completely off guard. I turned my head toward her.
“What?”
She shook her head, smiling against my shoulder. “Nothing.”
“That wasn’t nothing.”
“It was.”
I narrowed my eyes, and she laughed again.
God. How I had missed that sound. It was not the polite smiles she gave strangers or the carefully controlled version of herself she showed the world.
This was the real thing. The laugh that always arrived unexpectedly.
The one that made her eyes brighter. The one that used to make me feel like I’d accomplished something.
“You’re annoying,” I informed her.
Her smile widened. “I’ve been told that before.”
“By me.”
“Mostly by you.”
I snorted. She shifted slightly, looking up at me, and for a second neither of us said anything. Because this felt familiar. Dangerously familiar. Like we had somehow slipped backward in time. Back before the lies and the wedding. Back before she shattered my life with six words.
I cheated on you.
The memory arrived like a knife, and just like that, some of the warmth drained from the room. Vera felt it too, just the way she always felt even the slightest dip in my mood. Her smile faded slightly, but it was not completely gone. Just enough. The silence stretched, and then she sighed.
“There it is.” I frowned.
“There what is?”
“The wall.”
My jaw tightened. “What wall?”
“The one you keep pretending doesn’t exist between us.”
I looked away, but she poked my side, clearly demanding attention. As if we were twenty-five years old again and arguing over whose turn it was to choose a movie.
“Nico.”
I ignored her, but she was persistent.
“Nico.”
I still ignored her, not knowing what to say.
“Nico Romanov.”
I grabbed her wrist before she could poke me again, and her laughter immediately returned.
“You’re impossible.”
“So I’ve heard. Mostly by you.”
I released her hand, and she settled back against the pillows. For a while, neither of us spoke. The silence wasn’t uncomfortable but thoughtful, as if both of us were simply lost in our own worlds.
“What was he like, Vera?”
The shift was immediate. Vera stilled completely, and I already regretted asking.
She glanced at me and then looked at the ceiling, clearly trying to avoid that question.
I didn’t understand why. Or maybe I did understand why, but still wanted to dig deeper.
A part of me simply wanted to find out more about the man she had been engaged to.
“Who?” I gave her a look that said Are you kidding me and she sighed.
“Adrian,” I answered anyway.
The name tasted bitter on my tongue. Adrian Petrov. The man I had spent months hating despite knowing almost nothing about him.
“What was he like?” I repeated the question, but Vera stayed quiet for several seconds. Long enough that I almost thought she wouldn’t answer.
Finally, she spoke. “He was exactly what my father wanted.”
Something unpleasant settled in my stomach. “Meaning?”
“He was obedient.”
I frowned. “To your father?”
“To money.”
That wasn’t the answer I expected. She rolled onto her side and was facing me now.
“There isn’t much to tell, Nico. If it is any consolation, I hardly knew the man. He did come to see me a few times, but I didn’t spend more than five minutes with him. And every time we met was only for social events, and that was nothing but for appearances’ sake.”
“You were engaged to him.”
“I was trapped with him, Nico. There is a difference.”
“Did you hate him?”
“No.”
That surprised me. “No?”
She shook her head. “I barely knew him.”
“Then why did you agree to marry him?”
Her laugh was humorless. “I didn’t.”
The answer landed heavily between us as I studied her face, trying to understand.
Trying to fit this version of events into everything I thought I knew.
But nothing fit or made sense. Instead, it only made me angrier.
I was sure Manny Stavros had somehow forced Vera to accept Adrian, but what did he hold over her that made Vera leave me?
“You said yes, didn’t you? Or did your father force you into it?”
“Papa said yes on my behalf, Nico.”
I felt my expression harden. “And you just accepted that? You didn’t try to fight him? You didn’t even tell me you were going through this and ask for my help? Why, Vera?”
Her eyes flashed. “There are easier ways to tell me you’ve never met my father.”
I sat up slightly. That got my attention. The amusement disappeared from her expression.
“Do you know who he is?” I did, and it still didn’t matter.
“I know enough to know that he is insignificant. He is nothing but a minor player in the bratva circles and holds no real power, Vera.”
Vera laughed, but the sound wasn’t pleasant.
“You are right, Nico. My father might be insignificant or irrelevant or whatever, but he is still ambitious and holds power over me. I know he has never been respected in this world, which is why he has spent his life waning more.”
“Most people spend their lives that way. It doesn’t mean they have leverage.”
“Not like him, Nico. He has never desired comfort but significance. Importance. And he has always been ready to go to any extent to achieve that status.”
The certainty in her voice made me listen more carefully.
“What do you mean?”
“Comfort has limits, Nico. Perhaps someone trying to achieve that won’t sacrifice their all, but significance has no limits. “
Something about that answer lodged itself in my brain because it sounded right. The kind of truth that explained far more than it should.
“So why did he arrange this engagement? Was it for money?”
“Connections and status and significance. Money was a part of it too. I know what my father truly desires is power, and Adrian could have helped him get there.”
“You could have left and come to me, Vera.”
Her gaze snapped to mine, immediately and sharply.
“Could I?”
The question hit harder than it should have.
“Yes, Vera, obviously. You are mine to protect, and I would have kept you safe from both Manny and Adrian.”
Silence settled between us again. Heavier this time.
“Till when, Nico?” she asked, her eyes swimming with tears.
“Forever.”
“What would that have looked like? Staying indoors so no one can find me? Or going out with a security detail every time I stepped out? Not being able to work? Never living without fear? Always checking for cars that might be following me or people that might be after me or calling you every five seconds? I didn’t want any of that, Nico. I wanted a normal life.”
“Your life stopped being normal the day you got involved with a bratva man, Vera. You know our lives are complicated. We just have to live with it.”
“I just want to be happy, Nico. I didn’t know how to be that.”
“You seriously thought you could be happy without me?”
The tears in her eyes finally gave way and crept down her cheeks.
I wiped them away, holding her face in my hands as I kissed her.
It wasn’t passionate like our earlier kisses, but softer this time.
It was the kind of kiss that was meant to deliver that I loved her.
The brief moment of normalcy surprised both of us.
I could tell. Because she smiled. And despite myself, I smiled back. For a second. Just one.
Then reality returned as it always did. I couldn’t forget all that had happened, from the lies to the wedding and the kidnapping. The months between us. Everything unresolved crashed back into place.
“Nico.”
I paused. “What?”
“What happens now?”
There it was. The question neither of us could answer. I looked at her. Really looked at her. And realized I had no idea. The revenge I’d planned no longer made sense, and the certainty I’d been living on for months was gone.
“I don’t know, my love.”
The admission felt strange. Foreign. Because I always knew. I always had a plan. But now? Nothing. Vera studied me for several seconds and then nodded. As if that answer somehow made sense. Maybe it did. Without another word, I walked toward the door. I needed space and clarity. I needed to think.
“Nico.”
I looked at her and realized she was watching me carefully. Like she wanted to say something else. Something important.
Instead, she simply said, “Be careful.”
I almost laughed, not because it was funny but because it was absurd.
After everything that had happened between us, she was still worried about me.
The realization followed me all the way out of the room, and for the first time since learning the truth, I began wondering what else I had gotten wrong.