Chapter Seventeen
Tatiana
F our Seasons Private Residences, One Dalton Street, Boston...
Tatiana stood at the floor-to-ceiling windows, watching the city lights flicker in the dark of the night. Her cell phone vibrated.
“When is he ever going to get the message?” she growled as Gregor's number flashed on the screen. She refused to acknowledge him as her grandfather.
“I have nothing to say to you, Gregor Polov,” she snapped into the phone when she found herself answering instead of ignoring his calls as usual.
“I will ignore your disrespect because I know you’re under a madman’s influence.”
Tatiana snorted a response, refusing to be goaded into bad-mouthing Jarek to ease his guilt.
A deep sigh floated toward her over the phone. “This is ridiculous, Tatiana. It’s time for you to come home. Forget about that bastard’s threats. They mean nothing. I’ll protect you from his wrath,”
Tatiana wasn’t fooled by the false concern oozing from his voice. A bitter laugh escaped her lips.
“Home? What home? The one I built for myself or the prison you and grandmother created for me growing up? Tell me, Gregor. Why would I want to go back to a man who would murder his own son?”
“What lies has that vengeful criminal been feeding you?”
“Only the truth. All of it.” Her voice shook with rage. “How you ordered my parents’ deaths. How Elizabeth stood by and did nothing.”
“You’re being manipulated, детка . It’s all lies! Think about who raised you, who gave you everything—”
“You gave me a life built on lies!” The words tore from her throat. “You robbed me of my parents, my identity, of everything I held dear my entire life!”
“Watch your tone, young lady. I am still your grandfather, and I won’t have—”
“You won’t have anything. Not anymore. You and Elizabeth Polov are dead to me.” She ended the call, cutting off his furious shouts.
The phone slipped from her trembling fingers. Thirty years of memories crashed through her mind. Every precious moment had become tainted by the truth. Her legs gave way as deep, wracking sobs shook her body as the city lights blurred below. Each glittering point reminded her of the shattered pieces of her life—fragments of trust, of love, of certainty. The rage that had sustained her these past months was crumbling, leaving behind a raw ache she could no longer ignore.
Behind her, Jarek’s reflection appeared in the glass. His hands settled gently but firmly on her shoulders. It reminded her of how he was in the beginning. A man of tenderness and control that had always undone her. The warmth of his touch seeped through her blouse, melting the ice she had built around her heart.
She complied with his silent command to turn as her resistance crumbled not just under his touch but under the heavy burden of everything unsaid between them. Unrequited love, months of hatred, and beneath it all, a truth she had been too afraid to face—that even after everything, he was still the other half of her soul.
As his thumbs brushed away her tears, she lifted her face. The dominance in his gaze was tempered with something deeper—regret, understanding, and unwavering devotion that stripped away her defenses. She saw in his eyes the man who had protected her, betrayed her, and also ultimately saved her. The man who knew every dark corner of her soul. She silently wished he could still find it in himself to love her, not despite of them, but because of them.
“I don’t know who I am anymore,” she whispered, voicing the fear that had haunted her since the truth had come out. “Everything I believed...” Everything about him, about her grandparents, and the organization that had shaped both their lives had all been a carefully constructed lie. And yet, here in his arms, she felt more real than she had in months.
His lips found her temple, then traced down to her cheek. Each touch felt like an absolution.
“You’re still you, Tatiana. The strong woman who survived everything they did. Everything I did.”
His voice held an edge of authority that made her shiver. This was the voice that had guided her through her months of light and dark moments, that had both imprisoned and freed her.
“And you’re still mine.”
The words resonated through her body, awakening memories she had tried to bury. Memories of how he had controlled her that night at the club and how she had shaken off every shackle of restraint. Although she had succumbed to an orgy that still shamed her whenever she thought of it, she had found safety in his arms, surrender that had made her stronger once it was over. Now, the pull of a love so deep, it terrified her. Her fingers curled into his shirt, anchoring herself to him as years of complicated emotions crashed over her.
The space between them crackled with unspoken words and suppressed desire. When their lips finally met, it was more than just passion. It was a silent vow of forgiveness and homecoming. Every sweep of his tongue against hers spoke of renewed promises, of trust being rebuilt. His dominance wasn’t just physical; it was emotional, spiritual, and a claiming of her entire being.
Jarek drew back slightly. She blinked as she looked into his eyes, which darkened with desire and something deeper—a look that had always seen straight through her defenses.
“Tell me to stop,” he commanded.
In those words, she heard their path to this moment. Every time he had given her the choice, even the ones she had believed were centered around his vengeance now shouted their true intent. It had always been her choice. He might have threatened but never had he forced any decision on her.
Her heart raced, not just from desire but from the realization that she was done running. Done pretending she didn’t need this or need him. In his dominance, she had always found her truest self.
“Don’t stop,” she whispered in a voice thick with emotion. “Never stop, Jarek. Take me.”
His growl of response vibrated through her, awakening memories of countless nights when she had surrendered everything to him, even while she claimed to be pretending. As he captured her mouth again, his hands gripping her hips possessively, she felt the last walls around her heart crumbling. Each kiss was deeper than the last, healing and hunger merging into something almost spiritual.
He guided her backward toward the bedroom, his body dominating hers with each step. This was a familiar dance in the way he took control and the way her body instinctively yielded. But tonight, it meant more. Tonight, each step was a conscious choice to trust again, to believe in him again.
In the bedroom, he spun her around, and his fingers made quick work of her clothes. His kisses on her neck sent shivers down her spine, and his hands roaming her body and cupping her breasts before sliding down to her hips awakened nerve endings she had forced dormant in her months of denial.
“You’re mine, Tatiana,” he murmured against her skin.
The words echoed through her soul. She had tried so hard to deny this truth, but her body remembered—remembered how perfectly they fit together, how completely he understood her needs.
Unclasping her bra, he caressed her breasts while gently rolling her nipples between his fingers. With a moan, she arched against him as her body surrendered to his control.
“Such beauty,” he murmured as he pushed her gently onto the bed. His eyes held hers captive as he undressed. His body was a sculpture of muscle and scars and a testament to his strength and his violent past. In his eyes, she believed she saw not just desire but a promise. A promise to protect, to cherish, to never betray her trust again. With his fingers hooked into her panties, he slid them down her legs. She shivered as his touch lingered on her skin. With heat scoring her skin, he kissed his way up her thighs before pushing them apart firmly.
As he settled between her thighs, she felt the last of her resistance melting away. This wasn’t just about physical pleasure—it was about coming home. About accepting that sometimes love means forgiving the unforgivable, about understanding that strength can be found in surrender.
When he reached her center, his eyes glimmered with intent. “Don’t move,” he ordered with his breath hot on her skin.
Tatiana’s breath hitched as he lowered his head. His tongue laved her labia, once, twice before pushing through their satiny folds to find her most sensitive spot. Pulling out, he flicked his stiff tongue over her taut clitoris before thrusting it back deep inside.
“Oh God,” she sighed as his fingers slid into her, driving her higher and higher. Gripping the sheets, her body arched into his touch as her moans filled the room. With his hands firmly on her hips, he controlled her movements. His touch and tongue brought her body alive, but it was the emotional connection that truly overwhelmed her. Each wave of pleasure was intertwined with deeper healing, washing away months of anger and pain.
Ignoring her pleas, he was relentless in feasting on her until she shattered, crying out his name as she rode the wave of pleasure. Tatiana shivered at the significance of this moment when he moved up her body, and his weight settled between her thighs.
“I missed this,” she whimpered as he pinned her wrists above her head. It wasn’t just the physical act of submission but the freedom it brought. With him, she didn’t have to be strong. Didn’t have to maintain the walls she had built to survive.
“Look at me,” he commanded in a voice hoarse with desire as he gripped her hip, teasing her entrance with the blunt tip of his cock.
Opening her eyes, she met his gaze and saw everything they had been through reflected there. The love she believed they had before betrayal had torn them apart, and now, this moment of reconnection that transcended both. He pushed into her slowly, filling her completely. Their shared gasp sounded like a prayer in the quiet room. He started to move, slow, deep thrusts that stoked the fire within her again.
“More. I need more,” she demanded as she wrapped her legs around him, urging him deeper as her body yielded to his dominance.
“You feel so good,” he groaned as he pressed his face into the nape of her neck and ground his hips against her while he pumped into her with long strokes. She sighed as she felt him slide against her silky walls.
Their lovemaking was intense, raw, and emotional. Each thrust, each kiss, each touch was a claim, a promise, a testament to their journey. Tatiana pushed back, submerged in waves of euphoria that rocked her into surrender.
“This is how we’re meant to be. Your submission is a gift I never thought I’d treasure as much as this. Let go, love. Give it all to me,” he whispered the command against her skin.
The warm kisses on her eyelids and circled caresses traced on her arms soothed the torment and swept the cold surge of fear that she was falling too fast to the back of her mind, drowning all her doubts as he firmly embedded his very essence inside her heart. It wasn’t just words of possession. To her, in that moment, they were anchors, grounding her in this moment of profound vulnerability.
“You’re mine, Tatiana. You’ll always be mine.”
She knew now that fighting this truth had been futile. She belonged with him, to him, in a way that defied logic and transcended betrayal.
Tears streamed down her face, but not of sorrow or anger. They were tears of recognition, of coming home, of finally accepting what her heart had never stopped knowing.
“Yes,” she breathed, the word a promise of tomorrow. “Yours. Always yours.”
When he released her wrists to cup her cheek, the last pieces of her heart clicked back into place.
“Now, my lovely wife. Come for me,” he whispered as they swayed to the rhythmic sounds of each other’s deep murmurs of sweet passion. His mouth lashed the roundness of her shoulders with long, deep kisses, dosing her with ragged breaths as she gasped for air.
The powerful undertow finally struck in a confluence of physical and emotional currents that sucked her under. It ripped away her balance and pulled her gasping up the face of a towering rogue wave―lifting her up, then crushing her beneath its weight.
“Jarek, it’s too much. I can’t! It’s... fuck.”
Her plea turned into a scream as her body tightened, and she squirted with warm liquid gushing from her loins. Her hips jerked as she clawed at the sheets in a desperate attempt to draw a breath. Jarek pushed relentlessly into her, fueling her orgasms, triggering one after the other to stagger through her body.
Tatiana was helpless against the paroxysms that rocked her. Long waves of ecstasy rolled over her as she fought to catch her breath. She surrendered, splayed open to his control as she twitched and shuddered in submission to his control.
“Now, let’s fly together, love.” Jarek thrust deeper, plunging himself into her until her hoarse cries washed over them in tumultuous waves of ecstasy, yanking him along as they finally drowned in the demand of a mutual climax.
Later, as moonlight painted silver paths across their entwined forms, Tatiana felt the shift in her soul. The hatred that had driven them apart hadn’t simply disappeared—it had transformed into understanding. She understood now that love wasn’t about perfection. It was about finding someone whose broken pieces fit with yours, someone who could hold both your light and your darkness.
In his dominance, she had found her strength again, her anchor in a world that had stopped making sense. In her submission, he had found his purpose renewed, his control tempered by the knowledge of what it meant to lose her.
“We can’t change the past,” Jarek murmured against her hair as his arms tightened around her.
“You’re right. We can’t erase what had happened, nor can we undo the choices that had led us here.” Her words echoed softly back at her. It was all true, but they could choose this moment, and the next, and all the moments that would follow. “Maybe one day, we can choose to build something new from the ashes of what we lost along the way.”
In the quiet darkness, wrapped in his arms, Tatiana finally allowed herself to feel the full depth of her love for him—not the naive love of before, but something deeper, stronger, tested by fire and emerged unbroken.
This was their truth now. Sometimes, the greatest love stories weren’t about never falling apart but about how they found their way back together.