by Shandi Boyes
Knuckles popping is the only outward appearance at my anger of Blaire being taunted. It still kills me that I didn’t stand up for her that day, but I was truly trying to protect her. Lessons were taught that day. No man will ever speak of Blaire with such disrespect again. Not if they have a fondness for breathing.
“Yes, Oskana is Nikolai’s mother,” I confirm with a precise nod of my head.
“And Vladimir is his father?”
I nod again.
“Are you sure?” Her voice is full of uncertainty.
She shifts her eyes to the photos on the mantel piece. “You said it yourself. All Vladimir’s children have the same eyes.” Her gaze drifts back to me, her demeanor more askew. “Nikolai doesn’t. His eyes are icy blue.”
I peer into Blaire’s eyes and shrug, unsure what she is referring to.
“Oskana's eyes are green. Vladimir's are brown. The chances of them having a blue-eyed child are low, Enrique."
My heart rate kicks into overdrive as a million rumors I’ve heard over the years run through my head. “How low?”
Blaire holds my gaze, ensuring I can see the truth in her eyes. “Not impossible, but very unlikely. Both parents would need to hold a recessive blue-eyed gene.”
Our conversation ends when a doorbell ringing shrills into my office. My head rockets to the side as my urge to protect Blaire kicks into overdrive. Only those in my inner circle know this apartment exists, so I find it surprising that someone is knocking on my door a little after six in the morning.
Blaire remains quiet as I gather my pistol from the hidden drawer in my desk. Although there are numerous ways you can kill a man without a weapon, a bullet is a lot less messy.
“Stay here,” I instruct her before moving into the corridor.
Frozen in fear, she nods. My steps down the corridor are soundless; not even Wolverine would hear me coming.
I release the breath I'm holding in when the faint voice of Maya squeaks through the door. Housing my gun into the back of my trousers, I unlatch the numerous deadlocks on my door and swing it open. Blaire must have recognized Maya’s voice as well, as she arrives at my side not even two seconds later.
Blaire releases a deep sigh as she rushes to Maya’s side. “Oh Maya, what happened?”
Fury blackens my blood when I discover what caused Blaire's skittish response. A nasty bruise circles one of Maya's brown eyes; her lip is busted open, and her wrists have welts only rope burns create.
As Blaire continues to fuss over Maya, I step into the hallway of my apartment building and run my eyes down the length of the hall. The exact pair of eyes I'm expecting to see greet me from the end of the corridor. Erik.
Erik is my one and only confidant in the Popov compound. I trust him with my life. He shares the same sentiment. I duck my head back into my apartment to make sure Blaire and Maya are occupied before closing the front door behind me.
Erik meets me halfway down the hall.
“What was Maya punished for?” I question, recognizing the injuries Maya has suffered. I’ve seen them numerous times the past twenty-four years on Vladimir’s mistresses. I’m just shocked to see them on Maya considering she is his daughter.
Erik hands me a folded-up piece of paper. “Confronting the man responsible for this.”
I dart my eyes between Erik’s before lowering them to the piece of paper. My veins turn black when my eyes roam over the document.
“They orchestrated Blaire’s attack?” I ask, already knowing his reply.
He nods.
I didn’t even consider why Blaire was in the servants’ quarters the night she was attacked. I just assumed her curiosity got the best of her. I never fathomed she was set up.
“Who did this?” My words come out strained, strangled through the fury pumping my veins.
Erik hesitates before muttering, “Nikolai.”
Chapter 28
Blaire
I pass Maya a handful of ice wrapped in a tea towel as a door slamming bellows through my ears. Rico moves down the corridor so quickly, he's nothing but a blur of black. After placing Maya’s half-drank glass of water and a bottle of pain medication on the coffee table, I tell her I'll be back in a minute, then take off after Rico.
I find him five minutes later in the walk-in-closet of the spare bedroom. I can barely breathe when my eyes lock in on a black mat he has rolled out on the floor. Knifes, tweezers, clamps, and other stainless steel instruments I can’t stomach to mention are stuffed into the pockets lining the leather material. It looks like an ideal set up for the creator of Frankenstein.
Sensing my presence, Rico lifts his head from the ghastly set of instruments in front of him to me. Tears pool in my eyes when I see the blackness swamping him. I hold my hands out in front of my body and take a step closer to him, hesitant on approaching him while he's stuck in the depths of despair. Rico angrily shakes his head, urging for me to stay away.
“Don’t do whatever you’re thinking of doing, Enrique. It isn’t worth it. Maya wouldn’t want you—”
“He set you up, Blaire,” he interrupts, the pain in his eyes growing. “He sent you down to the dungeon so that monster could kill you.”
I gasp in shock. “Who?” I ask through the bile sitting in the back of my throat, my stomach as squishy as my mind.
My stomach lurches when he replies, “Nikolai. He sent you the note to meet me in the servants’ quarters. He orchestrated your death.”
After rolling the mat up in front of him, he stands from his crouched position. I move closer to him, ignoring the threatening glare he is issuing me, cautioning me to stay away.
“He may have organized it, but it didn’t happen, Enrique. You saved me.”
“What happens when he tries again, and I don’t hear your cries? What happens if I’m too late?” he roars, startling me.
I shake my head, sending tears flying off my cheeks. “That will never happen. You’ll always be there to save me, Enrique. You’ll never let anyone hurt me.”
Fear greater than anything I’ve ever felt blazes through my veins when I see the pain in his eyes. My fear isn’t for Nikolai or myself. It's for Enrique. He has walked so far into the blackness, I don’t know if I can drag him back out.
Ignoring the shake of my hands, I curve them around his jaw, which ticks so furiously, it pounds against my palm. “Let me be your light,” I plea, staring into his dark eyes.
He stares at me impassively, his whole demeanor off kilter.
“I need you, Enrique.” I tilt my lips closer to his. “I love you.”
My heart shatters when he mutters against my lips, “Then you understand why I need to do this.”
After pressing a brief peck to the side of my mouth, he stalks out of the room without a backward glance.
Chapter 29
I sense Rico’s presence before I feel him. The stranglehold that’s been clutching my heart the past two days loosens when he slides into our bed and gathers me into his arms. I’ve been sick with worry the last forty-eight hours, but when I saw the grim look on Erik’s face when he collected Maya this morning, my anxiety grew. I was barely functioning as it was, but the concern lining Erik’s face activated a self-preservation mode I haven’t used in years. I’ve spent the entire day operating in auto-pilot. I haven’t cried. I haven’t spoken a word. I just sent numerous prayers to God for Rico to be returned home safe and uninjured. Thankfully, my prayers appear to have been answered.
Blood rushes to my heart when Rico mutters in my ear, “Be my light, Kitten. I need my light.” His deep voice is low and brimmed with uncertainty.
Brushing a rogue, sentimental tear off my cheek, I roll onto my opposite hip. The air is forcefully removed from my lungs when my eyes are met with his beautifully tormented gaze. His pupils are wide; his eyes the blackest I’ve ever seen them. They look utterly soulless.
My shaky hands cup the edge of his jaw as I move my lips closer to his. My mouth swallows the deep sigh expelled from his lips w
hen I seal it over his. He kisses me like he never has before. A heart-tethering kiss that sooths the nick in my bleeding heart. He savors every inch of my mouth in long, controlled strokes, like I'm truly his savior.
Within minutes, I go from the depths of despair to wildly turned on. Nothing is on my mind but enjoying every precious moment with the man in front of me—the stranger I married. Only Rico’s kisses can do that. Only his touch can make me fully forget.
When his strong hands move up my back, a gathering of goosebumps follow their trail. As his tongue slides around my mouth, he hauls me so close to him that not even air exist between us. I gasp, incredibly aroused when the heat of his thick cock presses against my aching-core. When his spicy scent lingers into my nostrils, the movements of my hands become needy. They are all over him. Touching, stroking, groping. I can’t get enough. I’ll never get enough.
Rico slides his hand down to my ass and grips it tightly. I purr, loving the bite of his fingers on my skin. He stills my movements when I buck against him, soundlessly urging for him to do it again.
“No, Kitten.” His words are clipped and dangerous, adding to my excitement raging in the pit of my womb.
“Please,” I beg unashamedly. “You’ll never hurt me, but I want to feel you, Enrique. I need to feel you. On me. In me. Everywhere.”
Two lithe movements have my position switched from lying on my side to balancing on my knees. My bare ass is thrusted high in the air, and the coolness of the air-conditioning blows on the heated ache between my legs.
“You want to feel me?” Rico’s voice is gravelly.
I nod, a little overeagerly.
“Everywhere?”
“Yes,” I beg with excitement evident in my voice. “Everywhere.”
He slaps my ass—hard. I cry out, and my knees slide across the crisp sheets, trying to lessen the furious throb between my legs. Rico stops my efforts by cupping his hand over my pussy.
“Ah, my naughty kitten. Saturated.” His tone is lower than I’ve ever heard. “You like to be punished? You enjoy the roughness?”
I don’t answer his questions. I’ve lost the ability to do anything but surrender to the man stroking the bud of my throbbing clit.
Blood rushes to the surface of my skin as the heat of desire blazes through my veins when Rico inflicts another perfect smack to my tingly backside.
“Not yet, Kitten. When you come, it will be on my cock,” Rico demands, sensing the upwelling of desire scorching my blood.
The edge of arrogance in his low tone bolsters my eagerness. Although he’s always been a dominate lover, this morning, he has a blood-pumping edge of unbridled assertiveness attached to his natural dominance.
He adjusts the tilt of my hips, erotically exposing me even more. My race to climax speeds when he runs his thumb up and down the folds of my pussy, coating it in my juices. His meekest touch has my orgasm precariously balancing on the edge of a very steep cliff. When he removes his thumb from my slicked sex, he slides it across the puckered hole of my rear. I stiffen and crank my neck back to peer at him.
“You said everywhere, Kitten.” He stares at me with a set of eyes I don’t recognize.
When he adds pressure to his thumb circling my back entrance, my body puts up a protest to the intrusion. Although I’ve experienced a vast range of sexual positions with Rico the past five days, I’ve never participated in this type of situation.
Sensing my body’s reluctance, Rico moves his spare hand away from my hip and strokes my clit with perfectly precise flicks. His thumbs roll in sync, stimulating both entrances in slow tantalizing swirls. In no time at all, I once again become lost in the chase of climax.
My eyes snap shut, and a jolt of both pleasure and pain rockets through my body when Rico’s thumb slowly slips into an area no man has been before. I press my damp face into the pillow to muffle the erotic purrs rumbling up my chest. While perched on the crest of orgasmic bliss, I wait for Rico’s next move. He does nothing. He remains completely still.
I want to scream in frustration. Every muscle in my body is pulled taut, waiting for release. My skin is slicked with sweat, and his thumb in an area I never considered an erogenous zone, but surprisingly is, yet he remains completely motionless.
Unable to stand the heavy tension weighing down my womb, I push back and grind against Rico. My legs quiver when my movements cause his thumb to slip deeper inside me. I moan, then rock my hips again. My pussy grows slicker, loving the feeling of him in a place no man has been before, while also knowing this is something I’ll only ever experience with him.
“Good girl, Kitten. Now that you’ve stopped fighting, you’ll enjoy it more.”
I jerk violently when he slowly withdraws his thumb before slipping back inside. I’ve always thought this region was a no-go zone, but it's driving me wild. So much so, I rock back and forth, meeting the thrusts of his thumb stroke for stroke. My toes curl as the furious fire in my womb becomes uncontrollable.
“Wait,” Rico commands when the muscles in my rear clamp around his thumb.
“Please. Oh, God. Please,” I sob, my voice exposing how close my orgasm is.
Keeping his thumb inside me, Rico mounts me from behind. I scream into my pillow when he slams his cock into my aching core in one quick thrust. My nails dig into the sheets as I try to crawl across the sweat-damp mattress, needing to get away from the man pounding into me with brutal force. It’s too much. I’m too full. I can’t handle both holes being assaulted at once.
“You wanted to feel me, Kitten. Feel me!” he grunts, his strokes quickening. “Take all of me. Everything I’m giving. Then you’ll never forget what it feels like to be claimed by me.”
I scream without shame as the most ferocious orgasm I’ve ever endured crashes into me. Rico’s name is torn from my throat as my legs buckle from its brutal force. My earth-shattering climax steals all the strength from my muscles, causing me to sink deeper into the mattress with every vicious quiver my body does.
He uses his knees to spread my legs wider, so he can take me deeper. I slump against the mattress, utterly exhausted. I don’t notice the removal of his thumb from my rear until the sting of his fingers hits both sides of my waist. He grips onto me, continuing with his furious pace.
“Can you feel me, Kitten?” he growls, his deep, vibrating tone adding to the tingling of my pussy.
A bead of sweat runs down from my drenched hair when I nod. “Yes. Everywhere. I can feel you everywhere.”
He increases his thrusts, claiming every inch of me. “Don’t forget what this feels like. Don’t ever forget.”
Tears teem in my eyes from the pain laced in his words. “Never,” I mumble through a sob. “I’ll never forget.”
I don’t know why, but it feels like he's saying goodbye. I lift my head from the pillow and look back at him. Pain shreds through my heart.
I’m too late.
He’s already gone.
He has walked too far into the blackness.
Chapter 30
I run my hand down my silver drop earring, admiring how the fake diamonds sparkle in the bright lights of the vanity mirror, while praying the fake smile I’ll be wearing tonight will have the same effect. The Rico who screwed me into oblivion until the wee hours of this morning is the same Rico taking me out to dinner tonight. I don’t know why I agreed to go. I’ve spent most of my day in a trance, trying to work out where I’d gone wrong. Nothing Rico did to me this morning hurt me, but from the way he has been cold and distant, anyone would swear he stabbed a knife into my heart.
“Are you ready?” Rico walks out of a closet on my right.
After ensuring the clasps on my earrings are fastened properly, I nod. A faint smile unwillingly sneaks onto my mouth when my eyes absorb the fitted dress Rico laid out on the bed for me in the vanity mirror. It's a beautiful mint green color, matching my eyes perfectly. The knee-length skirt ensures my modesty is kept, but the V-drop neckline adds a dash of sexiness I’m comfortable wi
th.
When I spin around to face Rico, the heaviness sitting on my chest doubles. He's wearing his usual attire of a black suit and light dress shirt, but he has paired it up with a tie that has green stripes in it—stripes that match my dress to perfection. To outsiders, we look like an unbreakable couple. It's only the crippling pain in my heart stopping me from believing the same thing.
Rico holds my hand as we walk out of his apartment and down the corridor, but he's still distant. Even his hand is ice cold. The vibrant sparks of lust fire the elevator with electricity as we travel down multiple floors, but it isn’t enough to ease the ache in my heart. When the elevator car stops at the lobby, Rico places his hand on the curve of my back and guides me through the bustling space. People stop to stare, delighted at seeing such a beautiful man up close. Ignoring the fascinated stares of numerous women, Rico walks us to an Escalade parked at the curb.
“Thank you,” I mutter when he opens the door and gestures with his head for me to enter before him.
My breathing turns labored when my eyes lock in on a man seated in the chair across from me. Erik—Rico’s lawyer.
“Why is Erik here?” I mumble to Rico, my voice unable to hide the sob sitting in the back of my throat. As the events of the last time the three of us rode together play through my mind, sick gloom spreads across my stomach.
Rico remains quiet, acting like he didn’t hear a word I spoke. The drive to the restaurant is thankfully short, but it's long enough for Rico’s eyes to be completely swamped by blackness. His stern mask has slipped into place, and his composure is brutish and reserved.
Bulbs flash in my eyes when I exit the Escalade and walk into the restaurant on Rico’s arm. My knees clash together with every step I take as he guides me to the back of the bustling space. I slant my head to the side and stare at Rico in shock when he moves us to an area full to the brim with the same people who attended brunch last week. A solid lump forms in my throat when he strides down a very long table and pulls out the second chair at the end for me.