She sank down on the floor and sat cross-legged. “Wow! My father is something else. I can hardly believe it.”
“Your father likes to win. The end always justifies the means.”
“But what about when I was stabbed? My dad would never allow me to get hurt like that.”
“No, that was not your father. I don’t know who that was or why they tried to hurt you. It was most probably something to do with our wedding, but since that is off …”
“Right.”
I was left helplessly staring at her red, parted lips. Memories of them stretched around my cock flooded into my brain. It had driven me wild to see her like that.
“What?” she asked suddenly.
Shit. I must have been staring at her like a demented fool. “Nothing. I should be going.”
“Wait,” she said, jumping to her feet.
“Yes?” I replied.
The dimness of the room cast her in a glow that was just so soft and perfect she looked almost ethereal. I knew not to go any further with her, but the look in her eyes. It made me burn. She started to walk towards me, her gaze unblinking, and I couldn’t move.
“I have been thinking,” she said softly. “What if we meet up once in a while?”
“To fuck?” I asked, almost in disbelief.
Her gaze faltered from mine, but her voice was sure and strong. “Yeah.”
Chapter Fifty-Seven
Maxim
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ja-n6my6rKQ
“I don’t think that’d be a good idea … for either of us.”
“Why?” she asked, a frown on her lovely forehead.
“I already have someone for that. You met her the last time at lunch on Madison Avenue.”
I felt a pain in my chest. What was wrong with me? Shouldn’t I take the crumbs I was being offered? Why hold out for more when more was not forthcoming? But I refused to take the words back. I did have someone and she was perfect because she threatened nothing within me, unlike the woman before me right now. With Freya, my sanity was at stake.
I thought she would stop then, any other woman would have, but she kept going. “You can’t have more than one?” she asked, a defiant light in her eyes. “I’m not that bad, am I?”
I realized then she had convinced herself we could have something that was purely sexual. If only she knew the fire she would be playing with if I agreed to what she thought she wanted.
“Come here,” I murmured.
I knew the moment the words left my mouth I’d made a mistake, but there was only so much self-control that I could wield in her presence. Hell, I probably deserved a medal for how much I had held back.
She came forward. When she was about two feet away, I reached out and pulled her to me and kissed her. Fire seared through my veins. Her response was fervent. I matched her passion and we expressed in that joining what words could not convey.
I would never again be able to kiss someone and not think of her. Her taste seemed like it was made exclusively to fit my palette, to quench a thirst I’d never even realized I had.
Eventually, we broke apart, our chests heaving and I stared into her eyes. She grabbed the belt of my pants and I let her take control. The power went to her head.
Her hands were shaking by the time she pulled my cock free. She stroked the hard length while I could do nothing but stare greedily at her. What was it about her that knocked the air out of my lungs?
She slipped her pants and underwear down her hips and reached up on the tips of her toes to slip her tongue into my mouth. I grabbed her ass and held her in place while she took my dick between her folds.
She was so hot and wet.
I picked her up and moved to the desk closest to us. With one hand, I swept away all the junk on it and set her down.
Jerking her legs apart, I cupped her cleft hard before driving a finger into her. I followed that with another. Head thrown back, she emitted a gasp of pleasure as I began my thrusts.
My thumb circled the engorged bud of her arousal, in precise rhythmic circles and it drove her wild.
“Maxim,” she breathed, her hands gripping the edge of the table.
I shuddered at the sound of my name in her mouth. Her voice wasn’t intentionally sultry. It was soft but with an unmistakable note of steely determination. I loved it.
“Hold onto me,” I instructed hoarsely.
She threw her arms around my neck and I lowered my knees to position myself at her opening. Then I hooked my hands underneath her thighs and rammed my cock into her so hard, her ass left the table.
At the brutal thrust, her unrestrained moan rang out into the quiet room and blended with the distant buzz of the city’s noise.
I fucked Freya hard, and felt things that I didn’t want to. My eyes remained on hers as I committed her features to memory. The wild movement of her hair as I slammed my cock over and over into her, the sweet grimace of pleasure and pain on her face, the noises coming from her parted lips, the light perspiration across her forehead.
When she climaxed, I followed right after. It was long and earth-shattering. I shuddered through it all, my stomach in knots.
It should have been just a quick and easy fuck, but there was nothing quick or easy about the fuck or the hold Freya was beginning to have over me.
I said something stupid to her, zipped myself back into my pants, and stumbled out of there like a drunken man.
Chapter Fifty-Eight
Freya
I was buttering my toast when the timid knock at the door came. I wasn’t expecting anyone so I headed quietly over and peeped through the hole. Just in case it was another ‘delivery’ that no one asked for. But when I saw who was at the door I swung it open with a cry of joy.
Britney smiled at me, her eyes misty with tears. “I’m sorry,” she said.
I ran into her arms. For the longest time I couldn’t speak, the weight of the world seemingly lifted off my chest.
Eventually I pulled her into the apartment and hit her hard on the shoulder. “Why the fuck did you ring the bell like some stranger? And why didn’t you tell me that you were coming?”
She shrugged. “I made the decision late last night and just booked a flight.”
“Your mom pissed you off?”
“Honestly?”
I began to laugh.
She sucked in her breath through her teeth. “I can’t believe I forgot why I left home in the first place.”
“Hope you didn’t also forget why you left here either? I can’t exactly delete my criminal background.”
Her face fell with remorse. “I deserve that. I was too scared, still am but …”
I playfully knocked her on the head. “Hey! I’m not dead yet, so perhaps you’ll be fine too?”
“Don’t do that,” she scolded. “You might damage the last two brain cells I have left.”
I laughed. It was so good to have her back. “Come on. I’ll make you some toast.”
Together we headed back towards the kitchen. At that moment a message arrived on my phone.
“What’s been going on?” she asked. “How is Maxim doing?”
My mind went to the previous night on her desk. I planned on telling her everything, but not yet. I hid my face from her and quickly looked at my phone.
“Just a second. I just received a text from my bank.”
I opened the text, and for one wild incredible second, I thought I was seeing things. I shut my eyes, and reopened them, as if I would see something different. I knew exactly what it was, but I didn’t want to believe it. I couldn’t believe it. I looked up at Britney, my whole body in an uproar of disbelief and hurt and words, normal words came out of my mouth.
“Did you uh … did you hear from Barney’s yet?”
She nodded vigorously, her curls bouncing “Yes, I have. They’ve agreed to stock us when we officially launch, special thanks to the mention from Bianca’s wedding. I’ll have the website done by next week.”
�
�Hmmm … How much will we need for the first order?”
“For the first collection?”
I nodded.
I grimaced. “At least seven thousand dollars. That will meet the minimum order for all the pieces in the collection.”
I dragged my gaze back to my phone and reread the notification. A million dollars had just been sent into my account. “Give me a minute. I’ll be right back,” I told Britney and went to my room.
To my horror my eyes filled with tears, and before I could stop them they dropped to the phone screen. Pain like this I didn’t think I’d ever feel again. Only my mom’s death had ever hacked my soul apart like this. I took a deep shuddering breath and tried to get my thoughts together. The longer I thought about it the more livid I became. I got into such a rage I started shaking.
How dare he?
How dare he?
I made some excuse to Britney and quickly got ready. A few minutes later I hailed a taxi in front of our apartment building and headed straight to Citigroup bank. On my way there I called Hailey Carpenter. She handled all my father’s financial dealings in the country before I had completely broken away from being his beneficiary.
It would only be through her that I would be able to go in to do exactly what I wanted to, without being delayed. She knew exactly who and what the name Fedorov meant.
“No need to involve the IRS,” I said to her. “The money will be gone soon. There was an error in transfer from Ivanov holdings.”
“Oh! Ah … alright then,” she said uncertainly. “So what do you want me to do?”
“Arrange so I can withdraw the whole million in cash.”
“Uh … that will not be possible, Freya.”
“Then I want as much as you can get me right now.”
“Maybe … a quarter of a million?”
“That’ll do,” I replied. “I’ll be there soon.”
Chapter Fifty-Nine
Freya
Three hours later, I arrived at Ivanov Holdings with half a million dollars in cash in a shopping bag. I headed straight to the receptionist’s desk and knew in an instant that they recognized me.
The last time I had arrived in a wheelchair, wild haired, and under dressed. This time I was out of a wheelchair, but looked no better. The real difference was my eyes were reddened with rage.
“I want to see Maxim,” I announced.
She tapped away at her computer and then raised her gaze to mine. “Mr. Ivanov is not taking any meetings without an appointment today.”
“Tell him its Freya Fedorov.”
“I can’t do it while the do not disturb sign is on.” She took great delight in telling me that.
I was shaking. “Can you please connect me to his secretary?”
“I need to know for what purpose ma’am. We have to screen callers to the executive secretaries too.”
“Just tell him my name please, he’ll know who is calling.”
“Just a second ma’am.” She tapped away at her computer. “I’m sorry, but its lunch time and he’s currently not at his desk.”
I walked away from the desk and pulled out my phone. I called Maxim, several times and the phone simply rang out. I was running out of patience, tears of red hot anger close to blinding me. I felt so utterly broken, beyond hurt.
I had given my body, and a precious part of me to a piece of shit. He had labeled it worthless and thrown it back into my face. The level of disrespect he had shown me, I was sure, would haunt me for the rest of my days.
All I wanted to do was return the money back to that unfeeling beast.
But that was proving impossible.
I felt a sob grow inside my chest. No, no tears, Freya. He’s not worth it.
I put the shopping bag on the floor and pulled it open to reveal the bundles of cash. I snapped the band of the first bundle of cash and threw it up into the air. Hundred dollar bills flew into the air and rained back down onto the ground. I worked quickly through the bundles. The entire room… I stopped at the sight, but I didn’t give a damn. Security guards started running towards me.
“Excuse me ma’am,” they shouted. “You’re not allowed to do that here.”
“Tell Mr. Ivanov,” I shouted back to them, “that I will keep doing this every day until the money is all gone, and if I am blocked tomorrow from entering the building, that I will do it out on the street.”
I cut another bundle of ten thousand dollars, and flung the notes into the air.
I wiped the tears from my eyes and kept going.
Chapter Sixty
Maxim
Gary burst into the conference room.
I raised my head from the acquisition documents we were reviewing and turned my gaze to him with irritation. The room was filled with twenty executives from seven countries.
“Uh … sorry to interrupt,” he apologized, before adjusting his glasses, and walking over to me. “You should see this.” He held his phone in front of my face, and there she was, and for a while I couldn’t understand what I was seeing.
Then it hit me. Jesus! I rose to my feet.
“Gentlemen, please excuse me. I won’t be too long,” I said to the curious faces around, and walked out, Gary’s phone in hand.
Levan caught up with me as I reached the elevator. “What’s going on?”
I tossed the phone to him and he caught it.
It took him a while too for what he was seeing to register. “Isn’t that Freya? What the fuck is going on?”
I tried my best to but I couldn’t stop the smile that spread across my face. Never had I felt more exhilarated in my life.
“What’s today’s date?” I asked Gary.
“Uh the uhh- 29th sir, of October.”
I noted it.
It was the day that I claimed Freya Fedorov as mine.
I pulled my phone out of my pocket and called Viktor. “Where are you?” I asked.
“I’m on the second-floor sir,” he answered. “I’m almost at the lobby.”
Chapter Sixty-One
Freya
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2IuJPh6h_A
The guards had obviously had enough.
They came for me, and before I could defend myself, it was after all four against one, they grabbed me.
“Let me go,” I said trying my best not to cause more of a scene than I already had. Truthfully, I wasn’t here to exhibit my fury. I was simply just here to dispose of the money. To return it to the jerk who sent it to me.
It would have been the entire million if the bank had agreed to give it to me, but they had not.
The guard’s grip was rough and nearly tore my arm away from its shoulder sockets. I didn’t blame him... I was putting him at risk of losing his job for even allowing my debacle to go on as long as it did. This was meant to solely happen in the privacy of Maxim’s office, but since his people had refused to let me see him, I had no other choice.
“Get your hands off her!” an imperious bark sounded.
Instantly, the callous hands holding me prisoner were gone. I turned around and saw two of his guards. Viktor and the one with a vicious scar down the side of his face. I couldn’t remember his name. Britney and I just called him the one with the scar from the time we saw him at the house.
They glared at me, but I was unfazed. It appeared as if I had created quite some scene at the Ivankov head office. People from the lobby and several floors up had stopped to watch me. Others had heard the news and were running out of their offices to see what was going on. It felt as though a thousand fascinated eyes were on me.
I looked down at all the money and saw the three approaching pairs of tailored pants. One of them was him. I could just tell by the way his feet moved. He prowled like a panther.
I looked up and Maxim was standing in front of me, his expressionless gaze boring directly into mine. It seemed like a lifetime passed before he eventually spoke.
“What are you doing?” he asked casually.
“Returning
what you sent to me. I would have brought it straight to you, but,” I jerked my head towards the reception desk, “they wouldn’t let me go up.”
“Let’s go up then,” he said to me, stepping aside so that I could go ahead of him, but I scoffed at the offer.
“No need,” I replied. “I’ve delivered what I wanted. I’ll return tomorrow with the rest.” I gave him a smile, turned around and started walking away. I wanted to run, but I wouldn’t stoop to it. The revolving doors were right ahead of me, and I prayed to God I would be able to get to them and away from that place before I crumbled with tension and heartbreak.
I almost reached it.
Almost.
Suddenly, my hand was grabbed firmly and I was spun around. Before I could even begin to protest or fight back, I was unceremoniously lifted into the air and swung over someone’s broad shoulder.
Of course, it was him... no one else would dare.
“Fucking put me down,” I ordered through gritted teeth.
Of course, I was totally ignored. He walked with me further into the building seemingly completely unembarrassed to behave like a damn caveman in front of all his staff.
“Maxim,” I screamed into his back. “Put me down. Right now!"
I rained blows on his back, but I might as well have been punching a brick wall. I only hurt my own fists.
He took me out of the arena like a spoilt child. I could hear people begin to giggle and laugh. Some even started clapping and as he carried me to his private elevator. It was already open, one of his men was waiting inside of it. Maxim took me in with him, and the guard immediately exited the elevator and the door dinged shut on us.
He put me down then and I headed straight to the keypad to try and open the door. I did but just before I could press it, he grabbed my hand and my contact was interrupted.
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