“Kathleen Sanders?”
“Yes, how may I help you?”
“You can start by doing yourself a favor and breaking up with that thug boyfriend of yours.”
It suddenly hit me that this guy was from a branch of law enforcement. Judging by the way he was dressed, I guessed it was the FBI. He donned the standard dark suit, white shirt, and no-nonsense attitude that went with the stereotypical G-man.
“Well, you can start by showing me your credentials and telling me what branch of law enforcement you work for.” Though I already had the feeling this guy was FBI, I needed to see those credentials before I spoke to him.
Though my voice and demeanor were calm, my heart was beating out of my chest. I had known, in the back of my mind, this day would come. Sooner or later, whoever was following and watching Glazov would attempt to come after me. It was probably standard practice for them to go after the person they saw as the weakest link. A wave of relief washed over me when I realized they could have gone after my assistant. I was shocked I didn’t fear them questioning her for her safety’s sake. I just didn’t want her revealing any information about Glazov and getting him in trouble. For the first time in this chaotic journey I was on, I realized I didn’t want him to go to prison because it meant being away from him.
The man standing in front of my desk tossed down a badge, and sure enough, he was FBI. I hadn’t really needed the proof; I was simply stalling for time so I could wrap my brain around the fact that I was now a known associate of the Bratva. The woman, who spent her whole life being responsible so she could avoid trouble, was now being questioned by the highest branch of law enforcement in existence.
“Miss Sanders, you seem like a nice lady who has quite a bit of business sense. I would be willing to bet that Alexander Glazov has forced you into a relationship with him. I can help you escape him.”
Here it was, being offered to me on a silver platter. It was a way to escape but at what price? Witness protection? I would be forced to leave everything I had spent a lifetime building. Once again, I felt a wave of anger towards my assistant rush through me. Anyone who thought addiction didn’t affect anybody but the addict had never been close to one. The reason I had helped her in the beginning was the same reason I kept protecting her—her children. I grew up without a mother, and I would never wish that hell on anyone. I would continue to protect her from Glazov.
“Well, Mr. Turner, I’m sure that is a wonderful offer, but the problem is I know nothing of Mr. Glazov’s business practices. I can also assure you that I have not been forced into anything by anyone.”
“So, you admit you’re choosing to date the most dangerous Russian mobster on the FBI’s radar of your own free will?”
I looked him right in the eye and said, “I think you need to go because, as far as I’m concerned, the government crossed a line when they sent you to monitor who I fuck.”
His face remained stoic. “Very well,” he replied, and as quickly as he had appeared, he was gone.
Glazov
I eyed Yafon as I chuckled, “That woman of mine is one fiery redhead.”
“That she is, sir. That she is.”
“The government crossed a line when they sent you to monitor who I fuck. Priceless, Yafon, priceless. Have you done what I asked you to do?”
“Yes, sir, and from the looks of things, our timing is perfect.”
Timing is everything in my line of work; it can mean the difference between life and death. It is necessary to read how circumstances will play out. If I didn’t move quickly, there was a chance my plan might be disrupted. I had too much banking on the success of what I had planned. I wasn’t about to let law enforcement come between my Ptichka and what I had in store for her.
I had to admit I was shocked by her response when the suit offered her a way out. When you do what I do, there is nothing worse than a rat. I’d hate to have to kill the only woman I’ve ever loved. I would have to protect her from being put in a situation like this again. I had known, at some point, law enforcement would attempt to question her, but I hadn’t expected it to be this soon. It meant they were probably in the process of trying to execute a warrant. I was proud my little Ptichka had passed her first test in dealing with the FBI.
Kathleen
I made my way into Glazov’s, dropping my briefcase and leaving a trail of clothing behind me.
Every day, I was escorted home by Yafon, and today was no exception, even though my destination was Glazov’s house. I knew Glazov had his own reasons for his stalkerish behavior. I also understood it was for my own safety. I didn’t even want to think about the kind of enemies a man like Glazov probably had. No doubt, they were just as ruthless as he was.
Glazov was smart enough to know the quickest way for an enemy to hurt him was to hurt me. I had no intentions of being at the mercy of one of his enemies.
I began my ritual of running a bath. I needed to soak and let the water wash away all the stresses of the day. Meeting up with that agent had definitely caught me by surprise, and if I thought about it too much, it could be a source of anxiety I did not want to deal with. I didn’t plan on revealing what happened today to Glazov. It would only mean a rigorous interrogation that I didn’t feel like being subjected to. I wasn’t in the mood for his intensity right now.
I had known all along that either law enforcement or one of his enemies would connect me to him. To be honest, I have to say I was relieved it was the FBI. God only knows what one of those thugs would put me through.
I couldn’t imagine the horror of being at the mercy of someone who hated Glazov. I pushed the thoughts from my mind. This was the one thing I had spent a lifetime avoiding—trouble. It infuriated me that someone else had put me in this situation against my will. It was the definition of unfair personified. I didn’t ask for this shit, but that didn’t change the fact that I was in trouble, and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it.
Today, a man stood in my office and told me he could help me. He had offered me a way out. I thought about what my life would be like in Witness Protection. It was possible; I could do it. I had no family, no friends, no one who would miss me or wonder why I had disappeared. Even if I decided to go that route, it still left Robin at the mercy of a madman. As far as I knew, he might kill her out of rage towards me. I would be in Witness Protection and never know he did it, but I would always wonder. Even if I did decide to talk to the agent, what could I tell him? I didn’t know anything about Glazov’s business dealings. It wasn’t like we discussed who he tortured and killed over dinner every night.
Ironically enough, the only person I had was Glazov. A cold-hearted killer was the only human being who exhibited any measure of love for me. Once again, it was clear to me in my mind’s eye that none of this made any sense. Anytime I tried to process a way out of this fucked-up situation, I never came up with any results. Much like being stuck in a maze, I was lost in a conundrum of chaos.
I jumped when I heard the bathroom door open and viewed Glazov entering.
I watched him as he stared at me. He said nothing while he undressed. His large chiseled body was tan, and his long blond hair hung loosely over his shoulders, accenting his ice-cold blue eyes. He looked like a man carved from granite and hewn by the gods themselves. I was certain that women fought to be in his presence, yet here I was fighting to get away. Maybe that was what captivated him; I was the first woman to challenge him. That was my nature, fighting, clawing, and willing my way through life. I survived. Ironically enough, that’s why he saw himself in me.
I stood mesmerized by his rock hard, tan body. I knew there were times he used a tanning bed. He once told me the heat eased his sore muscles after a strenuous workout. I’ve seen the workouts he subjects his body to and they’re brutal. Honestly, all the men who work for him looked like Neanderthals, the only difference being that Glazov was handsome in a professional type way. He was meticulous in his wardrobe, and there was nothing he wore that wasn’t tail
or-made. The effect looked good on him. I saw how other women looked at him when we went out. They didn’t even care enough to try and hide it from me. They looked at me with thinly disguised hatred and eyed him as if they wanted to eat him alive. The amazing thing about it was that he never took his eyes off me. When he was with me, it was like no one else existed. We lived in our consummated bubble of engrossed unity, unaware of anyone else’s presence.
He reached under my arms and lifted me out of the water. He placed both his hands on the tile wall on either side of my head to trap me in.
He began biting at my breasts, just hard enough to make me wonder what he was up to.
“I’m going to ask you nicely, Ptichka, and if you lie to me, I’m going to hurt you.”
He spoke to me calmly as if he were asking me what restaurant I preferred. I knew Glazov well enough to know he probably already knew about my visitor today.
“Please, Glazov, I haven’t done anything wrong. I didn’t say anything.”
His bites were getting harder, and he roughly sucked and pulled on my breasts. It hurt in an odd way that felt good, and I was becoming aroused. I could feel the moisture between my thighs and the wrenching need building in my lower abdomen. I was scared, he was hurting me, and it was arousing both of us.
He grabbed both sides of my head by two handfuls of hair and stared at my trembling lip before he covered my mouth with his own. That kiss held more passion than most people feel in a whole session of lovemaking or, hell, probably more than a lifetime of lovemaking. The intensity between us was a raging inferno of raw lust and need. We were matches and gasoline, a dangerous combination of combustible need that threatened to explode and consume not only each other, but also anything and anyone in our world. There was no threat of that, though, because we guarded ourselves against the outside world, fearing anything that might come between us. Here I was, with a man who was afraid of nothing and no one, yet he exhibited fear when confronted with the threat of losing me. We both knew we would never find what we had with each other in someone else. This was a rare kind of love that only came along once in a lifetime. It was the kind of love people coveted and wrote about in history books.
He picked me up and spread me open, literally impaling me on his hard cock.
I bent back and palmed the wall, trusting him completely to not drop me. He held me up with ease while he fucked me. I felt small, protected, and sated in his arms. I was right where I needed to be.
He leaned in towards me so he could bite, lick, and roughly suck any part of my body he could reach. As he assaulted me with his mouth, tongue, and teeth, I cried out in response to the mixture of agony and ecstasy only he could provide.
“Do you think I am going to allow you the opportunity to testify against me? You underestimate me, Ptichka. Tonight, you become my wife!”
Shock and fear coursed through my system. He had threatened me with this before. He blatantly told me he would not stop until I bore his surname. It appeared he was going to make that threat a reality. When would I learn that this man always did what he said he was going to do? I understood, in that moment, why his enemies feared him. It was because he never made idle threats. If he told an enemy he was coming for them, they could be certain it would happen. Whether it was a day, a week, months, or even a year later, he would make good on his threat.
My eyes flew open in horror as I shook my head. “No, I can’t.” My refusal was completely ignored. The only request I was granted was permission to come all over the well endowed cock of my soon to be husband.
He was calling in all the debts Robin owed him, demanding that I be the one to pay, and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it. Day-by-day he gained more control, and day-by-day, I lost the will to fight him.
How did I, an intelligent, independent, strong-willed woman, become so attached to the kind of man society warned us about? He was the horror that mothers warned their daughters away from, and I was the proverbial moth drawn to the flame that never extinguished.
My heart was not listening nor adhering to my sense of better judgment. Whether I wanted to face the truth or not, I was falling in love with the man who forced his way into my life and was now forcing me to marry him. It would only be a matter of time before he made good on the threat of making me bear him a child. He was convinced I was the woman destined to carry his Bratva born son, and nothing would change his mind. There would be no escaping him, no divorcing him in later years, and most certainly, there would be no chance of taking his children and running away. I would be the vessel used to bear his children, but in his mind, they would belong to him and so would I.
I could love them, raise them, and be with them so long as I remained his wife. He would use them as a way to secure me at his side. He grew up knowing the power of family and a mother’s love. If these guys were anything, they were family oriented. Finally, the reason he had been so obsessed with me became clear to me. This was the first time he had ever been in a relationship with a respectable woman. No self-respecting Bratva born male was going to take some floozy home to meet his mother. Even though his parents were deceased, he still had those Bratva traditions ingrained in him from childhood.
I didn’t need Glazov or anyone else to tell me what my future with him would be like. I would be property—owned by Alexander Glazov. He had been nothing but honest about his intentions towards me since the beginning. He was also straightforward about his beliefs and plans for my future and the future of his legacy.
Chapter Nine
Kathleen
I stood and eyed my image in the mirror as the woman who assisted me in getting dressed kept nodding her head with enthusiasm. I wore a white beaded dress, and though it wasn’t a wedding gown, it was nothing shy of stunning. My auburn hair cascaded over my shoulders since Glazov instructed her to leave it down.
Unlike many women, my auburn locks were natural. I hated it as a child, but as an adult my hair was one of the things I loved most about my looks.
I looked up to view Glazov walking in with what appeared to be an Orthodox minister. I’m sure there would be some people who would question the validity of our marriage. In the traditional Orthodox church most Russians attended, it was mandated by family that the couple be wed in the church. However, there was no escaping that the law would view it as a binding, legal union. My soon to be husband was racing against the clock, and I’m certain that FBI agent nosing around had something to do with his need to rush the ceremony.
Just the fact that Glazov had access to a priest willing to conduct the ceremony outside of a church said a lot about just how powerful he was. The man I belonged to was sinking his talons into me even deeper, and there would be no escaping him after I bore his name. I don’t know why, but the man is obsessed with possessing me. For some odd reason, my will to fight for my independence is waning daily. I highly doubt, though, he will ever be able to completely constrain the fight in me. It just isn’t in my nature. Just like Glazov, I’m a born fighter.
The ceremony was just that—a ceremony. It was the legal act of Glazov obtaining what he wanted. I was glad that I couldn’t testify against him now. It actually made it less stressful for the power and control to be taken out of my hands and put into his. I didn’t have to be faced with the temptation of going into Witness Protection anymore; the decision had been made for me. I actually felt a sense of relief.
Glazov
I could not get enough of her. This woman I had taken, had now taken a part of me like no woman had ever been able to before. I was secretly glad she’d been approached by the FBI. It gave me the leverage I needed to force her into marriage. Being able to justify the wedding so she could no longer testify against me almost seemed to have relieved her. I was taking the reins of control from her and offering her safety in exchange for her compliance.
“You are mine, Ptichka. There will be no escaping me now. I will be very displeased if I find out you have done anything to thwart my plan for you to bear my s
on. If you have gone back on birth control, your friend will suffer the consequences of your actions. Is there anything you wish to tell me? If so, it would be in your best interest to reveal it now.” I wanted to know if she was using birth control against my wishes, and I wanted her to know I knew what was going on in that devious little mind of hers.
My eyes cut through her, demanding the truth.
“You do understand I will kill Robin, don’t you?”
“I haven’t done anything. I have been off the pill for a month.”
“Very well, Ptichka. It would be in your best interest to remain that way. Don’t even think about getting a shot either. I’m not naïve in areas of contemporary birth control, and God help you if you ever abort a child of mine.”
“It would be my child too, Glazov, and I would never do that.”
I leaned in to correct her and whispered in her ear. “I think you mean will, not would. There is no doubt you’ll be giving birth to my children. The only question is how many I choose to have. A man needs sons to fight against his enemies in his old age.”
“You have it all planned out, don’t you?”
“You’re damn straight I do. Any good businessman has a plan for his family’s future. You should be happy I’m looking out for the well-being of ours.”
“I’m convinced you’re crazy!”
“I’m flattered, love. You would do well to remind yourself just how fucking crazy I can be.”
I clamped my teeth down into her neck, just enough to let her know that I meant what I was saying.
I folded her knees back by her shoulders and relished in her groan as I slowly pushed my thick, hard cock inside her. I would never tire of watching her eyes roll back into her head when I possessed her. Each time we were together, there was a new level of intensity that seared us into one another’s souls. She was everything I’d never had with other women. I knew I would never tire of her like I had my previous conquests. She was so much more than that to me, and now my beloved Ptichka was my wife. Hopefully, she would soon be the mother of my children as well.
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