by Rina Kent
“Okay. Can you tell me why you came here?” It’s weird, and knowing Adrian’s strict, secretive nature, he wouldn’t let her roam around unescorted.
Her huge eyes stare at me, tears clinging to her lids. Woah—what’s going on?
“The other time, you said you’d help me, Rai.”
“I would.”
“Promise?”
“Yes, of course. Just tell me what’s going on.”
“P-please…p-please help me escape Adrian.” She takes my hands in her trembling, sweaty ones. “If you don’t, I will die.”
Well, shit.
After I have Katia and Ruslan send Lia to one of our safe houses—that Adrian doesn’t know about—I go to take a shower.
I don’t know what I will do, but she was on the verge of a breakdown and desperately needed to get away from Adrian. If he did anything to her, I’ll murder him.
Standing under the stream, I place a palm on my stomach. “If you’re a boy, don’t you dare mistreat women. If you’re a girl, don’t you dare let men mistreat you just because you don’t have balls.”
I shake my head. I can’t believe I’m talking to a fetus, but I remember Reina saying Gareth used to move in her stomach whenever she or Asher talked to him.
My chest tightens at the thought of my child not having a complete family like Gareth. Whatever happens, I’m going to take care of this child. I’ve been feeling these small bursts of excitement since I had that heart-to-heart with Reina.
I want to be like Mom. I want to protect my children with my life.
After wrapping my torso in a towel, I step outside the bathroom, drying my hair with a smaller towel.
My feet come to a halt of their own volition when I spot the man standing in the middle of our bedroom.
Kyle.
He followed me.
The thought causes my lips to tremble before I set them in a line.
He must’ve had a shower because all the blood from earlier is gone. He’s wearing a clean white shirt that molds to his taut muscles. His hair is slightly damp, some strands falling on his forehead.
He’s really here.
For a second, we stare at each other silently, as if we’re both processing the reality.
“Can you hear me out?” he asks in a quiet voice.
“About what? Didn’t you already leave a letter and say goodbye?”
He blows out a long breath. “That was a mistake.”
“A mistake?”
“No. I meant what I said, except for one thing.”
“What?” My voice is barely audible.
“The part about how leaving you is the right choice.”
“It isn’t?”
“It fucking isn’t. I know it should be, but I can’t bring myself to part from you.” He smiles a little. “It’s ironic considering I ripped my heart out when I left the room this morning.”
“Why did you, Kyle?”
“I told you, I’m dangerous for you.”
“I get to decide that.”
“I hurt you.” He motions at the bruises at my shoulders.
“Do you think I would’ve let you touch me if you hurt me?” My voice lowers. “I came more times than I could count, if you didn’t notice. Besides, I never asked you to stop. I would’ve if it got to be too much.”
“Still…I was too rough.”
“I love it rough.”
His eyes gleam. He likes that more than he will ever admit, and maybe I’m the same.
“Anything else you’d like to say?” I probe.
“Yeah…I’ll take you to the clinic. I’ll be there for you.”
“I only need a doctor, not the clinic.”
His brows furrow. “Why? Is something wrong?”
“No. The doctor at the hospital said I need an OB-GYN.”
Realization dawns on him and he remains silent before he whispers, “You’re…”
“Keeping it,” I finish for him.
“Why?”
“Because I want to.”
“I thought you didn’t want children.”
“That was before, when my insecurities were getting the better of me.”
“And now?”
“Now, I’m confident enough to do it. I want to be a good mother like Mom and Reina. Don’t get me wrong, though—switching my pills was a dick move that I’ll hold over your head for the rest of your life.”
He remains silent for a beat before he shoves a hand in his pocket.
I watch him and his silence before I blurt, “Aren’t you going to say anything?”
“I want to ask something, but I’m not sure if I want to hear the answer.”
“You won’t know unless you ask.” And he needs to get closer because the distance between us is getting on my nerves.
“Do I have a place in the child’s future?”
“Why wouldn’t you? You’re the father.”
“How about your future?”
“What do you think?”
His intense blue eyes bore into mine before he sighs. “I don’t know. All I know is that I realize I fucked up, and I’m ready to do whatever it takes to make it up to you.”
“Whatever it takes?”
“Anything, Princess.”
“Then don’t ever leave me. Ever. I mean it, Kyle. If you dare leave me again, I’ll unleash my wrath on you.”
A small smile tugs on his lips as he stalks toward me, his long legs eating up the distance in no time. He stops right in front of me until my space is filled with his scent. “Does this mean you’ll have me back?”
I grab him by the collar of his shirt and rise up on tiptoes to seal my lips to his. My head feels light, even though it barely lasts a couple of seconds.
When I lower back down, it’s like I’ve been levitating and I’m finally hitting the ground.
“I love you, Kyle. I’ve been in love with you for as long as I’ve known you, but I never had the courage to admit it to you or to myself.”
“Fuck, Princess,” he says breathily. “I think I’ve loved you ever since the first time I met you.”
“You have?”
He nods. “But I was a coward.”
“We both were.” I stroke the collar of his shirt that’s still bunched in my hand. “I think we should make it up to each other.”
“I think so, too.”
“Are you going to kiss me now, husband?”
“Oh, I’ll be doing more than kissing you, wife.”
He picks me up in his arms and I squeal, but the sound is devoured by his lips on mine.
Epilogue 1- Rai
One year later
I stand in front of my walk-in, picking a nightgown—though I probably won’t be needing it tonight.
Not that I do on most nights.
My hand barely touches one before a warm body glues to mine from behind. I briefly close my eyes, breathing in his clean scent mixed with his special masculine odor. It clings to me like a second skin.
I love smelling him on me. I feel like I have him with me at all times even when we’re apart.
Turning around, I don’t bother to hide my nakedness—I’m completely free with Kyle. Besides, I love the way his eyes darken to the furious blue color of a stormy sky.
I’m the only one who’s able to put that look on his face. The only one who gets under his skin as much as he gets under mine.
“You’re back early. Mikhail isn’t giving you a hard time, is he?”
“As if he can. I’m making him profit. Also, I’m the one who’s giving him a hard time, not the other way around.”
I chuckle, almost imagining that. Ever since Kyle found out Mikhail is his father, he’s been slowly taking care of his brigade and teaching his younger, reckless half-brothers and half-sisters some sense. I guess the behavioral issue runs in their blood, but Kyle is old enough to not let it guide him anymore.
I wouldn’t say my relationship with Mikhail is rainbows and roses. I still don’t approve of his ways and
he still thinks I meddle too much for my own good. However, we tolerate each other for Kyle’s sake.
“And why are we talking about my father when I’m about to devour you?” He lowers his lips to my neck, sucking on the skin and eliciting a moan from me.
“You are?”
“Fuck right, I am.” He speaks against my skin as he fiddles with his belt. “Quick before the devil’s minion wakes up.”
I laugh, but the sound turns into a squeal when he carries me, both of his big hands resting beneath my thighs. My legs loop around his waist as he powers inside me. He doesn’t even bother to back me against the wall. Kyle holds my entire weight against him as he rams into me. The position doesn’t diminish his strength; if anything, it makes him go deeper.
I hold on to his shoulders with all my might, moaning. “Oh, K-Kyle…there…there…”
“Shh, you’ll wake him up.” He smiles against my lips even though he thrusts exactly where I need him.
It’s crazy how he keeps learning my body like it’s his masterpiece and he can’t stop. He still brings me to heights of pleasure I never thought would be possible.
People say we’ll fall into a routine soon and that things will become normal, but they still haven’t. We had more sex when I was pregnant than ever before—I blame the hormones for that. Even after I gave birth, Kyle wouldn’t stop touching me and bringing me to orgasm. As soon as the doctor said I could have sex again, I barged into Kyle’s office and climbed him. I could probably blame the postnatal hormones for that too.
But this? The way I come undone around him in no time? I can only blame my stupid body and heart, which are easily stimulated by his presence.
Kyle empties himself inside me at the same time as I shatter to pieces, my nails digging into his shirt.
Panting, I rest my head on his shoulder, catching my breath. Kyle doesn’t seem to be tired of holding my weight since he remains in the same position.
His lips brush against my temple as he strokes my hair away from my face. God, I love the gentle way he touches me as much as the rough and unapologetic ways he fucks me.
This might have become an everyday occurrence, but I don’t take anything for granted. We suffered a lot to get where we are and every day is a war zone in our world, but Kyle and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Sergei is still holding on, and he’s trying a new treatment that may cure his cancer, so the leadership hasn’t changed.
Many other things have, though.
The most important of all is Anastasia. A few days after Kyle and I got back together, we woke up to find her gone. The only thing she left behind was a note which said she stole the money, that she’s sorry, and we shouldn’t look for her.
Of course, we searched for her, but it’s like she was sucked into a different dimension. She left absolutely no trace behind.
Her strange behavior before her disappearance made more sense.
No one would’ve thought the sweet innocent Anastasia would do something like that, but I think we all ignored how smart she is, ignored the possibility that the naïve façade could be just that—a façade.
After an internal investigation in V Corp, I figured out how she discreetly hacked into the system. During her internship, she embezzled small amounts every month, then took them and left.
Sergei, who was ready to have Kyle snipe down the thief, told me we needed to cover up for her after we found her note. Because if anyone else from the brotherhood knew she stole, she’d be found and killed. There’s no mercy for thieves.
Peter, the young guard who handed Kyle to Rolan, disappeared, too. Igor thinks he went back to Russia, but he can’t tell for sure. Kyle is still insistent on finding and murdering him, though, not only for handing him to Rolan that day, but for pushing me down the stairs.
The war with the Irish isn’t completely over, but their new leader isn’t as aggressive toward us as Rolan was.
Damien and Kirill still get on my nerves, but neither of them comments on my presence at the table anymore. Considering the net profit I bring to V Corp, no one can question my worth.
I’ve even started to openly meet with Reina, Asher, and Gareth now. If Kirill found out, the others would’ve soon followed, and I wasn’t going to hide my twin sister as if she was a dirty secret.
Well, I had to bug them about security, but Reina said it’s worth it if she gets to see regularly. Then she arranged ‘double dates’ for us. We attempted to dress at each other to misguide our husbands, but they figured us out in an instant. When I asked Kyle how he knew, he said it’s the look in my eyes. No one, not even my identical twin sister, could emulate it.
Stroking Kyle’s hair, I push back to stare at his face. “Do you know that I love you?”
He grins. “Not really. Can you repeat it?”
I brush soft kisses on his cheek, eyelids, and nose, ending with his lips. “I love you more than anything.”
While I show my stern business face to the world, I get to be entirely free in Kyle’s presence. This feeling is my aphrodisiac.
I’m about to deepen the kiss and go for round two when a crying sound from the adjoining room interrupts me.
Kyle groans as I climb down his body. “That cockblocker.”
“Stop it.” I laugh, put on the first robe I find, and quicken my pace to the crib in which our baby boy is lying.
I pick him up and he immediately quiets. Nikolai is two months old and has the most beautiful blue eyes I’ve ever seen. Reina says it’s a mixture of mine and Kyle’s. His hair is the same shade as his father’s, and his skin is so soft I would kiss him all day if I could.
My pregnancy with him was so smooth I almost didn’t feel the time passing me by. He was such a docile baby who only kicked when I was awake or when Kyle was holding me. It was like he felt us both and wanted to make his presence known. The easiness of the pregnancy might have also been caused by how Kyle was caring for me every second of every day. He barely left my side and made me feel like I was the most precious thing on earth.
He still does.
“Were you scared because you were alone, baby?” I smile at him and he smiles back. “Kyle! Did you see that? His first smile.”
“He’s just taunting me.” Kyle wraps his arms around my waist from behind and lets Nikolai grab his finger. “The first rule in the father-son manual says that you don’t cockblock your dad, Nikolai.”
“You’re so awful.” I laugh as I lean my head back against his chest. “He’s just a baby. Besides, you were the one behind the idea of having him, remember?”
“And now I’m paying the price.”
“It’s worth it, though. We have our family.”
He kisses the top of my head, and I melt in his embrace. “We do. I’ll protect you both with my life.”
“So will I.”
Epilogue 2- Kyle
Three years later
If someone had told me I would ever be sitting in a toddler’s bed, telling them bedtime stories, I would’ve shot them.
Me, with toddlers?
Me, telling stories?
I don’t know what I was thinking when I figured impregnating Rai was the best idea. But that’s the thing—I wasn’t thinking.
I didn’t count on the tiny humans who would invade our lives and demand all our attention—and more.
As if Nikolai’s cockblocking activities weren’t enough, I somehow ended up knocking up Rai again, even though I didn’t mess with her pills that time. She was the one who went on without birth control and ended up pregnant.
She gave birth to not only one baby, but two. Yes, that’s correct. We have identical twin girls, Mia and Maya, who are almost two years old now and have their mum and aunt’s spiky natures.
Rai and Reina keep saying they remind them of themselves, especially since they’re both blondes like them.
The twins settle on either side of me, and Nikolai is in the middle, as I sit down to tell them a bedtime story. I picked one from the cou
ntless children’s books on the shelf, but Nikolai pushes it away. “We already know that one, Daddy. Something new.”
“Something new!” Mia agrees.
“New! New, Daddy!” Maya pulls on my sleeves.
These little shits are my kids, but they’re demanding as fuck. Rai says they take after me. Ha. Me? They give me a run for my money. Even Godfather can testify in my favor.
“Fine, fine.” I close the book. “So, once upon a time, there was a monster.”
The kids’ eyes bug out at that. They love stories about monsters more than those about princes.
“The monster didn’t know what to do.”
“Why?” Maya asks. “Was he hurt, Daddy?”
“I guess you can say that. He was hurt badly.”
“Poor monster.” Mia pouts. “Can someone come and kiss it better?”
“No!” Nikolai protests. “He’s a monster. No one kisses him.”
“That’s right,” I continue. “He was all alone and with nowhere to go. He felt empty and with no purpose and always thought his existence didn’t matter. To make it worse, other monsters wanted to kill him.”
“Oh,” Maya and Mia say at the same time, their little chins trembling.
“And?” Nikolai’s eyes are as huge as saucers.
“He was saved by a strong princess.”
“Really?” Maya’s expression lights up.
“Yeah, my little pumpkin.”
“Is the princess very beautiful?” Nikolai asks.
“The most beautiful princess to ever exist.”
“Like Mommy?” Mia stares up at me.
“Just like your mommy.”
“And then what?” her sister asks.
“Yeah, then what, Daddy?” Nikolai follows.
“Then, she took him to her castle and healed his wounds. After that, they gave birth to three beautiful monsters who looked just like you.”
The twins giggle, and I tickle them. Nikolai tries to escape, but I bring him in, too, until the three of them are squealing and gasping.
After expending so much energy, it doesn’t take them long to fall asleep. I carry Nikolai to his bed, but don’t bother with the twins. They always end up sleeping next to each other, anyway.