Chapter 34 Episode 34
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Arslan snorts. “Talk about your sister that way in front of her,and she’ll gut you. The b***h is crazy.”
“Crazy, maybe,” Giorgos agrees. “But she’s strong, too. Andbeautiful. And she comes from a powerful family. If you don’twant to make an alliance with us, someone else will.”
I step forward, my fingers drumming on the table near aglistening steak knife. “Are you threatening to align with theBattiatos behind my back?”
Giorgos eyes the knife and then looks back up at me, anervous smile on his face. “I want to work with you, Nikolai. Ihave no plans to break our deal. But if you don’t respect theagreement… well, you’d do the same thing in my position.”
But that doesn’t mean I have to like it.
The thought of Giorgos and the Battiatos coming togetheragainst me… f**k that. I was born in the dirt, and I fought andclawed my way up from obscurity. I’ll die for what I’ve built.
More to the point, I’ll kill for it.
“Your family has a rich history,” Giorgos continues. “And I,for one, have always liked an underdog. I would choose youover the Battiatos any day. I did choose you. As a partner forme… and my sister.”
There’s no misunderstanding him now.
“You want me to swear loyalty to your sister.”
He shrugs. “She’s a proud woman. She won’t marry you ifthere are any other women in your life. And if she doesn’tmarry you, the deal falls apart. I’m sorry, Nikolai. But I knowyou understand.”
Arslan is looking back and forth between the two of us likehe’s at a tennis match, waiting to see who will score.
I clench my teeth in irritation. The Battiatos have thrown amassive f*****g wrench in the works, and I have no choice.It’s either lose Belle and marry Xena, or risk those fuckscoming for what’s mine.
I know the priorities in my life.
The Bratva always comes first.
“Our deal stands,” I say simply. “You hold up your end, I’llhold up mine.”
Giorgos relaxes. “You’re a good man, Nikolai.”
“No, I’m not,” I say. “That’s why you’re in business with me.”
Giorgos tips his head back and laughs, but I just wave Arslantowards the door. I don’t find any of this s**t funny.
I’m tied to the chair in Nikolai’s office again. But the ropes aresoft as silk, whispering like a breeze across my heated skin.
“You can have anything,” Nikolai whispers in my ear.“Beautiful Belle, just name it and it’s yours.”
He says my name like a prayer, like it’s something sacred andprecious. His sinful lips glide up my throat to kiss the tenderskin beneath my ear.
I close my eyes and try to contain the fire raging inside of me.
If I don’t, we’ll both burn.
“I shouldn’t,” I whisper. “I’m here to work. I need to… towork.”
“I’ll put you to work,” Nikolai says.
I smile. “That’s not what I mean.”
Nikolai kneels down in front of me, one dark brow arched.“But it’s what you want.”
He pushes my legs apart, and I realize the ties are suddenlygone. So is his office. Instead, we’re now in a dark room, andI’m sitting on the edge of an endless bed. Nikolai presses afirm hand to the center of my chest and pushes me back intothe plush mattress.
Then his hands are behind my knees. He lifts them over hisshoulders, and I feel his warm breath between my thighs.
I’m naked. I don’t remember when I took my clothes off, and Idon’t care. I can’t remember a single reason why I would denymyself this. Why I would refuse this man.
I ache for him, the blood in my veins thrumming out his name,pulsing for him.
“I can make you forget,” he breathes. He drags a finger downmy slit, and I tremble.
He parts me with his finger, and I can tell by the cool airwashing over me that I’m wet and ready for him. He’s barelytouched me and I’m already on the edge.
“That I’m the leader of a Bratva,” he snarls in Russian. “And Ikilled a man with my bare hands.”
When I open my eyes, I’m alone and staring up at the ceilingof my hotel room. But my legs are spread and my hand isinside my panties.
Quickly, I yank my hand away and sit up, trying to shake offthe dream.
Or… nightmare. It was a nightmare. Wasn’t it?
I hear Nikolai’s deep dream voice in my head. That’s what youwant, isn’t it? For me to f**k you.
I’d say no, but he warned me not to lie.
I throw back the blankets and slide out of bed. My ankle stingswhen I put weight on it, but it’s already feeling a lot better.Nikolai’s makeshift bandage brought down the swelling, and Itook an anti-inflammatory when I got home. Or, back to thehotel, anyway—which, I remind myself firmly, is not home.
But that was hours ago, and I’m sure I’m overdue for a seconddose.
The living room is dark when I pad into the generouskitchenette. I open the pill bottle and pop two more, washingthem down with water from the sink. Then I grab my phoneoff the counter and see there’s a text from Georgia.
GEORGIA: When are you coming back? The office is boringwithout you.
She sent it only a few minutes ago. She’s always one of thefirst people in the office, up and at ‘em by five-thirty in themorning. I’m barely even conscious before seven.
I fire off a response. Got hung up. Blame Roger. Hopefully justa few more days.
It’s strange to imagine going back to Oklahoma City now.Back to my apartment and my office. After what has happenedhere, I can’t imagine life ever being normal again.
But of course it will be. Men like Nikolai lose interest quickly.He’ll forget about me the moment I’m out of his sight for toolong.
I’m not sure if I’m relieved or disappointed by that.
Georgia texts back immediately. I’m sure you’re ready to behome. Zhukova is the worst.
BELLE: Do you mean the company or the CEO?
I type out a message and delete it. How do I ask Georgia whatthe hell is going on at Zhukova Incorporated without settingoff alarm bells? Nikolai said he didn’t plan to kill me, but Iknow he’s capable of it. He whispered the truth in my ear.
And then you had a s*x dream about him, the judgy voice inthe back of my head hisses.
Finally, I type out a message and hit send.
BELLE: Did anything specific happen to you when youworked on the Zhukova account?
For all I know, Nikolai is monitoring my phone. He might bemonitoring me right now. I look around the room, checking tosee if there are any telltale glowing red lights in the corners ofthe room.
Interested in filming a sequel? Even now, the memory of histaunting question makes me feel hot. I was bound in his office,
the threat of death looming before me, and I still almost saidyes.
When my phone dings with a notification, I startle.
GEORGIA: They were pushy and acted like I was a nuisance.They didn’t trust me to do my job. Basic patriarchal bullshit. Isthat what you mean?
“No,” I mutter aloud, my thumbs hovering over the keyboard.“It’s not.”
But I can’t exactly ask Georgia if Nikolai ever finger-bangedher in his office or tied her to a chair and whispered filthypromises in her ear. So I set my phone on the counter facedown and drop my face into my arms.
“You’re going to be a wreck today.”
I jump again and turn around to see Elise standing in herdoorway. She has a comforter pulled around her shoulders andher hair is mussed from sleep.
“Late, actually,” she says. “I haven’t gone to bed yet.”
“But the sun is coming up!”
“That’s the beauty of not working,” she says with a shrug.“But you have to work, and I know you got in late last night. Iheard you.”
Thank God she didn’t come out of her room to talk to me. Iwouldn’t have been able to explain the business casual icepack around my ankle.
“I had, uh, dinner with some people from the office,” I say,navigating carefully around the whole truth. “Then I realized Ileft my laptop at the office, and I had to go pick it up. It was awhole thing.”
Elise shuffles past me into the kitchen and gets a bottle ofwater out of the mini fridge. She slides it across the counter tome. “You should drink this. You look like shit.”
And that right there is Elise’s way of mending the brokenfence between us. She’s shown a modicum of care about my
physical being. She may as well have thrown her arms aroundme and wept into my shoulder.
“Thanks a million,” I drone. Though I do twist the cap off andtake a long drink. “What are you going to do today?”
“That’s it?” I ask. “Nikolai gave you access to a driver. Youcould drive around the city. Visit a museum or something.”
- Writer
