Chapter Thirteen

"UM, WOW." IT WAS THEmorning after Tahey"s first, er, sleepover at Dmitry"s apartment, and while having breakfast, her boss-turned-lover very casually asked her to move in with him. "Did you really just say—-"

"If you make me repeat myself," Dmitry said seriously, "then consider the offer rescind—-"

Tahey quickly cut him off, saying happily, "I would totally love to move in. Just say when—-"

"Tonight then."

Her eyes widened. "Did you—-"

Dmitry simply looked at her.

"What I mean is," Tahey hurriedly corrected herself, "tonight can"t come any sooner."

"I"ll get a moving company to take care of it right away," the billionaire told her, "so there"s nothing for you to worry about."

"Um..." Tahey couldn"t believe how hard it was not to ask Dmitry to repeat himself. Or if he was serious.

Dmitry frowned as he watched Tahey squirm in her seat in an effort to contain her silence. "Stop that."

"Stop what?"

He dealt her an impatient look. "Squirming." He supposed her incredulity was to be expected. He had gone from hating the sight of her to asking Tahey to move in with him in a figurative nanosecond. But if she were expecting him to take things slow, well...it was obvious she still had much to understand about him.

His first taste of Tahey had only made him hunger for more, and now that Dmitry had made up his mind to keep her as his lover, the billionaire saw no point in denying themselves of what they both wanted.

Which was...

Tahey, busy at that moment in trying her best not to squirm, could only let out a gasp when the billionaire suddenly scooped her off the seat...and place her on his lap.

"Um..."

Riiiiip.

Were those her—-

Cool air tickled her pussy.

Yup.

Those were her panties, and they were now—-

Ziiiiiip.

That sound.

She knew that sound now.

Her head jerked up, and golden eyes captured hers...just as she felt him lift her up—-

Aaaaaah.

His cock thrust up inside of her as he stood up, and Tahey could only whimper as she struggled to find some balance, her arms circling his neck and her legs locking around his waist while he started to walk.

"Dmitry..."

Fuck. He had been planning to take Tahey to his bedroom so he could make love to her properly, but with the sweet whimper of her voice catching him off guard, Dmitry could only go as far as the living room...wall.

Tahey clung to Dmitry"s massive shoulders as her back slid up against the wall at the force of his thrusts. God. She had thought, rather foolishly she knew now, that after making love a few times, sex would feel a little bit more familiar and a little less magical.

But she was wrong.

Dmitry still only had to look at her, and she would be on fire.

And when he touched her?

Fucked her?

"P-Please..."

She could only beg for more.

"Please."

And more.

"Oh God, please..."

And more.

"Don"t stop."

THE WEEKS THAT FOLLOWEDsaw Tahey falling harder for Dmitry. Having been used to daily doses of Dmitry"s indifference and contempt, it was pretty much mind-blowing for Tahey once Dmitry made the switch from boss to lover, and he turned out to be very tactile in staking his claim in her life.

There was not a day at work that they didn"t, well...fuck. His favorite place was in his leather chair, and she would be riding his cock while he had his business call. Other times, he"d have her bent over his desk, breasts flattened against the cold, glossy surface, and he was pumping into her from behind...all the while participating in a live MA negotiation via video conference.

Outside the office, she had thought he would be distant like he was before, but in this she was happily proven wrong as well. From business luncheons to dinner balls, she was always there by the billionaire"s side, his arm wrapped around her waist as he introduced Tahey to everyone as his girlfriend.

As for the other guys of Strakh Inc., Tahey had thought that Dmitry"s friends wouldn"t hesitate to seize the opportunity to rib him about her. But to her surprise, they had all taken their relationship in stride and simply welcomed her as their new "little" sister.

Everything was a little too good to be true, to be honest, and that was what scared her the most. She had thought her life with Thomas was perfect...until everything turned out to be a lie. And now...she just couldn"t help but think it was the past all over again, and everything that she was now enjoying with Dmitry...

Everythingwould turn out to be another lie, and if that happened—-

Tahey was scared that this time, she would never be able to piece herself back together again.

UNBEKNOWNST TO TAHEY, Dmitry himself had his own private misgivings about the two of them. While he had no qualms claiming her as his girlfriend in public, his own thoughts and feelings were another matter. That she was important to him, he had only just learned to accept. But to acknowledge once and for all that they had an actual relationship?

A part of him violently rebelled against the idea, and it was the part that had yet to get over Paige"s demise...and the role Tahey had unknowingly played in it. That part of him constantly mocked and jeered at him; it questioned his integrity and honor, demanding to know how Dmitry could face himself in the mirror, knowing that he was literally sleeping with the enemy.

When Tahey was around, this sick and angry part of him would be silenced, and the billionaire found himself experiencing the kind of life he had never known before. Tahey was pure joy. With the exception of her tears, there didn"t seem anything else she held back on. She gave her smiles freely and never appeared to run out of things to feel happy about. And her love...she hadn"t said the words again, but her doe eyes said them for her every time they were making love.

His Tahey was beautiful, inside and out, which was why it gutted him, knowing that a part of him would hate her...for the rest of his life.

THE DAY WHEN EVERYTHINGchanged didn"t come unannounced. It never really did for anyone. It was that niggling feeling at the back of your head, that voice inside of you whispering about a storm coming.

Both Dmitry and Tahey had such moments, but because everything was still new and neither had wanted to rock the boat they were in, the two made a decision not to speak of such moments to each other.

I"m just being paranoid like always, Tahey would tell herself every time worry and dread crept up on her, and life seemed a little too perfect.

As for the billionaire, the fact that he had begun to dream more and more often about Paige was something he simply dismissed as a coincidence. He had such phases before, and they typically disappeared on their own. There was no reason, no fucking reason why they would be different this time.

Another week passed. Tahey and Dmitry had been living together for a month now, and the two could no longer remember what their days were like before they had come into each other"s lives.

Tahey had gotten used to Dmitry waking her up and falling asleep in his arms, and in between those, he would have found a way to make her cum several times over. And in truth, it was the times when they were making love that were her favorite part of the day because those were also the only instances when the billionaire"s defenses were all down. In those moments, there was always a chance that she"d catch his lips curve, and oh, what those rare-as-unicorn flashes of his dimples would do to her.

Those dimples of his killed her every darn time, but no matter what she said or did, she just couldn"t make him smile or laugh when they weren"t making love.

Just give it up, the billionaire had advised her. I"m simply not the type.

But surely you weren"t always like this before?

It had taken him a while to answer, and when he finally did—-

I forgot how to smile when my sister died.

His words had broken her heart, and she had thrown herself in his arms after that, hugging him so tightly that she had managed to make the billionaire grunt in pain.

I"m sorry, Dmitry. I"m so sorry. I wish there"s something I could do to take your pain away.

She had tried to make him talk about his sister once. Just once, but the way his handsome face had abruptly shuttered so terrified her that she never brought it up again. She had tried asking Sasha about it instead, but when the younger Adrianov also proved to be a closed book, Tahey realized with sadness how much their half-sister"s death still haunted them.

And she wished, oh if only...if only there was a way she could help them with their grief, she would gladly do it.

Anything, God. I"d gladly do anything.

And she prayed this every day, never realizing until it was too late that what she was also praying for was her own ruin.

DMITRY HAD JUST RETURNEDto the office from another meeting when he found Tahey pale-faced and frozen in her desk. He went to her right away and saw that she had in her hand her iPhone, its screen revealing her call log. And the last person to call her—-

Thomas.

And in that instant, the billionaire felt his own face pale as well.

This was it, he realized dully.

His conscience had warned him that he would be punished for his betrayal, and while he had yet to know what that punishment was, Dmitry was certain - absolutely fucking certain - that the moment of his reckoning had finally come.

He forced himself to lift his gaze up to Tahey, and for once he was blind to her beauty. Blind to her kindness. And all he could see was the daughter of the man who had killed Paige.

He forced himself to speak and somehow managed to keep his voice expressionless as he asked, "What"s wrong?"

Tahey swallowed hard. "It"s Dad."

"He called you."

She nodded.

"He said something to upset you?"

"I don"t actually know how to feel yet."

Dmitry had an urge to give Tahey a violent shake and barely managed to control himself. He focused instead on holding on to his patience, knowing full well that losing his temper on Tahey would only make her less inclined to talk.

Pulling himself up, he crossed the room to take a bottle of whiskey out of the minibar. He poured a small amount into a shot glass and handed it to Tahey. "Drink."

Tahey wasn"t much into alcohol, but this time she willingly drank the whole thing, its vile taste more than compensated by the burning sensation that followed right after. It made her feel warm when she had been feeling icy cold, and gradually, she could feel her shock receding and her brain start functioning again.

She looked up, intending to thank Dmitry, but instead she heard herself say unevenly, "C-Can I talk about him?"

His clipped nod wasn"t the kind of response she would"ve expected, and at any other time, this might have hurt her and make Tahey wonder if something was wrong. But because she was still so lost in the past, Tahey was just relieved to have a chance to unburden herself.

"He was a good dad," Tahey whispered. "I know I keep saying that, and I know saying that probably makes things worse for...for those he...for those he k-killed, but I can"t make myself lie. He was a good dad to me. A g-great dad. He could"ve gone to pieces when my mom died of cancer, but he made himself strong for me. He worked hard for me, and I just wished I had known...if I had known the truth a little earlier, I might have made him stop."

"How did you find out?"

"I found his journals," Tahey answered painfully. "He was fanatical in keeping records, and one day I found his journals, and when I realized what I was reading, what he had willingly done...I wanted to die. I think a part of me did die that time because I already knew..." Childhood memories started coming back, and her voice faltered.

Oh God, no.

Please.

No.

But it was too late, and she remembered.

Thomas reading her bedtime stories, Thomas working hard at his desk but never too busy to answer her timid knocks on his study door, Thomas sweating blood and tears in the kitchen because he always wanted to be the one to bake her birthday cake...

"He was a good dad," she choked out. "I can"t pretend he isn"t, Dmitry. I just can"t, even though I know he w-wasn"t a g-good man."

A good man would not have periodically flown to an ISIS state to deal with human traffickers.

A good man would not have paid thousands of dollars just so he could have warm bodies to experiment on.

A good man would"ve known - there was just no way that a good man would not have known the most noble of pursuits had its limits.

But because Thomas had not been a good man...

He hadn"t cared about the consequences, hadn"t cared about the lives he would damn with death if it meant he would be a step closer to finding the cure to the disease that killed the woman he loved.

And yet...

"He called to tell me that he"ll soon be free," Tahey whispered. "Some kind of technicality, and it"s going to let him walk away a free man." She saw Dmitry take a step back at her words but didn"t have the energy to comprehend why this was. Pain was still tearing her apart, and it made her blind to everything but her own conflicting emotions about Thomas.

"He told me that even though I b-betrayed him, t-turned him in when I gave the police his journals, he said he s-still l-loves me. That I"d a-always be his most p-precious girl..."

And God help her, even knowing what Thomas had done...

"A part of me still loves him back," Tahey said brokenly. "I tried everything to stop myself from loving him, but I just can"t. I just can"t." And even though she knew it was her problem - her problem alone, and one nobody else would be able to solve but her, Tahey couldn"t help wanting...

Couldn"t help waiting...

Just couldn"t help hoping that Dmitry would tell her everything would be alright.

Because Dmitry never lied, and so if he told her that, surely it would be so.

And so she waited.

And waited.

But when no words came, she slowly lifted her head, and it was only then Tahey realized...

He was gone.

He had left her.

Again.

She jerked to her feet, confusion and hurt warring inside of her. Where had he gone? Why had he left? Didn"t he know - how could he possibly not know...

Tahey heard footsteps, and she swung around, hope flaring inside of her heart. Maybe it was just like before, she thought feverishly, and she was overreacting.

But it wasn"t like before.

And she was not overreacting.

Because the man in front of her was not Dmitry.

It was security, and he had been asked by Mr. Adrianov to inform Tahey that her services were no longer required. She was terminated from her job, effective immediately, and she was to clear the premises within an hour.