46. Mikhail

I have the entire drive across the city to think about what I'm going to say to Viviana and Anatoly, but the moment I see her waiting for me in the kitchen, my mind goes blank except for one word.

Mine.

"Hey there." She smiles, a question in the pinch of her brows. A question she doesn't have time to ask before I've sliced my way across the kitchen and thrown her on the countertop.

Her smile falters. "What are you?—"

I crush my mouth to hers. She yelps in surprise, but the sound is lost in our kiss. I swirl my tongue into her mouth like I'm searching for an explanation there. Like I'll find the answers I want at the back of her throat.

She whimpers and strokes her fingers gently through my hair the way someone might try to soothe a wild stallion. Not her worst choice, but there's no soothing me right now.

I hook my fingers under the band of her jeans. She barely has time to raise her hips before I'm shucking them off her legs and onto the floor.

Her eyes go wide. "Mikhail, the house isn't empty."

I pull her shirt over her head and toss it over my shoulder.

I know exactly who"s here. I texted Anatoly on my drive home to keep Dante busy and then stand by. I'm not sure what it means that he followed my orders. Is he watching us now?

I rip her panties with one sharp tug and work my middle finger into her. She's wet and my cock twitches when she tightens around my finger. I stroke into her and her lips part on an exhale. Her eyes flutter closed.

Not everything is a lie, then. This is real.

She hugs herself to me, her breath heavy and warm against my neck. "S-someone could see us."

I pull back and look into her eyes. The green is nearly eaten away by black desire. "I want to fuck a baby into you."

This is her chance. Her opportunity to confess everything. I'm offering Viviana a second chance I wouldn't give to anyone else. Tell me the truth.

But Viviana scrapes her nails through my hair and nods. "Please, Mikhail."

Fine. So the truth wasn't in her mouth; maybe it's in her pussy.

I free my aching cock and drive every inch of myself into her.

She is mine.It's a bone-deep echo that vibrates under my skin. Every inch of this woman belongs to me. The way her back bows as I fill her. The way her mouth falls open in a silent scream. Everything from her head to her curled toes to the way she squeezes my cock from the inside belongs to me.

So I slide out of her completely and then claim her again.

She bucks her hips against me, taking and taking and taking. I grit my teeth and barrel into her. Our bodies slap together until my skin stings from the contact.

It still isn't hard enough.

Rage still simmers under my skin, an itch I can't scratch.

"Oh God, Mikhail." Viviana loops her hands around my neck and relaxes back, surrendering her body to me. Her breasts shake with every thrust.

They're bigger, I realize. The change is subtle, but it's there. She's pregnant and her breasts are swollen and she didn't fucking tell me.

Mine.

The word must slip out between my clenched teeth because Viviana writhes against my body. "Yours," she pants. "I'm all yours, Mikhail."

The lie falls from her lips so easily. How many more have there been? How long has she been lying to me?

I wrap my fingers around her throat to quiet her. The next time she utters a word, I want it to be the truth.

Her eyes flare wide for a second. Then she smiles. She arches a brow in a dark challenge.

I don't need encouragement. I tighten my hold, digging my fingers in harder with every thrust.

Red creeps up her face and the sick beast inside of me takes notice. She's under my control. On my cock.

She's mine.

I want to clamp my hand around her neck as much as I want to kiss away the welts my fingers are leaving. I want to fuck Viviana and take care of her and destroy her until she's in tiny pieces that only I can put back together.

She tries to press her chest to mine, but I push her away from me until her back is flat on the counter and every inch of her is bared to me. I look down and watch the way she takes me. The easy way I disappear inside of her. We fit together perfectly.

I squeeze her throat harder and her back arches, straining for air. Her fingers wrap around my wrist, and I think she's going to pull me away so she can breathe. Instead, she pulls me tighter. Viviana looks into my eyes and presses her neck more firmly against my palm.

And I erupt.

The orgasm hits me sideways and I have to release her throat so I don't fall over. She gasps for air and I brace myself on either side of her body.

"I'm coming," she moans. But it's a waste of breath—I already know.

I feel her, pulling and clenching. Black creeps into the edges of my vision as she drags the tail end of my orgasm out of me.

She melts against the counter, arms spread, legs limp. Her body shakes with a soft laugh. "Holy shit, Mikhail. What was that?—"

"Are you fucking Anatoly?" I snarl.

I'm still inside of her. She's still pulsing softly around me. But I can't hold it in for another second.

She goes perfectly still except for the expression on her face, which morphs from shock to confusion to anger in a second. "What are you talking about?"

I slide out of her and zip my pants. She scrambles to cover herself, but her clothes are on the floor and she's still perched on the edge of the countertop. I like that she's naked.

It means there's nowhere to hide.

"Don't fucking lie to me," I growl. "Raoul saw the two of you walk into a clinic together this morning."

Her mouth falls open in shock, but nothing comes out. She just blinks at me.

"I hear congratulations are in order."

"Mikhail…" she says softly.

"I've been trying to figure out why you wouldn't tell me and the only thing I can come up with is that it isn't mine. Because if this was my baby," I say, laying my hand over her stomach, "you would have told me when I had you bent over my desk."

She reaches for my hand, but I jerk away. I pace across the kitchen floor, putting some distance between us before I turn into an animal and fuck her again.

"You would have told me when I was fucking you from behind, waxing poetic like a goddamn fool about how much I wanted to see you carrying my baby."

"Mikhail." She slides off the counter, her bare feet slapping against the tile. I wonder if she's cold before I remember I shouldn't care.

"If that was my baby," I continue, "you would have told me when I stood here five fucking minutes ago and told you I wanted to fuck a baby into you."

She seems to wilt when she realizes she missed her chance to come clean. "This isn't how I wanted to tell you. I wanted to?—"

"You wanted to keep it a secret until you could come up with a cover story?" I finish for her. "Or was this some kink of yours? You've been with two of the three brothers, so it was well past time to bag the last?"

The words are barely out of my mouth when Viviana swings at me. I snatch her wrist out of the air and she quickly comes at me with the other one.

"You asshole!" She tries to kick me and I pin her ankle between my thighs. She hobbles on one leg, naked and furious. "Let me go!"

"You're going to hurt yourself if you don't calm down."

"You can't say something like that and then tell me to calm down!" she cries out. "If you really think so little of me that you think I'd sleep with your brother, then you shouldn't care if I get hurt. So, let me go!"

I let her ankle drop, but just as she gets both feet under her, I spin her around and crush her to my chest. She wriggles her naked body against me, grumbling and fighting. "Let me go!"

"Why?" I spit, holding her tighter.

"So I can kick your smug, stubborn ass!"

"No." My voice is low, the words whispered against the back of her ear. "Why didn't you tell me?"

All at once, Viviana softens. She sinks against me, the fight suddenly gone. "I was going to, Mikhail. I was… waiting."

Her body is warm and liquid in my arms. I was just inside of her, but I want it again. My cock twitches and I let her go. "Waiting for what? You had two positive tests! Were you going to wait until you had the baby just to be extra sure?"

"I didn't want to get your hopes up again." She snatches her jeans off the floor and pulls them on. The insides of her thighs are a mess and it satisfies some twisted part of me.

"I'm a grown man, Viviana. My hopes are fine."

"I didn't want to get my hopes up, either."

"Who the fuck cares about Anatoly's hopes, right? Makes perfect sense that you'd tell him before you'd tell your husband."

She marches over to where her shirt is draped across the coffee pot and pulls it on. When she turns to face me, some of that fire is back. "You've made it impossible for me to leave this house on my own. I had to take someone with me to the clinic and since Anatoly is my friend—" She places special emphasis on the word. "—I asked him to go with me. He was pestering me to tell you from the moment we left the clinic."

"He was right. You should have told me."

Heshould have told me. And he's going to have hell to pay for keeping it from me.

"Don't be mad at him. I begged him not to tell you. I was just waiting for the blood test to confirm things. It's more reliable. And since I had the false positive before, I didn't want to—" She stops, her mouth turning down in a frown. "Wait… You said—Two positive tests? I only took one. I was waiting for the results for the other test."

"Raoul threatened the doctor and saw your chart. Both tests were positive."

She stares at me with wide eyes. I can practically see the news sinking in.

She's pregnant.

She's pregnant.

This isn't an accident or a surprise. We decided to start a family. Viviana and I made the choice to grow our family and now… it's here.

We're having a baby.

And suddenly, nothing else matters.

Viviana's full lips twist into a dazed smile. She blinks back tears. "Mikhail?—"

A knock at the front door interrupts her.

I was going to wait until later to ream Anatoly for lying to me, but now is as good a time as ever. Luckily for him, I'm in a surprisingly good mood.

I walk past Viviana to the door and yank it open.

But it isn't Anatoly standing on the porch.

"Mikhail Novikov, I am a federal agent," A bald man holding an FBI badge advances on me as his colleagues stand behind him, guns pointed at my chest. "And you are under arrest."

"Mikhail?" Viviana tears around the corner. Her hair is a mess from my hands and her neck is red. At least she's wearing clothes. "What's going on? What's happening?"

I don't have the luxury of time to explain everything. So I say the only things that matter.

"I love you. Get Nat."