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22. Mikhail

22

MIKHAIL

Less than twenty-four hours after visiting Katya Petrova, I receive a call from an unknown number, and I can't help but wonder if she's changed her mind after all.

I sit across from Anton in the Russian Tea Rooms, staring at the screen as it rings.

Anton takes a sip of his drink. "Fucking answer it."

I down the rest of my drink before sliding my thumb across the screen and put the phone on speaker.

"Hello?"

"Is this Mikhail?" a female voice asks. "Mikhail Koslov?"

"Who's calling?" I ask even though I recognize the slight tremble in her voice.

"I-it's Katya."

Anton curses under his breath, and I shoot him a warning glare.

"What can I do for you, Katya?" I keep my tone light.

"I-I'm willing to t-talk."

Even over the phone she seems nothing short of terrified by the prospect of speaking to me, and it only makes me more anxious to find out what information she's been keeping all this time.

"I appreciate that."

"But…" She pauses, and I glance at Anton who looks just as wary. "It needs to be said in p-person."

I get up and take my wallet out. "I can be at your place in thirty minutes."

Katya hangs up the phone without another word, and I stare at the screen for a second.

I frown as I throw some money on the table. "Why has she suddenly changed her mind?"

"I don't know, but we should get a move on before she decides to change it again."

The entire drive back over to Cobble Hill, I fight the urge to call Alexei. Part of me can't seem to shake the feeling that he would be better suited to talk to Katya. I lack his level of charisma that puts people at ease and makes them much more willing to talk.

We might only have one chance to talk with her, and I don't want to mess it up.

As I pull up outside Katya's house, a chill runs through my body, and I wonder if that chance has been and gone. "Something's wrong."

Anton frowns. "What makes you say that?"

"The door's open. And she doesn't strike me as the sort of person who is chill when it comes to her security." I reach into the center console of the car and pull out a handgun.

"Well, this just got interesting." Anton pulls a gun out of his inside holster and climbs out of the car.

We're both silent as we hurry across the lawn, our guns ready as we silently climb the porch steps .

I turn to Anton and put my finger to my lips before slowly pushing open the front door.

The place has been completely ransacked. Every piece of furniture has been turned over or smashed, and there's a trail of blood that leads from the middle of the foyer all the way to the kitchen.

I put my arm out to halt Anton, not wanting to go any further.

The house is eerily quiet, but that doesn't mean that it's empty. I lift my gun, my finger hovering over the trigger as I take a steadying breath, bracing myself for an ambush the moment I make my presence known.

"Katya?"

Silence.

"Katya, are you there?" I yell louder, but I'm still only met with silence.

Tightening my hold on my gun, I stalk across the foyer, avoiding the pool of blood on the floor, and peer into the kitchen.

"Fuck."

Katya's lifeless body is sprawled on the tiled floor. Her blue eyes are wide open, her face frozen in terror as blood oozes out. The back of her skull has almost completely caved in, and both of her shoulders and hips seem to be dislocated by the odd way her limbs are facing.

I crouch down beside her and press two fingers to her neck.

"She's still warm." I glance over my shoulder at Anton who's cringing at her butchered body. "Seems whoever did this got started the moment she hung up the phone."

Anton looks around. "No way this was just a burglary."

"This has Igor written all over it." I get to my feet, careful not to get any blood on my clothes. The last thing I need is for Alexei to be asking questions when I arrive back at the house.

"Whatever she knew, he clearly doesn't want you finding out."

"You've got that right."

I've been responsible for dozens of deaths and never once have I felt anything close to guilt. The feeling is foreign to me and one that sits heavy on my chest as I drive back to Forest Hills after dropping Anton off in the city.

It's too much of a coincidence that I arrive on her doorstep demanding answers about my half-brother only for her to turn up dead hours later.

This was a warning, and I have a feeling it's only going to get worse.

My head feels full as I enter the house, and I want nothing more than to drink myself into oblivion to distract myself from the colossal fuck up that I just made.

"Mikhail?"

Or I could distract myself in an entirely different way.

I follow the sound of Lucia's voice into the living room and find her sprawled over the couch with her legs draped over the back cushions and her long hair fanned out behind her. She's wearing that short little skirt that drives me crazy, showing off her delicious thighs that I can't wait to have wrapped around me.

"Hey." Her voice rasps as if she's barely spoken all day.

The sound goes straight to my cock, and I'm crossing the room in an instant. I crouch down beside her and let my hand trail up her exposed thigh, watching as the skin pebbles beneath my touch.

"Is everything okay?" Her eyebrows pull together.

"It's been a shit day."

She responds by shifting her body so that her thighs are on either side of me, as well as wrapping her arms around my neck.

"I can help make it better if you like," she murmurs as she gently caresses the back of my neck.

It takes me barely a second to haul her into my arms.

"Mikhail!"

"I don't want to talk." I crash my lips against hers.

She melts into my touch, wrapping her thighs around my waist as I sink my fingers into the soft flesh of her ass.

"That's fine with me."

We barely come up for air as I carry her to our room and lock the door. We both tear at each other's clothes, and I waste no time in getting her on her back and position myself between her thighs.

"Mikhail…"

Her moaning my name makes me harder as I slowly sink my cock inside her tight heat.

"I know, solnyshka ," I groan as I bury my face in her neck.

She feels incredible, and I just want to close my eyes and stay lost in her light and heat until the real sun comes up.

We both moan as I slowly slide out and gently thrust back into her.

Lucia's mouth falls open in a silent cry of pleasure as she clenches around me.

It seems taking it slow is getting Lucia even more worked up than usual because she is so slick between her thighs it's making my spine start to tingle, and I've barely gotten started.

"Fuck, you feel incredible," I groan.

I bend down to take one of her nipples in my mouth, slowly circling the hard bud with my tongue .

Lucia arches into my touch, her fingers sinking into my hair as I explore her breasts.

"You fill me so well, Mikhail."

"And you take me so well."

I roll us over so that I'm on my back, and Lucia presses herself against me as she slowly rocks her hips. There's no sense of urgency to her movements, as if we have all the time in the world to explore each other's bodies.

It feels more intimate than any other time we've had sex, and I just want to lose myself in the feeling of her.

"Sit up for me, solnyshka ." I stroke her hair back from her face. "I want to watch you."

Lucia whimpers but pushes herself up so that I can enjoy her slowly grind on my cock.

Her full breasts bounce with the movement, and I can't stop myself from reaching up and squeezing the soft flesh.

"So fucking beautiful," I growl as I rub my thumbs over her sensitive nipples.

"Mikhail," She rests her hands over mine as I work her breasts. "You feel amazing."

Her head falls back as her eyes flutter closed.

"Take as much time as you need, kisa . I'm all yours."

She offers me a lazy smile, her cheeks flushing as she rocks her hips.

I give her breasts one last squeeze before reaching between her legs and start rubbing slow circles on her clit.

"More."

"So needy." I chuckle.

She lets out a whimper of frustration as she braces her hands on my chest to help keep her steady.

"It'll be worth the wait, I promise."

She scowls, but it soon turns into a look of pure ecstasy as I start to thrust my hips up .

"Oh god!"

Her pussy becomes even slicker as she chases her release, and I start rubbing her clit faster.

"Come on, solnyshka , that's it."

Her movements become more frantic.

I thrust my hips up, driving myself deeper inside her to help bring her over the edge.

"Yes!"

Her body shudders as her pussy starts to pulse, and she collapses on top of me.

I don't wait for her to come down from her pleasure peak before I flip us over and pound into her so hard that one orgasm turns into another.

She's so wet and tight that it doesn't take much more before I'm spilling inside her.

"Fuck."

She clings to me as I collapse on top of her, her fingers tracing circles on my back as I try to catch my breath.

"Mikhail?" she whispers in my ear after a few minutes. "I need to tell you something."

I instantly tense at her words. I lift myself up onto my forearms so I can look at her, but from the way she's refusing to meet my eyes, I have a feeling I'm not going to like what's about to come out of her mouth.

And it's probably not a good idea that I'm still balls deep inside her when she tells me.

I reluctantly slide my cock out of her and shift onto my side.

"What is it, Lucia?" I do my best to sound calm.

She shifts so that she's sitting beside me crossed-legged and wraps the sheet around her body. Her cheeks flooding with color as she turns to face me.

"I…" She runs her hands through her hair as she takes a deep breath.

With each second that passes, a weight presses harder down on my chest.

What the hell is this about?

"I'm falling for you, Mikhail. And that scares the fuck out of me."

She's falling for me?

"And now I've freaked you out," she groans, burying her face in her hands.

I reach for her wrists and slowly lower her hands.

In truth, I might have been freaked out by her honesty a few weeks ago. Having her fall for me was the last thing I wanted, especially when I needed her to call off this wedding.

But so many things have changed between us since then, and I find myself feeling nothing but happiness at her words.

"It takes a lot more than that to freak me out, solnyshka ."

"Is that meant to be comforting?"

"Yes." I rub my thumbs over her wrists. "And I want you to know that I'm falling for you too."

"Really?" Her eyes shimmer as she looks into mine.

I release her wrists so I can cup her face. "Really."

I bend down, capturing her mouth with my own.

Her lips instantly part for me, and I take my time stroking my tongue against hers.

By the time I pull away, she's breathless and flushed, but her eyes are lowered.

"Lucia?" I have a feeling that wasn't the only thing she wanted to tell me .

"There's something else I've wanted to tell you for a while now, but I could never find the courage to."

"Whatever it is, you can tell me." I squeeze her hand.

She nods, biting her lower lip.

"When I was fifteen, I was kidnapped by one of my father's enemies."

I bite back a curse as her words sink in.

"They held me captive for days, beat me up and threatened to rape and torture me if I didn't cooperate."

"Did they?" I demand. "Because I'll fucking kill them?—"

She reaches out to cup my face. "There were only a few cuts and bruises."

"Lucia," I rasp, my body vibrating with rage.

She shakes her head. "The emotional torture was the worst. It took me a long time to get over it, but eventually I did."

"Just because you got over it doesn't make it okay."

"No, but I learned to defend myself because of that attack. I made a promise to myself that I would never let someone have that sort of power over me. It's part of the reason why I hate being told what to do." She looks at me sheepishly. "I hate feeling out of control."

She takes my hand and entwines her fingers with mine, holding them against her heart as she talks.

I shift my body closer so that we're both sitting cross-legged with our knees touching. I want nothing more than to pull her into my arms, but I can tell she wants to have some space while she speaks, so for now I'll make do with a few comforting touches to show her that I'm here.

"I'm so sorry that happened." I rub my thumb over her cheek.

She leans into my touch, her brown eyes filled with such sadness as she gazes up at me. "That's why you were able to fight off those two guys in the park…"

"Yeah. I think the park attack triggered some sort of PTSD."

"In what way?"

"I used to have pretty bad nightmares, but I hadn't had them in a while. I thought they were under control, but then the attack happened in the park and…" Her voice cracks, and she looks away, her throat bobbing.

My chest tightens as her eyes well with tears.

"That's why I kept sneaking out. I just couldn't bear being locked up again?—"

This time, I can't hold back from pulling her into my lap. I wrap my arms around her body as she sobs quietly against my chest.

"I'm so sorry." I kiss the top of her head. "I'm sorry that I made this worse for you. If I had known…"

I grind my teeth. I'm a complete bastard for contributing to her pain.

"I should have told you the truth."

"Why didn't you?"

"I didn't want you to see me as weak."

I pull back and lift her chin so that she has no choice but to look at me.

"Lucia, you are anything but weak. You're quite possibly the strongest woman I know."

"Really?" She sniffs, wiping her cheeks on the back of her hand.

"Really." I dip my head to press a kiss to her lips. "Now, is there anything else I need to know? Because I don't want there to be any more secrets between us."

"Other than the fact that I'm an insecure basket case most of the time? "

I pinch her waist, and she squirms.

"Lucia."

"Urgh, you really do want the deep stuff, don't you?"

"Tell me whatever it is that you're worrying about, because I can see it on your face." She sticks out her bottom lip, and I bend down to nip at it with my teeth, causing her to squirm even more.

"I'm worried that the real me isn't enough," she mumbles before burying her face in my chest.

I stroke her hair. "Trust me, kisa , when you're being yourself, you are more than enough."

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