Chapter 35

CHAPTER 35

VAR

V iolent men do violent things.

My life was soaked in violence.

It was how I solved problems.

And right now, Vivian was a problem.

Twisting my fist into the flimsy fabric of her hospital gown, I tore it off her.

Before she could move, I cupped her pussy. "Let me explain so you will understand."

My middle two fingers moved between her lips as I teased her clit with my thumb.

She inhaled sharply as her hips rose.

With a shift of my hips, I placed my right knee against her inner thigh, pinning her legs open.

"You have direct knowledge about three murders my syndicate covered up."

I pushed a single finger inside her tight pussy.

Her eyes widened as she vigorously shook her head. "That was just a stupid threat. I would never, ever go to the police about what I know. You have to believe me, Var."

My head tilted to the side as I studied her through hooded eyes. "I believe you, beautiful."

Her body visibly relaxed.

"But that doesn't mean the other men in my organization will."

Her limbs stiffened.

I continued. "Which makes you a liability. If I were honest, they were less than thrilled to learn you hadn't taken me up on my offer to leave the country."

Her lower lip trembled. "I'll leave now. The moment they discharge me, I'll get on an airplane like you asked. You'll never see me again."

"Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. It's far too late for that, baby girl."

I pushed a second finger into her. "Then there are the various mafia syndicates who are actively searching for you." My two fingers thrust in and out of her tight passage. "There are the Chinese. The mystery other Russian outfit. The Syrians. The Italians. The Irish. The list goes on. You've made a great deal of very dangerous people very angry."

I added a third finger.

She whimpered and squirmed under my grasp.

My hand twisted in a circle. "You know what happens to you if they learn your identity?"

A tear escaped from the corner of her eye. "Please. Stop."

I forced a fourth finger inside of her.

She yelped as her body bucked.

Breaking one hand free of my grasp, she wrapped her slim fingers around my wrist in a futile attempt to dislodge my hand.

"Pretty pleading with those gorgeous green eyes won't work with them. You are not a person, you're a commodity."

Even less than that.

Fuck, I hated this. I hated doing this to her. Scaring her. But she needed to understand. There was no blissfully going back to her old life. She was in my world now, and in my world was where she would stay. And there was no surviving in my world without my protection.

At least, that was what I needed her to believe.

It was not like it wasn't the truth. It just wasn't the whole truth.

The whole truth was that there wasn't a power on this earth who was going to rip her from my arms. If she had died tonight, I was absolutely certain I would have traveled to hell to tear her from Hades' greedy grasp with my bare hands.

There was a vivacious energy emanating from her that had become like manna to my soul. Even the possibility of not having her in my life was untenable. I didn't give a fucking damn that I had known her for only a few days. A person only needed to glance at the sun for a moment to appreciate its light and warmth. Or only needed one look at a glowing moon at midnight to cherish its serene beauty and mystery.

Vivian was the type of woman a man never forgot or fully got over.

Like her perfume after she left a room, the impression of her lingered on a man's soul.

As if her inner fire and passion had branded them.

I was sure there were men from her past, old high school boyfriends, who still secretly wondered what if …

What if they hadn't fucked up?

What if they had been the man she needed at the time?

What if they hadn't been selfish and immature?

What if she was still in their life?

I'd gotten a glimpse of a darker what if tonight…

What if I hadn't gotten there in time?

What if she had died?

What if one of the syndicates had learned of her identity and gotten their hands on her?

What if I wasn't able to find her in time before they tortured her mind and body beyond repair?

What if…

Today, I'd taken for granted she would willingly submit to my control.

I'd taken my hands off the reins for just a moment, and almost lost her.

Fuck that.

The chains were going on.

I would make her my wife and announce to the entire dark underworld that she was now not only under my protection, but that of the entire Russian Mafia syndicate.

My plan was to all but tattoo Touch her and die across her forehead as a warning to any and all males in the vicinity.

I twisted my hand again as I applied steady pressure. My hand slipped deeper inside, painfully stretching her.

She cried out again. "Stop. It hurts."

"I bet it does. These men will not just want you for your forgery skills. They will have other… uses … for such a gorgeous woman such as you."

Vivian squeezed her eyes shut and turned her head. "Stop it. You're scaring me."

I curled my fingers slightly inside of her, coming close to making a fist. "Look at me. Now."

When she didn't immediately obey, I curled them further.

Her back arched as her fingernails dug into my wrist, but her eyes met mine.

"You should be scared. They will leave you chained to a wall in a basement with nothing but a dirty blanket on a filthy floor. You will be expected to repay them both in art and with your body."

I twisted my hand again, flattening it and thrusting in further, until the tip of my thumb pushed against her narrow entrance.

Vivian's mouth opened on a silent scream.

"You're a smart girl. Do you understand that the first rule of the game is there are no rules?"

Tears streamed down her cheeks. "Please, it hurts."

I leaned forward and kissed her forehead as my hard cock pushed against her thigh. "I know, baby."

It was taking all my limited self-control not to plow my hard cock into her pinned body to really make my point, but now was not the time.

For now, it was more important that she understood the very real danger she was in… and not just from me.

"So now tell me. Do you understand now that the first rule in my world is that there are no rules? Or do I have to shove my full fist inside of you to make my point?"

Vivian sniffed. "No! Please. I understand."

"Good girl."

I gently pulled my hand out of her pussy. Leaning down, I kissed her nipple, before murmuring against her skin as I ran my tongue along the luscious curve of her breast. "I'm the only one who can protect you."

I shifted in the bed to kiss her stomach. Then lower, rewarding her for the pain she'd endured.

My hands pried her thighs open as my tongue flicked over her clit. Her body's resistance to my touch melted. Her responsiveness was one of the things I adored about her.

No matter how pissed she was at me… her body didn't give a damn.

As she cried out with her release, I rose up on my knees and lowered the zipper to my jeans. With my fist wrapped around my cock, I pumped my shaft as I straddled her hips. "Open your mouth."

Her hands went to my thighs as she leaned her head back and opened her lips.

My balls tightened at the sight. As the pressure along my shaft increased, I squeezed my hand tighter. "Are you going to be my good girl and swallow?"

Her gaze narrowed as her body tensed.

I knew she both craved and hated my filthy, domineering mouth in the bedroom.

Leaning forward, I braced a palm next to her head as I tilted my hips forward. "Tell me now, beautiful, before I shove it so far down your throat, you choke."

She licked her lips even as her fingernails dug into my denim-covered thighs. "Yes."

I raised an eyebrow. "Yes, what?" I asked, taunting her further.

"Yes, I'll swallow."

Fuck.

I came.

There was nothing hotter than a strong woman submitting.

I shot my come over her lips and tongue. "Lick those lips."

The tip of her pink tongue swept out over her lips.

With waves of dark pleasure still running over my shaft and balls and up my spine, I growled, "Now swallow."

She obeyed.

"That's my girl," I said with a wink.

Pushing my cock back inside my jeans, I crawled off the bed and headed to the private bathroom attached to the hospital room I'd secured for her. Soaking a washcloth in warm water, I returned to the bed just as she was covering herself.

"Not just yet. Lie back."

I slowly rubbed the washcloth over her stomach and breasts before smoothing it over her shoulder and down her arm. The very moment those blood tests confirmed her kidneys and liver were fine, I was taking her home and giving her a proper bath. Perhaps in the Jacuzzi she'd clearly enjoyed earlier today.

The wet washcloth made her skin glisten with moisture as I ran it over her arms and legs and back over her belly. I then dried her off so she wouldn't get a chill.

Returning to the bed, I lifted the oxygen tube.

Vivian frowned. "The doctor said I didn't need it anymore."

"Indulge me." My fingers caressed the shell of her ear as I gently secured the oxygen line behind each ear and then allowed her to place it just below her nose.

Turning off the light, I shed my clothes and slipped into the narrow bed behind her.

Vivian had curled up on her side like last night.

And just like last night, I wrapped my arm around her middle and pulled her close.

Her fingers ran over my forearm, swirling the tips in my arm hair. "You didn't really mean it about forcing me to marry you, did you? You just said that to scare me into being more careful about my safety, right?"

Leave it to my stubborn girl to immediately default to the solution she wanted to hear instead of reality the moment the threat had passed. Her selective memory was the very reason I had to take this step.

At least the most convenient reason.

The other was that I wanted her as my wife. Pure and simple.

And what I wanted, I got… even if I had to take it by force.

I tightened my arm around her as I rasped against her neck, "Go to sleep, krasivaya . You'll want to be rested for your wedding day tomorrow."