24. Inessa

Gentle Vlad disappears as soon as the words leave me. He curls his hand around my nape and his entire body hardens. The restraint is shown in his muscles as he pulls my head away from his chest and his jaw tics from how hard he's clenching it shut. He doesn't say anything and looks towards the crib where Verena is asleep with her arms in the air as though she's celebrating some achievement. Some of the anger leaves him until he looks back to me and it's back in full force.

His fingers dig into my skin as he drags me out of the room by the scruff of my neck. It's not painful and he pulses his hand, turning what should be a brutal hold into a massage. Once we're away from the bedroom and at the other end of the hall, he tilts my head up and asks, "Where are you going?"

The controlled rage isn't comforting, and I straighten my shoulders.

He looks ridiculous with a towel wrapped low on his hips, water dripping from his hair and nothing but anger tensing his muscles. Handsome asshole. Why can't he be ugly and a total prick? Instead, Vlad has the softest, most genuinely amazing center. Describing it as beautiful would be an injustice, but his neurotic personality dims it all and corrupts the beautiful insides.

I ignore the tender tissue as I cross my arms over my chest and plug false confidence into my answer.

"I bought a house."

It comes out weak, like I'm lying. I can't spend another night spying on him, sneaking around like a thief, or I'll lose my mind. He just lies on the floor between the bed and the crib, not moving or saying anything like a fucking rug. The first night, I thought he was drunk again but he's come back every time and there's never been an instance where he's accompanied by the smell of alcohol.He must shower beforehand to scrub any scent off him because there's nothing lingering in the air in the morning. The idiot thinks I don't know when I hear everything he says to Verena, he tells her to be strong. Not strong like him, or because she has his name and it would weaken him, strong like me. All the while he adds the caveat that he can't be in her life.

"You bought a house?" he repeats with a scoff and curls his fingers around my neck, so he's gripping my throat. "You were going to leave and not even fucking tell me?!"

The hypocritical bastard has the audacity to pretend to be hurt after he's done the same thing to me countless fucking times.

Bitterness coats my voice and I dig my nails into my biceps to stop from physically striking him.

"Would you prefer I fucked you first like you did?"I fire back.

That rage morphs into something worse, weighing down his features and he slams his rough, calloused hand over my mouth. The other cups the back of my head as though there are two people living inside of him, battling for control. He walks me backwards, further away from the bedroom, until my back hits the wall beside the elevator. His mouth opens, spitting out the same warning as always. "Watch your mouth."

This is the most lifelike he's been, and I push against his chest, wanting him to stay. To argue and lose control of his tongue.

His hold on my lips loosens and disgust coats my voice.

"You want me to dress up what you did, so it's all fucking pretty? You left me, not just that night, but for months. While my daughter was growing, you were nowhere to be fucking found." Morphing into hurt, I keep pushing against him but he's a stupid, muscular fucking wall. "You couldn't even let me know you were alive. But you managed to find time for everyone else."

Pushing harder when he opens his mouth to shut me up, I speak over whatever bullshit excuse he has.

"I told you I would give you everything you gave me."

My body deflates, knowing it's useless arguing when he's only reacting because of his control-freak tendencies. He grabs my wrist as I try to step around him, and I can't pull it free in time. I don't react with a fight as I calmly go to peel his fingers off. He counteracts it and twists my arms behind my back and pushes his body into mine. My anger, hurt, and disappointment slow me down from being able to react in time. Then his lips are on mine.

They're soft and pleading while I fight back. He's a fake fuck. Always fucking calculating and manipulating everyone around him. Whispering into my mouth, he gives me two words.

"Don't go."

I pull my head back and try to use it as a weapon and hit him in his stupid fucking mouth. Maybe if he feels pain, he can learn how to use it correctly. I've told him what I need to stay, there's been opportunity after opportunity, but he refused.I needed his tongue to move and give me the truth, not be thrust into my mouth, and show that I'm fickle and still fucking melting beneath him.

He leans away from my head and straightens. My forehead collides with his chest, his muscles dulling the impact as he holds my wrists in one hand. He threads his fingers through my hair, keeping me in place. The asshole smirks down at my glare.

"You're going to hurt yourself."

He's taken all of my weapons from me and I'm immature as fuck, stamping on his foot. He obviously doesn't feel pain, he's like a blackhole, a void, absorbing everything around him because he's not even human. He's human adjacent, playing pretend in a beautiful skinsuit that entices people closer only to devour them whole.

My voice raises but it doesn't reach a shout.

"Why the fuck do you care?! All you have ever done is hurt me."

He gets bigger, stepping into my body and arguing back, "And now I'm trying to keep you fucking safe. What do you think is going to happen when you leave? Last time, you told the guards to go home. Do you think you're fucking invincible?!"

He's blaming me. I deflate as the accusation sticks to my skin, and my voice comes out small.

"It wasn't my fault."

It's a lie, we both know it is. Verena was still growing inside of me, and I couldn't do anything to protect her. I couldn't fight Len off, I couldn't control the bleeding, I couldn't do the one job I had. My wrists fall limply to my sides and warm hands cup my face. Icy eyes invade my vision as Vlad lines them up with mine. There's sincerity in his voice and staring into me.

"You're right, meelaya. It wasn't your fault. You are mine, so it is my responsibility to protect you."

"Fuck you. I told you I refuse to be your mistress. That includes the woman haunting you."

His thumbs begin tapping against my cheeks beside my nose and he bites out, "There is no other fucking woman."

I plant my feet as rage consumes me. He's trying to scream over facts when it's clear and I push all of my weight behind my hands into his chest. He rocks slightly, dragging me with him and I seethe, "Yes, there fucking is. Otherwise, you would tell me who Vanya is." His hands turn cold, and the alien vulnerability re-enters his eyes. "You wouldn't hide and answer the fucking phone because of her while you were still inside me."

His fingers tighten against my cheeks, the heel of his palms pushing under my jaw as I continue with the emotion bleeding out of me.

"I'm sorry you lost someone you love, but I'm not apologizing for the fact it broke my heart."

It was recent, he made me into the other woman and that's why he left me. He left me to go to her because his sadistic cunt of a father killed her while he was fucking me. The anger radiating off him isn't controlled, it's volatile, mixing with his grief as he holds my jaw and begs, "Don't. Do not even think it or say it."

I have even more questions. None of it makes sense. Not his deep grief when he looks like he's on the verge of throwing up at the thought of fucking the woman he loves, not the lost look in his eyes as he silently pleads with me and he stares between each of my eyes.

The desolation playing out in his irises is blanketed by his eyelids as he closes his eyes and rests his forehead on mine. His voice lowers as he repeats, "Don't."

This close, I'm able to pick up his mumbling as he incessantly taps against his thigh.

"Blue, so much blue."

The tapping increases, there's barely a pause between each of the digits and I remain frozen to the spot.

I hate myself more than I hate Vlad. I keep giving into him and I do the same now as I hold his sides. Softening my voice, I ask for the truth, yet again, showing how pathetic I am.

"Talk to me."

I want him to be happy. My stupid, mature fucking brain doesn't align with my bitter heart. He refuses them both as his eyes snap open and he gives me an order.

"You're staying here until I find you somewhere safe. Try to fucking leave, and I'll lock you inside."

He's actually insane. It makes me laugh because there's clearly been no thought put into his plan.

"Try it. I'll burn your fucking house down if I have to." My hands don't leave his skin despite the next words on my tongue. "Now, get the fuck out of my way so I can pack."

He lets go of my face and takes a step back. I'm winning, yet it hurts. Fucking asshole, even in this, he takes control and ruins it. I have to force my arms to move so I'm no longer touching him as I step to the side. Our shoulders don't even line up when he dips down, banding his arm around my knees and lifts me off my feet.

He throws me over his shoulder so fast it knocks the air out of me.There's no clothing on his body for me to hold for support other than the towel and my brain acts on instinct.

I grab the towel to steady myself. It's the wrong thing to do because it falls to the floor, and I close my eyes. If I see him fully naked, I'll lose some of my resolve. His deep voice shakes my thighs against his chest as he walks towards the empty rooms set up on the other side of the elevator.

"You're not taking anything because you're not fucking leaving."

My body becomes weightless as he throws me off his shoulder and I land on a bed with a bounce.The guest room is one that's never been used, and Vlad is larger when I blink. I don't look down or move my hair out of my face as he stands fully naked, with the hallway light illuminating him from behind. He's a menacing figure when he's dressed as the gentleman, fully naked, with the moon casting an eerie glow to his skin as the light dims behind him, he's worse and better. He slowly closes the door and I have the sense to push back, knowing I won't survive if he touches me.

I'm not at risk from a violent hand, it's the softness and how my body craves his. The handsome bastard stalks towards me. I'm moving too slowly as he takes two more steps and reaches me before I can get off the bed. His inked fingers wrap around my ankle as I attempt to kick against his chest, and he pulls me down the bed. I twist and attempt to grab anything to hold on to my sanity. He always lays waste to my thoughts when he touches me, and he wraps his other hand around my knee, his fingers digging into the back of the joint, stopping me from crawling forward.

I'm pinned on my back as he straddles my hips. My hands itch to touch him, to feel the way he unleashes the power inside of him and allows me the lie of believing it belongs to me too. But he stops me from giving in while taunting me as his biceps flex and he pins my wrists above my head. The silver moonlight highlights each contour, each small group of muscle that I want to sink my teeth into, and the divot above his elbow I want to trace with my tongue.

He leans over me, and I bite back a moan as his muscles flex further and he starts dictating.

"You're not leaving, it's not safe."

He should work for Homeland Security with his fucking speeches on safety all the time. A bitter laugh leaves me, wanting him to hurt like I am.

"Why? Has your father come back to life?"

I know it's not Vlad's fault for what his parents have done, but my toxic tongue uses it.

I'm pushed further into the sheets as he holds both of my wrists in one hand and grabs my throat. He moves closer as I sink into the hard mattress. It hasn't been used and the springs keep me in place as his nose brushes mine due to his need to invade my space. Trying to knee into his back doesn't work and he doesn't move while I squirm. His control slips as he squeezes the sides of my neck and my attempt at escape only brings my attention to how hard he is. His dick is heavy against my stomach, and I squeeze my thighs together.

Unaware of my thoughts, the deep, panicked rumble fills the space between our lips.

"You want the fucking truth?! I don't want you to fucking go, I want you here with me. Where I can protect you and you're still my responsibility."

He's describing a job or a pet, not his wife.I'm knocked off balance as he crushes his lips to mine in an attempt to get me to stay, or to shut up.

It's most likely the latter, but a moan escapes me. It's not soft and delicate, it matches the brutal way he kisses me. Eating at my mouth and battling my tongue to give into him mentally. Neither is his hand as it moves down from my neck. Precum leaks against the t-shirt that's covering me, sticking the fabric to my stomach and forcing more moans out of me.

I manage to find some strength I didn't know I possessed as I abruptly turn my head to the side before I'm fully intoxicated by him. I'm only tipsy at the moment, that should be enough to regain some sense, and I speak more to myself than him.

"I don't want to be your burden. I'll find someone else who respects me and treats me like an equal."

Vlad squeezes my wrists and grips the collar of my t-shirt in his fist. He holds the other side between his teeth, and the sound of fabric tearing fills the room.I quickly suck in a breath because I don't want him to see me naked, and his rage increases.

"Don't you fucking dare hide from me."

Lifting up on his knees, he grips my jaw, turning my face back to him and repositions his body so he's between my thighs. His eyes drill into mine as he traces my bottom lip that's still tingling. His voice drops as he smirks and allows his arrogance to shine in the dark room.

"No one else would be able to give you what I can. Your mouth would be too much for them because they're all fucking weak, you want me, meelaya."

I have to bite my lip to stop from moaning as he grinds into me. He takes control of that too and pulls it free from my teeth.

He's not wrong, but I try to argue, "I don't, you're a cruel prick."

But the most caring man.

His laugh touches my neck, and my eyes roll back as his rough stubble scrapes along my skin.

"I am, that's what you want." Pressing a kiss below my ear, he moves to my other side with barely-there touches. "It's not the gentleness or that perfect dream bullshit you're telling yourself." His lips press into my neck and move down to my chest as he continues fucking with my head. "You want all the bad inside me."

Looking up from my chest, he swirls his tongue across the swell of my tits and trails a path with the point until he reaches my lips again.

There's no conviction as I slowly shake my head and a dark laugh leaves him. It wraps around us, and my hips move. Shame is for tomorrow with hindsight and facts, not desire and the perfectly formed human who is technically still my husband. So, I push it away despite knowing it's the wrong thing to do. He moves his hips back and presses the flat of his hand between my hips, stopping me from getting any relief to force me to agree with him.

"Admit it, moya koroleva. A good man would have you questioning what his sins were, you'd fucking hate it. With me, you know what I'm capable of."

I hate him for getting inside my head and finding my thoughts. My body contradicts my speech as I wrap my legs around his waist.

"A good man wouldn't leave me. He'd be good for me."

His jaw hardens to match his eyes as he grabs my panties in his fist. He lets go of my wrists in favor of my neck and his deep voice vibrates through me.

"You would be bored. You want the bad, you fucking crave it, you want to know you fucking control me. That I'm the worst there is yet you are the fucking shackles I accept."

I don't know what's made him become poetic and I don't care as I lift my hips, refusing to voice the truth.

"I wanted to be your equal, not your jailor, fuck you, asshole."

His eyes darken as he stares at my lips.

"You have a filthy mouth."

The usual awe is muted under the intensity of the moment and my body is dragged down, pushing his fingers into my jaw as he rips my panties off me. The burn against my hips is bliss and he flexes all of my weaknesses.

His muscles ripple as he reverently traces the scar between my hips that was hidden below my panty line. He moves, stroking each stripe as though they're a work of art or a point of pride. The difference in texture and color makes them glitter under the moonlight, and he moves back, pressing his lips to each one with two words on his tongue.

"Moya koroleva."

A pathetic, broken whimper floats above me. He looks up my body as though I'm really royalty and he's swearing his allegiance to me. His tongue does the same with each line of where my skin has stretched, and another claim blows across it.

"Moya zhena1."

Vlad continues moving across my hips and he follows the scar with his lips as he makes three passes. His voice deepens as he ends on my other hip, and he taps his thumb against the scar.

"Ty teper' prinadlezhish' mne2."

Fuck him. He doesn't get to claim anything, especially not because of a child he refuses to acknowledge.

"I will never belong to you. I'll find someone better, someone normal who isn't filled with fucking rage and secrets. He'll write over your touch, and you will be nothing more than a memory I refuse to keep."

Just like you did with me.

His top lip curls up and he sits taller, his broad shoulders are even more bitable, and I nearly miss what he says as he wraps his fingers around his dick and teases me with the tip between my thighs.

"He'd leave you every day, mentally. Go to a boring fucking office job where he'd find some slut to fuck on his lunch break." Moving further up my body, he continues painting an image of a life I've never wanted. "Then he'd come home to you, smelling of cheap ass perfume and stale coffee. You'd accept his touch because you'd imagine me every time he touched you."

We're both fucked up and I tighten my legs around his waist, pulling him closer, wanting more physically after so long without him.

He delicately trace my jawline with his nose and fits his lips by my ear to whisper his threat, "You'd wait for me to slit his fucking throat for touching what's mine."

He pushes into me in one thrust on the final word. A scream rips from my throat and wraps around my lie.

"No," I groan. "I wouldn't."

He's big and it burns without his usual preparation of going down on me as my back arches. The only point of contact I have with anything other than him is my crown and my ass against the bed as I dig my heels into his ass.

He pauses fucking my body and mind to put me at ease as he places a gentle kiss on my cheek and softly says, "Breathe out for me, malysh."

Vlad's conditioned me to melt at those specific five words and I do it instantly. He waits for me to adjust as he argues back with conviction of a future that won't come into existence.

"You would. If anyone put their unworthy fucking hands on you, you would be waiting for me, watching the shadows because you know that you are fucking mine." He hugs my cheek with his own as he his breathing escalates and he groans, "Don't fucking lie when I can feel you loving the idea of violence."

He doesn't thrust into me — he grinds down and sets every nerve ending in my body alight.

"You know you're mine. This pussy knows it's fucking mine."

I weakly shake my head as he strokes up my ribs to reach my arms that I still haven't moved. Why didn't I move them? I had control without him pinning me down. But I'm a fool and a moan breaks free as he slowly massages up my extended limbs to thread his fingers through mine. He cages me with his elbows resting beside my head.

"Say it," he demands.

I don't know what he's asking for, but I bite my lip, refusing anyway. Soft lips mark a path across my cheek until they reach my lip trapped in my teeth. He smiles against me, and I melt. I want this idiot to be my idiot. For all his outrageous remarks to only ever be for my ears and even the bad to solely be mine.

Slowly pulling out to just the tip, he slams into me, forcing a moan into his mouth. He smiles wider and fucks me harder, the sounds fueling him. Emotion clogs my throat as he repeats his claim even deeper than he is inside me.

"Moya zhena."

It turns into anger because he's only doing this to fucking manipulate me, and I pull my hands down, trying to escape him.

The hold on my fingers tightens and I bite his bottom lip until blood dots my tongue. Fucking asshole. He's being sweet to destroy me further. Letting go of his lip before it's ripped from his face, I spit out, "Not for long, I'm divorcing you."

He's fucked me while he was angry before, this is different. His hand moves from my wrists, and he holds my hips, repositioning me so my head is hanging off the edge of the bed, without pulling out of me.

With his inked fingers wrapped around my hip and throat, he pushes every bit of his rage into me.

"You can't fucking breathe?" I dig my nails into him. They score down his arms, his chest, his abs, anything for my mark to be left under his skin like he has me. "That's what you fucking do to me!"

I'm already lightheaded from being upside down and he makes it worse as he continues angrily fucking me with more claims mixing between his thrusts.

"You're mine."

I plant my feet against the back of his thighs as my hips lift to escape him wrecking me.

"The only thing I have."

He builds me up to a climax without even trying, and a moan wraps around my own anger.

"I'm not a thing," I grit.

I'm a fucking person. But the devil doesn't see that, and his face comes into view as he sits on his knees, dragging me up to straddle him. Icy eyes and a wicked smirk are all I can see, and he grinds up into me as he stares into my eyes.

"Mine to fuck."

He changes the angle of his hips. My head rolls, and I hug his ribs with my thighs. The hold on my hip turns bruising. There's going to be perfect imprints of Vlad's fingers in my skin when I leave his life in the morning. Alternating between his physical and verbal claims has my brain falling in and out of my body.

"My pretty." Thrust. "Pussy." Thrust. "To." Thrust. "Fill." Thrust. "Up."

Burying his dick fully in me, he grinds into me, and my release is kept back with my panic.

I push myself forward with all my strength, wrap my arm around his bicep, and rush out, "I'm not on birth control. Pull out."

He pauses, and his evil smirk is slow. Looking down at my thighs wrapped around him, he flicks back up my body and fucks me harder.

"You wanted two." My nails scrape against his skin. "I'll give you them." Mouth open on a scream. "No one else."

And I come harder than I ever have before.

"You are tied to me."

He doesn't stop fucking me as he wraps both arms around my back and crosses them. But his mouth is a worse vice to be trapped in as he continues spewing bullshit I wish I could believe.

"You're stuck with me for life, we're bonded."

My arms are trapped at my sides, and he falls onto his back, keeping me in place as he thrusts up into me.

"I can't lose you," he whispers and turns more violent as though he hates his own admission.

His teeth nip against any skin that he can find as I meet each stroke with a roll of my hips. They scrape against my shoulder, my jaw, my cheek, my chin as my neck contorts and light bursts behind my eyes as I scream his name. He continues biting down my neck, forcing whimpered moans out of me as praise fills the room.

"That's it, malysh."

My back nearly breaks as my spine arches against his forearms.

"MY brATTY WIFE!"

My entire body shakes, tremors wracking every muscle.

"Good girl, keep coming because I'm never letting you go."

His teeth leave my skin, and he traces the same path, alternating between his tongue and gentle kisses until he reaches my lips. My head falls forward, lacking energy and he breathes life into my body, much needed life. He softly kisses me while still fucking me hard enough that I will forever be haunted by his dick.

His arms coil tighter around me, hugging me closer. The chest I'm laid on getting bigger and I bite his lip with everything inside of me as my release is ripped from my bones, sending fragments into him like shrapnel. Vlad digs his fingers against my back, my skin and flesh bunching under the digits, as liquid heat erupts inside of me.

1 ?My wife

2 ?You belong to me