Owned by the Russian Mafia Boss: A Mob Romance (12 page)

There would be bruises on her body tomorrow, but she didn’t care. And she wasn’t gentle. She clawed as his shoulders and raked her teeth over his skin as she searched for the release she so desperately needed the past few days.

In that moment, she was more than just his prisoner. She was his slave. She knew nothing would make her stop wanting him. Her body would burn for him forever.

The thought angered her, and as it mixed with her arousal, she moved even harder and faster. “So close,” she muttered. “Fuck, Alek.”

“Scream my name,” he muttered. “I want to hear you say it. I want you to admit who makes you feel like this. Who makes you scream and moan? Who makes your body burn?”

She couldn’t stop it. As she jerked over him one last time, she threw her head back and released everything as she screamed his name. But he wouldn’t let her enjoy her orgasm alone. He shouted and anchored her to him as he pumped one last time, and he filled her with his release.

Sweaty, spent, and dazed, she collapsed on top of him and nearly passed out.

Chapter Ten

Alek ignore the wound on his shoulder and carried her upstairs. Natalia was still sleeping when he laid her on the bed. She practically melted into the mattress, and he stood back and watched her. Taking her was supposed to be a conquest. It was supposed to be a snub against the man who had done this to him. But even before he had her spread out on the table, he’d forgotten his purpose. It had all been about her, and how much he needed her.

He tried to find that cold center that kept him going, that kept him doing this over and over again. It shielded him against the brutality and violence in his job. It kept him focused on his mission, but as he watched her sleep, completely sated, he couldn’t find that hardened resolve.

It wasn’t good. Now was not the time to go soft. He needed to remember that. Instead of crawling into bed next to her and cradling her warm and luscious body, he turned his back to her. His shoulder throbbed, and that reminded him he had an enemy he needed to find. And he had to plan something in retaliation.

He worked well into the early hours of the morning. Setting his alarm, he laid down on the couch in his office and closed his eyes to grab two hours of sleep. As he drifted off, he couldn’t help but wonder what Natalia was dreaming of.

***

 “You should probably do something about this hole in your security. You never know who could walk in while you’re sleeping.”

Alek tensed his body, but he didn’t have to open his eyes to know who was in his office. “Grisha,” he muttered as he sat up carefully. A slight pain shot up his shoulder, but it felt better than yesterday. “The only danger to my security is you.”

“Maybe.” His old friend gave him a cocky grin and perched on the desk. “So how do you like my old man’s office. I see you’ve made yourself right at home.”

“What are you doing here, Grisha?”

“Evading the tail you had on me. Why are you having me watched, Alek? I told you that I would stay out of your way if you stayed out of mine.”

Alek frowned. There was no way Grisha flew all the way to Russia to confront him. “You’re lying. You want something else.”

“You’re right I do, but first I want to know what the hell is going on. You have me tailed in the US. You have the daughter of Petr Primac imprisoned in this house. And you’re letting Boris build within your territory. It sounds like you’re losing control of things.”

Only one of those pieces of information interested him. “What do you mean Boris is building within my territory? He wanted to build close to my territory, and I told him he had to push it back or I would start buying up property within his territory.”

“That’s not what my source says,” Grisha said with a smirk.

Alek stood and rotated his shoulder. ‘Your source is wrong. I don’t have any property for sale in my territory. There’s no way he could build.”

“No property for sale. Residential houses are a different story.”

“He would never be able to get the permits to open a casino in a residential neighborhood,” Alek said slowly, but the wheels in his head were turning. Why would Boris be interested in any residential property?

Grisha hopped off the desk and moved casually around to start opening drawers. Alek frowned as he watched him. “He’s not buying one residential property, Alek. He’s bought a whole street that borders commercial property. He can bulldoze those houses down, redraw those property lines, and build whatever he wants.”

Alek froze. “Shit. And he’s trying to distract me with all this other bullshit. How do you know all of this?”

“I only found out because I was more interested in why you were tailing me. I concluded that you thought I was working for Boris.” He raised an eyebrow. “Do you think I’m working for Boris?”

“No. I only started trying to keep tabs on you to make sure you weren’t going to get in the way of what I have planned next.”

“What the hell is wrong with your shoulder? If you don’t quit flapping your arms about, I’m going to think you’ve lost your damn mind and you’re trying to fly,” Grisha grumbled. “And I don’t give a damn what you have planned next. I thought I made it clear that I’m not interested in anything that you’re doing.”

“So what were you doing in America?”

“What are you doing with the daughter of Primac?” Grisha shot back. Both men glared at each other, and finally Alek relented.

“I was attacked yesterday. Stabbed in the shoulder only because my men deflected it at the same time. It’s clear Boris is trying to take over the organization. He’s pulling two fronts to make me look weak. Rolling into my territory and physically weakening me. I’ll have to retaliate.”

Grisha plastered a fake smile across his face. “Good. I’m glad you’ve got this all figured out. Now that you know that I’m neither working for or against you, and again that’s because I don’t give a damn about you, I’m going to living my life peacefully. If I find you tailing me again, I’ll do more than break in. Do we have an understanding?”

Alek chuckled. Even as a kid, Grisha was always hiding secrets. Just because he acted friendly didn’t mean that they were friends. “I know you better than that, Grisha. I may have given you the opportunity to show your face around here, but you didn’t come here just because I was having you followed. You’re here for something else. Tell me now and save us both the trouble.”

His old acquaintance smirked. “My business in Russia is none of yours.” He turned to exit but hesitated. “I know that we were never friends, and it’s none of my business, but if you let the past consume you, you’ll never be able to move on. We’ve all made mistakes, Alek. Don’t force others to pay the price.”

“Natalia is none of your business,” Alek growled. “So long as your affairs here in Russia don’t mingle with mine, you’re free to do as you wish. But if you cross me, Grisha, there will be hell to pay.”

“Always nice to see you, Alek,” Grisha said quietly as he left the room.

“And stay the hell out of my house!” Alek didn’t even bother followed him. Even if he discovered how Grisha got in undetected, the blasted man would only find another way. He would make one hell of a thief.

Maybe he already was.

Alek’s mood was already sour as he climbed the steps to go change his bandage and dress for the day. He expected Natalia to still be asleep, but she was wrapped in a sheet and staring out the window. For a moment, he couldn’t believe how beautiful she was in the rays of the early morning light. The golden hues kissed her dark tendrils and danced on the wall behind her.

“Finally decided to come to bed?” she asked coldly without even turning around. He froze in the doorstep. She was pissed that he’d slept the night in the office.

“Just changing my clothes,” he said gruffly. “I have a busy day ahead of me.”

She didn’t move or say anything as he changed out of his jeans. Before he put on his shirt, he pulled off the bandage and inspected his wound. It didn’t look like it was getting infected. “I could use a little help over here,” he said softly as he tried to bandage it back up again.

Natalia turned and gave him a mocking smile. “The great Aleksander Evanoff needs help? I wouldn’t let that slip out. It might damage your reputation.” She pulled the sheet tighter around her and didn’t move from the window.

His body was already reacting to her. In five steps, he’d crossed the room and pushed her against the wall. “You are still my prisoner, so I would watch my mouth if I were you,” he said softly as he trailed a finger along her cheek.

“Where did you go last night?” she asked as she ignored his warning. She stared boldly into his eyes.

“None of your business.” He seemed to be saying that a lot this morning.

“Then I’m sure you can handle the business of wrapping your own wound just fine,” she hissed as she jerked away. Against his better judgement, he let her go. She walked into the en suite and slammed the door shut behind her. It was obvious she wasn’t the type of woman used to being fucked within an inch of her life and then ignored.

Pissed, he covered the wound as best he could and hurriedly yanked on his shirt. If Natalia thought she could get away with this kind of behavior, she had another think coming. Walking out in the hallway, he banged on Ana’s door.

“I’m not supposed to be up for another hour,” she grumbled as she opened the door. “What the hell is your problem?”

“I’ll be busy for most of the day, and I do not want to be disturbed,” he said as he ignored the annoyance in her voice. “Please remove all the clothes from the closet today. Our guest is not to dress for any reason. And while you’re at it, I want all forms of entertainment removed from her room as well. No books, no television, and take her father’s file away.”

Ana’s mouth dropped open. “You’re kidding me right?”

“I am not. And you are not to have anything to do with her today. No food. No clothes. No entertainment whatsoever. If I’ve discovered that you’ve disobeyed me, you’ll be entertaining any other guests that come in this week. Have I made myself clear?”

At the thought of entertaining Boris’s men, Ana noticeably paled. She nodded her head slowly. “What did she do to piss you off so badly?”

Alek smiled at her coldly. “She’s under the mistaken impression that she’s a guest here. I wonder where she gets that idea from.” After giving her a pointed stare, he whistled merrily as he walked down the hall. Just imagining how pissed Natalia would be was enough to put him in a good mood.

The day was already looking up.

Unfortunately, it didn’t stay that way. On the table waiting for him was today’s paper. And the headline sucked all the energy out of him.

Russian orphanage used to draft young boys into mob employment.

Fuck.

Enraged, he grabbed the phone and dialed the number. A familiar, sleepy voice came on the line. “Alek, it’s not even dawn,” Dorie grumbled.

“Have you seen the paper? Did you do an interview?” he growled harshly.

“An interview? Of course not. What is going on?”

“Get your paper, Dorie. Now.”

He waited a few minutes while he heard her rustling around. Finally, she inhaled sharply. “Oh, Alek. How did this happen? Everyone will pull our funding now. What are we going to do?”

There was panic and heartbreak in her voice, but Alek steeled himself against it. Logically, Dorie had the least to gain from this kind of exposure, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t in on it. Because if she didn’t give up this kind of information, the only alternative was worse.

He had a mole.

Just as he was about to give her a scathing reply, he took a step back to think about things logically. All of it had happened at once. First the attempted assassination. Then Boris tried to distract him as he moved into his territory. And now an organization close to heart was on the verge of ruin. It was simply too much of a coincidence that it was all happening at the same time. Someone was trying to rattle him.

And it was working.

“I’ll fix this, Dorie,” he promised. “But I need you to think. Has anyone from my organization been by to talk to you. Or anyone that made you nervous?”

She sniffed, and he could tell that she was crying. She was no doubt thinking of all the kids in her home and what she would do with them if everyone pulled their funding. “Dorie, listen to me. The Education Ministry won’t shut you down over this. They can’t. They won’t have any place to take the kids. The coverage is going to be rough for a little while, but you’re tough and you’ll get through it. Trust that I’ll find a way to fix this. I’ll make whoever did this pay.”

“More violence, Alek? When will it end?” she asked sadly.

“It doesn’t end until I get what I want, Dorie.”

“Alek, I beg you. Just stop. Just let things go. Just…walk away. I know you can. Because if you don’t, those you care about are going to keep paying the price.”

He bit off an oath and hung up on her. His blood was boiling. As a girl came out with his breakfast, he took the tray and slammed it on the floor. The porcelain cup of coffee shattered and the food splattered everywhere. The girl gasped and recoiled in fear, but he simply stepped over it. There was nothing on his mind as he locked himself in his office except how to get his revenge.

Boris had a man in his services, and Alek was going to find that mole and torture him until he gave up every single piece of information on Boris and almost every drop of his blood. And even then it might not be enough.

***

Natalia stared at the closet. It was completely empty with the exception of a note from Ana.
I’m sorry.
So Alek was pissed, and he wanted to play games? Or did he realize that he was losing control?

He must have carried her to bed after they’d had sex. There was no other explanation of how she got there, and it wasn’t just that he’d carried her to bed. He’d also slept somewhere else. If she didn’t know better, she would have thought he actually had some feelings mixed up in last night’s affairs.

“Or maybe he’s just cruel,” she muttered to himself. That was probably the easiest explanation. “Fucker.”