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“Your place is with me.”
She laughs, but nothing about that statement is funny.
There’s a question I’ve always wanted to ask. I’ve run circles in my head about it since the day Valentina left. Came up with every answer imaginable, even things as far-fetched as alien abduction.
Because why, after everything we planned for our future, all the promises we made to each other, the whispered secrets we told when no one was watching, why did Valentina leave?
She senses the question before I can form the words. With a shake of her head, she laughs again, the sound bitter and sharp, echoing in the tiny alcove we’ve found ourselves in. “Tell me, Andrei. Why did I leave?”
I swallow hard. The truth settles like a weight in my chest.
“Your mother wanted to leave.” I shut my eyes. I can picture Maeve, radiant in the golden summer sun, her smile perfect, as always. “She wanted you to leave.”
Valentina made a decision based upon her mother’s wishes, not her own.
But someone planted that seed. Someone gave Valentina that letter.
I open my eyes and stare at my bride. No longer blushing, but just as beautiful. “You left because it was your mother’s dying wish.” I crowd Valentina against the wall, pressing my body against hers. She’s trembling, but pressure and weight helps calm the nervous system. I envelop her beneath me, and she fights it. She fights hard, struggling against me. Thrashing. Kicking her feet.
I cup Valentina’s face and admire my beautiful, stubborn woman until she calms down. Her heart rate falls back to normal, and she breathes deeper.
“You left, not because you wanted to, but because you felt like you had to.”
She stares back at me, her eyes wide and lips parted like she’s hanging on my every word.
As much as I’ve been lying to myself about what I want from Valentina, she’s been lying to herself too.
“You’re scared to want to be here. You’re scared of enjoying this. Of wanting me.” My lips curve into a smile. I can handle fear. I instill fear in others every day.
Breaking a few fears should be easy.
“You’re right, Valentina. I am a villain.”
There’s no sugarcoating it. The mafia is a dark world. Not everyone survives it, and those who do are turned into something more befitting nightmares than daydreams.
But Valentina was born for this life.
I press our foreheads together and take a deep breath, exhaling slowly. Within moments, Valentina’s breaths match mine in depth and rhythm as she continues to calm down.
“I can’t love a villain,” Valentina murmurs softly. Her fingers wrap around the collar of my shirt. “You’re cruel and violent and evil. All of you are.”
Her mention of my brothers makes me smile. Mikhail’s already rubbed off on her, maybe literally, and Ezra’s always been a favorite of hers. In time, I’ve no doubt she’ll love all three of us, villainous hearts and all.
“Sometimes, we don’t have a choice in who we love.” I don’t mean that in an I will make you love me way, either. Sometimes, the heart wants what it wants, despite what makes the most sense. Despite how fucked up our desires are.
I thread our fingers together and hold Valentina’s hand against the wall, over her head. I kiss her forehead, then her temple, the swell of her cheek, the remnants of tears clinging to her skin. With a sigh, I brush my nose against hers, aching to kiss more of her.
But I want her to give it to me. Willingly. I want her to submit not just to me, but to her own desires.
“Andrei.” She whispers my name like a prayer, and I groan against her lips. She presses them to mine gently, hesitantly, and it’s reminiscent of our past. She was always so shy about loving me, and now I realize part of that hesitation came from fear.
Fear of what she is and who she will become.
I capture her lips in a real kiss, demanding more than I’ve ever received from her. I devour her mouth, forcing my lips over hers again and again, relentless in my pursuit of more. She whimpers, and I swallow the sound greedily. I take her bottom lip between mine and suck, groaning as she writhes against me. Her nails scratch the base of my neck as she deepens the kiss and tastes me with her tongue.
She’s just as greedy as I am.
Releasing her hand, I reach around and grab her ass, pulling her hips tighter against mine and grinding against her stomach.
