“Elisse,” he moaned my name the moment my mouth enclosed around his hardness, and I covered him entirely with my saliva, sucking him so hard that he forgot all else. Within minutes, I could feel him hardening even further, but before I could make him come, he pulled me off him with a roughness I did not know he possessed and pushed me down on the couch.
“What are you doing?” I protested as he climbed on top of me.
“Shush,” he said, placing a finger on my lips.
I hardly had time to process anything else when he spread my legs unceremoniously and slammed his thick, hard, pulsating cock inside me, making me shout his name at the top of my voice. Nothing about this was gentle or soft, but it was filled with a passion and desire neither of us knew the other one possessed. I loved every second of it, my core tightening as he continued to fuck me.
“I am going to come,” I shouted, holding him closer.
“Come for me.”
His words felt like a command as everything around me tightened until I was exploding all over him, and he did just the same, filling me with his cum like nothing else mattered in the moment. For a moment, neither of us moved. The penthouse was silent except for our breathing. I could feel my pulse slowly settling as reality crept back in. He brushed his knuckles lightly down my arm.
“Come here,” he murmured.
“I am here.”
“Not like this.”
Before I could argue, he lifted me effortlessly and carried me down the hallway. This time towards the bedroom. The lights were low when he stepped inside, but he didn’t set me down immediately. Just held me. Like I weighed nothing. Like I was something precious. That should have unsettled me, but instead, it made my chest ache.
He lay me down on the bed gently, no urgency in his movements. No sharp edges. Just warmth. He climbed in beside me, pulling the sheets over us, and for a second, I hesitated. Then I moved closer, almost instinctively, my leg sliding between his. My arm draping over his chest. His hand settled at my waist, and neither of us spoke. The earlier fire had burned through us, leaving something quieter in its wake. I rested my head against his shoulder, noticing how his heartbeat was steady beneath my ear.
“You’re not allowed to think this means I forgive you,” I murmured, already half asleep.
“I know.”
My fingers tightened slightly against his skin. “You’re infuriating.”
“I know.”
A faint, exhausted smile curved my mouth as his lips brushed my hair. Soft. Almost reverent. And before I could stop myself, before I could rebuild the walls I’d spent weeks reinforcing, sleep dragged me under, and I stayed there curled against him.
Naked. Breathing in sync. Clinging. As if the world outside that room didn’t exist at all.
Chapter 20 - Fyodor
The turning point did not arrive with gunfire. It arrived with a phone call at 6:12 a.m while Elisse was still asleep beside me. Her bare skin tangled with mine, her hair spreading across my chest, her breathing slow and even. Morning light filtered through the curtains in soft gray ribbons, painting her in something almost fragile.
For a moment, I considered ignoring the phone, but Viktor did not call at dawn unless something was already in motion. Carefully, I slid out from beneath her, making sure to not wake her up with my movements. She stirred faintly, fingers brushing over the empty space I left behind, but she did not wake, and I quietly stepped onto the balcony to answer the phone.
“Yes, Viktor?”
There was no preamble. Whatever was waiting for me on the other end of this call was undoubtedly serious.
“Kliment moved ahead of schedule,” Viktor said.
My jaw tightened. “With what?”
“The port.” Cold settled in my chest.
“What about it?”
“He’s planning a seizure tonight. He wants to make it loud and public, and he wants it traced back to Chernykh territory so other bratvas go against the Chernykhs. He is trying to isolate them and is planning to paint Elisse as the collateral.”
A beat of silence. “How exactly?”
“He expects retaliation from others against the Chernyks, so he is already circulating information that she will betransferred between locations this week and will be easier to kidnap.”
