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ChapterEight
The sleek black car stopped in front of my building and idled until I ended our kiss. Nina made a distressed sound as I pulled away, her fingers clutching at me desperately. Her lips were red and bruised from my attack on her mouth. Goddamn, but seeing her disheveled, where my fingers had gripped and twisted her hair, with her puffy lips and the flush racing up the delicate column of her throat made me want to throw her down on the seat and finish what we’d started.
Instead, I reeled it back and, ordering Stegan to stay, helped Nina out of the car. I looped an arm around her waist when she wobbled on her heels, until I was sure she was steady. With a few last directions to Stegan, I bid him a good night and guided Nina into the lobby of my building.
When the Time Warner Center was nothing more than a rumor, my father had put in a bid with the developers for the penthouse floor. As the plans developed, it’d turned into each floor of both towers. After my father died, Tatum and I had renovated the apartments in one tower, holding on to the two in the other tower for when Nicu and Luca grew up.
Nodding to the doorman, I reminded myself to put Nina on the list of guests who had access to the penthouse floor. I never locked my door since only my brothers and Tatum had special access. We were constantly in and out of one another’s places at all times of the day and night, so pesky things like locks got in our way.
Once I got Nina inside my apartment, I stripped my coat off and flung it on the chair beside the door. Unlike my family home in Sunnyside, which had been decorated to my mother’s antiquated taste, this place was all mine, and I liked my space minimal.
Nina’s gasp beside me told me my modern taste was a surprise to her. Casting her a side-glance, I teased, “Did you think I’d allow my mother to decorate my home like she did the apartment you share with Tasa?”
“I had assumed…” she replied as she slowly unbuttoned her coat. I went behind her and took hold of it, giving a prayer of thanks that the black coat had hidden her in public. It seemed I was a possessive mofo when it came to this woman because the thought of her sauntering around in that dress would’ve had me going ballistic.
For the first time since moving into the penthouse, I turned the lock of the door behind me. Tatum had a key, but this was an unprecedented move on my part. I smirked as I imagined how he’d react when he turned the knob and found it locked. Arrogant bastard.
There was no way I’d have him walking in on me and Nina. More to the point, there was no way he was getting an eyeful of my woman. My woman. Christ, but I wanted that statement to be true. In my heart, she was already mine. There were more blocks on my path to that trophy than I was willing to dwell on at the moment.
Right now, with Nina in my home, I wanted to savor her.
Stepping away from me, she crossed the marble-and-onyx foyer, her fingertips gliding over the wood-and-bronze bannister of the three steps descending into the spacious living room, which was decorated in gray and white, with accents of lapis lazuli. She traversed the space, inspecting the minimal modern furniture and pausing for a moment in front of a Rothko painting before continuing toward the two walls of three-paneled floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the city on one side and Central Park on the other.
“This is an amazing view,” she breathed out in awe. Having followed her, I took a step closer until her ass was nestled against my front.
Nuzzling into her jasmine-fragranced hair, I said, “Yes, it is,” although I was speaking of the woman before me, not the city sprawled below us. “Would you like something to drink?”
Shaking her head, she traced an invisible line on the windowpane. Glancing over her shoulder, a little frown notched between her fine-winged brows as she politely inquired, “How rich are you, Alex?”
Oh, she had no idea.
All she’d seen of me besides my club tonight was the brownstone where I was born, where my mother and Bunica continued to live, and the café next door. Those properties were but a small drop in the pool of Lupu wealth.
“Very rich,” I stated simply. “Although, my father bought this condo as an investment when the building was first conceptualized; it’s worth far more now. I have great wealth, Nina. With it, comes great responsibility and great enemies. That’s why it was so foolish for Tasa to run away. Just as it would be foolish for you to do the same.”
“I will never,” she promised fervently.
“You say that now, but you may not be able to handle my lifestyle. If it were a simple question of lifestyle or money, there’d be room to negotiate, but my wealth is intricately wrapped up in the honor and safety of the Lupu clan. They are interlocked and can never be unbound. And now, having given me your virginity, you should be as bound to me as I am bound to the Lupus.”
Her head tipped up, staring at me with her big bright eyes, and she asked, “And am I bound to you? What will you do with me, Alex?”
I broke my stare on her and gazed across the expanse of darkness, over the multitude of sparkling lights below.
“I’m not sure,” I replied honestly.
“I want to be with you. I don’t want to scare you, but it’s only been you, Alex. Only ever you.”
Scare me? Firstly, I didn’t scare. Ever. More importantly, her admission was bliss. Her honesty. Her loyalty. The bravery she showed in her confession. They humbled me. But none of that guaranteed she would be mine.
My eyes returned to her. I grazed the delicate skin of her cheek with my knuckles. “You’re exquisite, Nina. In every way. Never doubt how precious you are to me. But I can make no promises. Some things are beyond my power. I have pressing issues that need to be resolved. Besides finding Tasa and securing her protection, there’s Nelu to deal with. He’s a formidable negotiator. He will have my balls in a choke hold over this. I don’t know what I will have to sacrifice to appease him. Then there’s the fact that I am the symbol of my clan and family. I am the Lupul. The expectations of whom I marry are clear-cut.”
The corners of her mouth dipped, and her beautiful brown eyes grew infinitely sad. I wanted to rip at my chest and pound on the windowpanes until they shattered, but I would not hold the truth from her. There were many things I could not tell her about my life. I wouldn’t add to an already necessary evil.
“What expectations?” she inquired in a careful voice.
She already knew. After all, she’d seen what I put Tasa through. Still, she deserved a straightforward answer.
“I’m expected to marry like Tasa. You accused me of imposing too great a burden on her, but it’s the same burden my brothers and I carry. I did not ask anything less of her. We’re not average people who can simply marry for love. Even my own parents’ marriage was an alliance. They found love, but my father married my mother because she’s a direct descendant of the last king, King Michael I. That elevated my father’s status in certain circles in Romania, Central and Eastern Europe, and the Russia Federation. It legitimized the Lupu family name to be aligned with royal blood.”
