AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I hold the envelope up to my face.
No, I can’t fucking do it. Not yet. There’s something I need to do first.
I pad into the kitchen where Natasha is opening and closing cabinets. She storms around the kitchen and pulls out sugar, creamer, and a large mug, slamming each one on the counter.
Then she grabs the steaming glass pot from the coffee maker. “I don’t give a fuck what the letter said. I’m finishing my coffee first. And then I’d like a pair of shorts since I really don’t want to die while not wearing panties.”
I walk toward her, taking my own life into my hands a little bit since she’s still holding the full pot of coffee and is clearly dealing with some major rage.
“Don’t come too close,” she hisses. “It might ‘accidentally’ slip out of my hand.”
I don’t even try to bite back a smile. “God, I fucking love you.”
She recoils, almost dropping the pot. “What…what did you say?”
I inch closer, taking a gamble and reaching for the coffee pot before it ends up all over us. I reach past her and stick it back onto the burner before facing her again.
“I said I love you.”
“Why? Because you’re allowed to love me? You opened the envelope and found out it’s okay to love me because my father didn’t launch that attack after all?” She sticks a hand on her hip and the shirt rides up enough for me to see those perfect pussy lips wink at me. I force my eyes away from them and my cock jerks in frustration.
“I didn’t open the envelope.”
“Why not? You have decisions to make, Luka.” She shakes her head, wagging a finger at me. “Tsk. Not the way for a boss to behave. Family first and all that crap, right?”
“Did you hear me?” I growl, pulling her close. Her spine tenses but she doesn’t push me away. “I said I love you. No matter what the envelope holds, nothing will change the way I feel about you.”
A tear slips out of one of her eyes, and I swipe it away with the pad of my thumb.
“I love you, too. I don’t know how the hell it happened, how I could have fallen for someone who claimed to hate me so much. This whole situation is insane, and our story is so sick and twisted, but…I just see so much in you, things I don’t think anyone else sees. You saved me so many times, Luka. You took care of me, protected me against Dima, against my father, against faceless enemies who wanted me dead. You made me feel special. Wanted. Desired.”
Natasha shakes her head, a smile lighting up her flushed face. “I’ve never been in love before, but I know this is real. I know I don't want to live without you, that I’d sacrifice myself to save you the way you did for me. I can’t understand how it happened, but it did. Because I love you, with everything in me.”
My fingers reach for her hair, tangling in the auburn waves, and then capture her lips with desperation and a hunger that can’t ever be sated. Nikita picks that moment to get up from his dog bed.
He hops up and trots into the kitchen with a loud woof! He wedges himself between us, his tail wagging wildly. I guess he’s happy I finally told her the truth, too.
But a few seconds later, Natasha pulls away, like she’s just made some terrible realization. Her suddenly pained gaze makes my gut knot. She drops down to pet Nikita and rests her face in his dark brown fur.
“There’s one problem. Your vindictive-as-fuck brothers don’t love me, Luka. They won’t care how you feel. You said it yourself. They will get their retribution.”
“They’ll try. Yeah.”
“And you’re going to stop them?”
I toy with the handle on the coffee mug and stare at the Captain America quote on the front — “I can do this all day.” And I know that, like the first Avenger, I will tirelessly do everything in my power to save Natasha from any threats. Figuring out how is another story I need to write.
“I won’t be able to stop them from avenging my dad’s and Dima’s murders. But I can give them a different target.”
She gasps. “My mother and sisters? Luka, no. I’ll give myself up, okay? Just please don’t let that happen.”
“It won’t. But someone will have to die, Natasha. You know that.”
Her eyes shine with tears when she lifts her head. “I should be so happy right now, but my heart is breaking at the thought of the horrors my father may have committed.”
I take her by the hands and pull her to her feet. She leans into my chest, her silent cries assaulting my heart. I want to comfort her, but the truth is, Ivan Resnov is a scumbag bastard. I wouldn’t put it past him to sell out his own family to snuff out a rival. And he set his sights on us a long time ago — five years ago, to be exact.
He’s waited a long time to pull the plug, and that envelope may be the key.
