AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The false innocence in her voice sent my fury higher, like a wildfire meeting a summer forest. I was on fire.
She wet her lips when I didn’t speak, and I remembered our kiss. I pushed the thought violently from my head.
“Ivanov is one of the most common names, and—”
I cut her off by turning her against the wall and pinning her hands by her head.“Don’t lie to me. It won’t end well for you.”
She let out a long breath. “Fine. Ivanov is my last name, and Konstantin is my brother, okay?”
My breath left me for a long moment, and I was at a loss for words.
Konstantin Ivanov was a thorn in my side. One of the most brutal bratva to take New York in decades. He had crushed his competition in the black sea and ruled Brighton beach with an iron fist. Only the Song’s alliance with the Luciano’s had protected our boundaries when it came to the most ruthless don I’d ever met. Considering the people I’d met and the man I was, that was a chilling assessment.
Now, when I looked at Kat, I saw the resemblance. The white-blonde hair and startling pale eyes.
“Why were you in Shanghai?” I asked, struggling to get my head around it. “Don’t even dream about lying to me again.”
“Kon arranged a marriage for me to a rival in Russia. I didn’t want to go. I fought with him, but he sent me anyway. I got away from the man, Viktor, in Moscow and ran. I ended up in Shanghai without a penny to my name. Your uncle found me there and brought me back here.”
“And you begged to stay in the city where your brother lives. Why?”
“This is my home too!” she shouted, suddenly angry. “Do you know what it is to be a woman in our world? A piece of flesh to be hawked at market and sold to the highest bidder, no matter how old, depraved, or sick—” She trailed off, and tears welled in her stunning eyes. “This is my home, and I don’t want to leave. I’m a person too. Why does it never matter what I want?” Her cry ran out through the quiet apartment, and I heard the snap of desperation in her tone.
It pierced through the cloud of anger in my chest and struck my heart. Fuck. I couldn’t be angry at her. My rage disappeared like a puff of smoke, and the connection remained. I knew exactly how she felt because I’d felt the same way every single day of my miserable life.
“What do you want, Kat? You want to live free in this city without Konstantin’s interference? That’ll never happen. To men like him, like me… you’re an important strategic asset,” I told her bluntly.
She flinched. Her arms trembled under my firm fingers. “You’re not like him,” she said stubbornly.
“Don’t kid yourself. I’ve warned you about making me your white knight. You’ll be disappointed.”
“I’m used to disappointment.” Kat’s voice was flat.
She wet her lips again, and my eyes fell to the plump, pink skin. I wanted to taste her again. No. Fuck tasting. I wanted to consume her whole.
“You played me, Kat, and you’ve caused a mess. You could’ve started a war,” I told her heavily, pressing closer, grinding my hard-on against her flat belly. I’d been hard since we’d kissed at the church, and it was only getting worse. “There’s a price for something like that in our world.”
“I don’t care. I’d do it again,” she said, raising her chin, daring me to bring my anger down on her.
So would I. Before she could see that truth, I closed the gap between us and stole her lips with mine.
CHAPTER11
Kat
Jae kissed me like he was trying to punish me and worship me at the same time. In his eyes, I’d fucked up. In mine, I’d done what I needed to survive and gotten something out of it I’d never expected. A man who made my heart race.
Konstantin wasn’t just my brother and the head of the Ivanov bratva. He was also seriously unhinged. Before he’d decided to ship me off to Russia as a mail-order bride to one of his rivals, he’d kept me on a short leash. That was how I was so unknown to most of the criminal world in New York. I wasn’t a mafia princess who got to go clubbing and to university. I was lucky when Kon let me leave the house. The man had serious protectiveness issues. It’d started when our mother died, and our sister disappeared over ten years ago, and it still haunted him.
Jae’s kiss was turning me inside out. Like at the church, our connection hummed to life, amplifying every touch. His tongue felt so good against mine, and his hot hand cradled my cheek like I was something rare and precious. But it was more than that. I responded because it was Jae touching me—a man I’d somehow fallen head over heels for in only a week.
“Bedroom. Now,” Jae bit out, pulling back enough to haul me into his arms.
I brought my lips to his ear as he carried me, bridal style, in the direction of his room. I let my tongue play along the edge of his ear, dipping into the shell and sucking the lobe until he growled.
He kicked the door closed behind him and strode toward the bed. Anticipation flamed to life in my belly. This was it. I was finally going to get fucked, and there was no one on the planet I’d rather do the honors. Another element of my elder brother’s draconian rules was limiting my exposure to the opposite sex. I was untouched at twenty-two, the final gift for whoever Kon sold me off to in marriage. No matter what happened to me after this, no matter when Jae’s family interests demanded I be returned to the Ivanov fold, I would always have this night.
My first time wouldn’t be with someone Kon had chosen. It would be here, with this man. I could be sent wherever Kon decided in punishment—and the man had a twisted imagination—but my heart and first time would remain here with Jae. Forever.
