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Reasoning kept screaming at me to stop in my tracks, but one look at her beautiful face and gorgeous body, and my fucking mind ceased to work.
As the sun beamed down on her beauty, highlighting every ounce of her flawless perfection, I wanted more and more.
Then she spoke those magic words—what if having your interest doesn’t sound like such a bad thing?
At that moment, fascination—orinterestas I called it—won the battle, and reasoning lost like a three-legged dog trying to run away from a hungry lion.
Hearing her say those words, like some kind of goddamn spell, kicked the door right open for a devil like me to fly in and take advantage of what she shouldn’t be offering me—a chance with her.
From then, my ability to think of logic went straight to hell, and I knew I couldn’t resist the chance to see her again.
Maybe no harm will come from seeing her one last time.
Or, maybe she’ll help us both out by coming to her senses when she realizes the tattoos she was admiring on my hands and body mark me as a member of the Russian mafia.
I saw the hesitation in her eyes, but I wasn’t sure how much Jason’s sweet little princess would know about the criminal underworld.
I know a lot about her—her accident and the loss of her friend’s life, the way her mother died, and various other things—but she seems as innocent as if her father kept her wrapped in cotton wool all her life and locked away in a glass tower.
In any event, there’s no point worrying about that now.
Even though Serenity Bell has taken residence in my head, I still need to be on my game.
Starting now.
I’m on my way to my Igor’s house. He and Jennifer, his wife, have been in Russia on a business trip. I spoke to him briefly the day I got out of prison. That was moments before Virgo came to see me and dropped the bomb about Jason.
Twenty minutes later, I pull up on his drive.
I jump off the bike and make my way up the garden path, dipping my head at Yan, the caretaker and of the property. He’s worked with Igor for as long as I can remember.
Instead of bowing like I did, he waves and gives me a welcoming smile.
Just like at my father’s house, many of the staff here are like family. I grew up with them right from Russia.
Before I even reach the door, it opens and Jennifer walks out, arms stretched wide to welcome me as if I’m coming home.
She’s barely five feet, so I feel like a giant next to her.
Jennifer looks thinner than the last time I saw her, her hair grayer, and her skin gaunt, as if all the stress that has happened since I’ve been away has drained her years. It would be understandable.
I come from a close family. My father’s death is the worst to hit us since the massacre when I was fourteen. I lost my mother and sister. Igor and Jennifer lost my cousins, Marcus and Yuri.
While my father was barely able to rescue me, Marcus and Yuri were Igor and Jennifer’s only children. And they couldn’t have any more.
Jennifer throws her arms around me, giving me a warm hug. “Dante, welcome back.”
She’s the only woman I allow to fuss over me. I imagine my mother would have been like her if she were alive today.
“Thank you, Aunt Jen.”
She steps back and looks me over, reaching up to cup my cheeks the way she used to when I was little. As she can’t reach me, even standing on the tips of her toes, I oblige her by lowering to meet her.
“It’s so, so good to see you.” She taps my cheeks with long elegant fingers then releases me.
“I second that,” comes Igor’s voice from the doorway.
My uncle stands there watching us. His large, muscular stature almost filling up the space.
