AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Needing to do something, I clasp my hands behind his neck and rest my forehead against his. “I love you, Matvey.” I give a small laugh and add, “I can’t remember a single time in my life when I didn’t love you.”
He smiles at all the memories. “You did a horrible job at hiding it.”
“I did, yes. Thanks for being so nice about it. You never made me feel stupid or teased me about it.”
“I thought it was sweet, but then as you got older, I knew I was in trouble. It was easier to dismiss it as a cute crush when you were younger, but when you hit seventeen and then eighteen, and you were this gorgeous, young woman that I couldn’t look away from, it became very difficult. The night of your eighteenth birthday changed everything. I’ll never forget that little black dress or how beautiful you’d looked when you straddled me while wearing it.”
“That’s a good memory. Those are the things I kept thinking about while I was gone, but then I had to stop. I had to bury all that away, because the truth is they were slowly killing me. Thinking about the best time in your life when you’re going through the worst times you’ve ever experienced is a torture in and of itself, and there was only so much I could endure. I had to shove my memories of you away. I had to keep you locked up tight because not having you was killing me faster than Konstantin was.”
He wraps his arms around me, pulling my chest against his in a tight hug as I bury my face against his neck. I kiss his skin, and his whole body stills. It’s the first time I’ve kissed him since he found me, and even though it’s not his lips, it still feels just as intimate. His body gives a soft shudder when I keep my lips pressed against his skin, feeling the light scars that are hidden beneath the tattoos. He threads his hand through my hair, gently cupping the back of my head.
“More than enough,malishka,” he murmurs, somehow knowing it’s exactly what I need to hear.
We stay wrapped in each other until we hear loud Italian coming from above us. Matvey sighs and kisses my temple. “Sounds like Dominic just got here.”
I kiss his stubbled cheek, and when I pull back, he’s giving me the sweetest smile.
“Thank you.”
“For kissing your cheek?”
“Yes. Don’t dismiss it like it’s a small thing when it means so much to me.”
He stands and takes me with him before lowering me to my feet. Kissing the tip of my nose, he gives me another smile. “We’d better go before Lev is forced to shoot him again.”
I laugh and take the hand he offers me. The angry Italian grows louder when Matvey opens the door. He looks back at me and rolls his eyes.
“You’re about to get a front-row seat to that famous Italian temper. Maybe we’ll get lucky and Vitaly’s already made popcorn.”
“Maybe.” I give another laugh and follow him up the stairs.
Chapter 8
Matvey
Alina and I walk upstairs to find an angry-looking Dominic and a smiling Vitaly.
“You know I can’t understand a goddamn word you’re saying, right?” Vitaly asks him, giving a soft laugh that just has Dominic’s jaw tensing even more and his nostrils flaring as he forces himself to take a deep breath before he does something crazy like pulling his gun on the grinning Russian in front of him.
“This is good news,” Danil reminds him, trying to calm the room down.
“It is.” Dominic’s words are clipped, and his accent thicker than usual, “and I’m going to fucking kill him.”
“You are,” Lev agrees, “but don’t fly to Sweden to do it. Let the bastard come to you. That’s all we’re asking.”
Dominic looks between us all and scrubs a hand over his jaw. “And what if he decides he doesn’t want to come to the auction and he disappears?”
“He won’t,” Danil assures him. “I’ve been tracking him, and he was one of the first men to secure his spot at this auction. He’s looking forward to it, Dominic, and men like him don’t just change their minds.The only way he’s not showing up is if he gets scared off because there’s an Italian mafia family on his ass.”
“And what if he kills another woman before then?” Dominic asks.
With my arm securely around Alina, I look over at him. “You need to decide what you’re willing to live with.”
“I want my revenge, Matvey. You of all people should understand that, and now you’re asking me to wait another couple of weeks?”
“I am,” I tell him. “I waited two fucking years for my revenge, and once we had Konstantin’s name, I couldn’t act on it, but now he’s strung up in a goddamn garage, alive only because I’m allowing him his next breath. Every second is pure hell for him, and I can make it last as long as I want. He and his brother ran one of the most dangerous Bratvas in the world, and now they’re forced to shit themselves and beg for their lives.” I give a soft laugh. “Trust me when I say the wait is worth it. Nothing can change what they did to Alina, but they are paying for it.”
Alina’s arm tightens around my waist, and when I look down at her, she gives me the sweetest smile. There’s nothing I can do to erase the hell he put her through, but I can torture the fuck out of him for her.
