Page 1 of His Wild Obsession

CHAPTER ONE

ADRIK

The party was filled with A-listers, billionaires, tech gurus, and the usual high class smorgasbord of sin and temptations. I was bored.

“Ad, why don’t you have a drink?” Marat, my younger brother asked.

His dark eyes were twinkling with mischief as he raised his glass of champagne, toasting a group of waifish runway models who could not stop looking at him. I don’t blame them. Marat is a handsome man. Not me.

Not that I was ugly, but I looked hard, unkind, was the correct word. But they should know a man like me would not be inclined to show kindness. Not in my business. Well, former business. I kept forgetting we were legitimate now.

Volkov Industries used patented mining techniques for harvesting rare earth metals used in electronics and smart tech. We led the industry and held many claims overseas in areas where it was necessary to have brains, money, and guns to secure mining rights. Good thing I had all those and more.

“I don’t drink bubble piss like you, Marat,” I replied, and my brother tossed his head back and laughed out loud.

Bloody hell. Even his laughter was attractive. Like angels frolicking gaily from above. I rolled my eyes just as the throng of barely dressed stick figures walked over to see if they could catch his attention. Likely they could. But only for an evening.

My brother was a dyed in the wool bachelor. There was no changing that tiger’s stripes. Pity. I would have liked to be an uncle someday. Children were the future, and far as I was concerned, the Volkov name would not continue from my loins.

Nyet.

I would not marry. I would never have children. After all the horror and evil I had seen that humanity was capable of, how could I? Besides, there was no woman in my life. No one woman, anyway. Yes, I took women to bed. I was a red-blooded man. Fucking was as good an outlet as violence, and since we were legit, well, violence seldom came my way anymore. But I meant there was no one who had a claim on my affections. I did not believe in love. And my lovers knew the deal.

Make no demands. Come when I say so. Leave immediately after.

That was the only way a woman made it to my bed. She had to agree to my terms, and few refused me. Whether it was the size of my bank account or my cock that made them say yes, who cared? Both were larger than the average man, and I never heard any complaints.

“Ladies, are you enjoying yourselves?” Marat started chatting up the women, and I growled in disgust.

“The balcony seems empty, boss. If you need some air.”

Josef, our head of security, handed me a tumbler of Whiskey Neat, the platinum label, before pointing to my sanctuary. I grunted and accepted the heavy, squat glass before I stood up.

“Thank you, Josef. I’ll leave you and Marat to these women,” I murmured, taking a swallow before walking away.

The penthouse had been checked out by my security team upon my arrival and the six-man unit was still afoot, checking perimeters and making sure my brother and I were safe, and the area secured. Yes, we were out of the gangster game, but that did not mean we did not have enemies.

In fact, I’d seen legitimate corporations commit positively heinous acts that made mobsters look like pussycats. Espionage, strong arming, short selling, lying, bribery, blackmail, and outright murder. And those were just some of what we’ve encountered since we purportedly left the crime world.

“Volkov, is it?”

A slimy looking man with white hair combed back, wearing a silk shirt and crisp wool pants stood in front of me. I did not accept his proffered hand. In fact, I did not say anything. I merely gave him the dead eyed stare that had made better men than he piss themselves on more than one occasion.

“Um, I was very excited to hear you would be attending this little shindig, Volkov. You know I think you and I should talk business?—”

I walked away before he could finish, knowing Josef was watching me and would waylay the man before he even thought to follow me. That was why I allowed Josef to stay on as head of security even after he’d made his first mint.

Marat and I did not agree on a lot, but we both insisted on rewarding those who helped us when we were scraping by at the bottom of the barrel. It wasn’t so long ago that we were two orphaned boys running around the streets of Moscow. Our Italian mother had been killed alongside our father in some ugliness involving drugs. He was a low level Bratva soldier, and we were left with nothing but the clothes on our backs.

When I turned sixteen, I was already more muscular than most adult men and I used it to my advantage, picking fights with gang members and robbing the robbers. They called me the wolf because of the way I worked. I was known for being a hunter, patient, stalking my prey, even toying with them before the end. Once I let them see me, that end was inevitable.

No one survived the wolf. It was fitting since Volkov literally meant wolf. I liked it. Liked the terror it struck in men’s hearts when they heard the dark wolf was coming for them. Taking over territory was easy after that. By the time we left Russia, I was already in control of my own set of illegal trade routes. New York City was like a playground after that.

That was over twenty years ago. I just had my thirty-seventh birthday, and as of six months ago, Volkov Industries had gone completely legitimate. Still, I missed the solitude that came with being one of the world’s most feared men. I did not have to attend parties like this one where I stuck out like a sore thumb despite my custom suit and four thousand dollar shoes.

These businessmen were lean and had soft hands. Their bellies never knew hunger. Their eyes were blind to what was around them. They did not see the wolf in their midst. Even the ones who claimed to know me did not know. They couldn’t possibly comprehend what kind of monster they were rubbing elbows with.

I finished my drink and stood on the balcony, sucking in the fresh air despite the chill. It was a damn sight better than the heavily perfumed party room, which still could not cover up the stink of humanity’s so-called upper classes. To me, nothing smelled worse than avarice and greed. The people inside had no souls. They thought they were better than men like me.

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