Vlad immediately yanked Dostoevsky to his feet and practically dragged him off in the direction of the dungeon.

“What are we going to do with him?” she demanded as soon as the door shut behind Vlad.

Mikhail’s angry stance loosened some as his dark gaze flicked to her face. He crossed the room to hug her close to him. “Would you truly be able to forgive me if I killed your own father?”

She shrugged, “You would be avenging my mother and your father.”

“He seems to think he was justified in killing my father,” Mikhail pointed out. He had a faraway look on his face as though he were thinking of something else. Then he said, “In a way, I understand. Dmitri slept with Alena when I was still dating her and I had to kill him. I get why he killed my dad, but going ahead to kill your mother...? That’s just sick. He deprived a little girl of her mother.”

The expression on his face was so tender that Mira felt her heart turn over in her chest. She really did love this man. He understood a lot of things about her without her having to offer explanations.

He drew her close and pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead before turning and leaving.

She was head over heels in love with him whether she wanted to be or not.

Now, if only Mikhail could fall in love with her too, everything would be perfect.

What if he never does? she wondered. What if Alena had scarred him so badly that he was now incapable of love? Well, she knew he loved their baby, but what if he couldn’t love any woman again, including her? Sometimes she could have sworn he loved her because of his actions; he was always so protective and attentive. But what if she was reading more into his actions than he meant?

She was a hopeless romantic. She needed to hear that Mikhail Nikolai loved her.

Gently, she caressed her flat stomach as she whispered to her baby, “Maybe when you get here, he’ll finally confess his feelings. Come soon, baby.”

Chapter 32 - Mira

“It’s a beautiful night,” Mikhail whispered hours later as his hands came around her midriff to protectively cover her stomach where their child was nestled.

Mira sighed and leaned back against him. “A fitting conclusion to a beautiful day.”

“Was it?” he asked, levering away a bit to stare down at her.

Mira smiled to herself. “Mikhail, justice was served today. You got your father’s killer and I got my mother’s killer. We just need to decide what to do to him.”

She’d been unable to sleep, and had been staring at the moonlight and stars, contemplating all the events of the day and trying to make sense of it all. It was one thing suspecting that her mother had been killed by her father and it was an entirely different thing knowing that for sure.

Mikhail dropped a gentle kiss beneath her right earlobe, effectively distracting her from her musings, and she gave a small hum of pleasure.

“You excite me, Mira. Everything about you makes me very excited,” he whispered in a dark, silky tone that made wetness pool between her legs.

She grinned as she pressed her buttocks backward against the unmistakable hard length of his arousal. Good, he was affected by their proximity too. She would hate to be in this state alone.

As a matter of fact, if the hard bulge digging into her soft backside was any indication, she thought it was safe to say he was a little more affected.

Experimentally, she rocked her ass from one side to the other, brushing her soft buttocks against his hard cock.

He groaned in her ear and took her earlobe gently into his mouth. “What are you doing to me, Mira?”

A moan escaped her lips as his tongue flicked gently against the soft skin of her earlobe. “I’m just standing here minding my business, Mikhail. You’re the one driving me crazy.”

He laughed and tightened his hold on her. “Naughty girl.”

Before she could guess his intent, one hand boldly parted her robe and delved beneath it to stroke her soft, naked thighs.

“Mikhail,” she purred.

His hand drifted to the juncture of her thighs and gave a soft feather caress to the soft skin of her pussy. She had waxed it clean of all hair, so she felt his featherlight touch all the more.

“You’re like a drug in my system,” he told her as he dipped his hand into her pussy, softly stroking her already erect clitoris.