Page 75 of The Tsar's Obsession
Minutes, hours, days—we spent time togetheron the floor, melting into one another. I absorbed Mia’s tears and her doubts and, with them, the divine light she emanated.
Those delicious lips on my neck and her gentle hands in my hair—she was the only person on this planet I could be weak with. The only one who I belonged to fully, who had all my heart and soul.
“I don’t care about your past girlfriends, Kirill,” she whispered as her hands explored my body. “I care about who you are as a person. I’m sorry the letter had such an effect on me, baby.” Those angel eyes and that pouty mouth did something rotten to me. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I’m not even sure I believed it. I was just…I was just so scared of what it said.” Her whisper was so gentle. “Forgive me.” She straddled me, her body flush against mine, our time together private, just for us.
My love.
“I love you, Sunshine. Never, ever forget that. You don’t have to apologize. I’m yours, forever.” I reassured her and immensely enjoyed her warmth and body so close to mine. She was in my arms, in my heart, in my eyes…and that’s all that mattered.
Mia’s love overpowered all darkness within me and my life. Her light, her pure and genuine spirit healed all broken parts of me. The passion we shared was incomparable to anything else I had ever lived through. I was so hooked on Mia, so deeply in love and obsessed, I wanted to donothingelse in my life except spend every possible second with her. Every minute when I wasn’t with her was wasted and wrong.
“Quit.” Her sudden message slowly infiltrated my mind while my fingers pulled off her clothes. My goddess appeared in front of me shirtless, her hot skin buzzing with anticipation. Her eyes dazed and her lips swollen with my kisses, she repeated her message, “Quit.”
I knew this day would come—when she would ask me to give it all up, and I fucking wanted to. Iso fucking wanted to.I wanted to turn away and let it all burn behind me. But I was in too deep tosimply quit. It was part of me, and I was part of the violence, the money, and the power. Darkness ran through my blood.
“I will,” I promised into her lips, my hands gliding down her back, landing on those plump butt cheeks that I enjoyed so much. “For you, baby, you know I will.” But there was no timeline, there was no guarantee, and she knew that. There was a chance I’d be able to figure it out only in thirty years.
Or never at all.
Weeks rushed by in a blur. I watched, I waited, I noticed everything, but neither Polina nor Dmitry gave me any reason to suspect them of sending that sneaky letter.
Whispers in the dark, moving shadowed figures, and schemes of betrayal and lies reached my ears and eyes every few days. A week before my birthday in March, I noticed someone on the street. Someone who I thought was dead, someone who I thoughtIkilled.
My stressed and anxious conscience played tricks on me. My world had Mia in it, and protecting her had become my main focus. Her twenty-four-hour security recorded her every move, and any suspicious details were immediately communicated to me.
“Everyone knows the real reason for our move now, Kirill.” My partner of the last two decades strolled around my home office in the dead of night, a glass of whisky in his tattooed hand.
The meeting with thevorywas set for the end of May, and while the world moved on and we lived in the twenty-first century, old habits died hard. “No one believes in that rule anymore, but at the same time, no one is happy that you’re here for your own personal life. They want your time and energy spent on managing the network and influence.” Dmitry’s words gave me no comfort as he looked out the window into the dark city.
Old traditions were so hard to break. The head of the Bratva wasn’t to be married; that was the rule in the past, and I thought we were more than ready to let that go. Apparently not.
It was forbidden before. I wasn’t to have a family, not in the traditional sense. But I lived by my own fucking rules, andthe past constraints of my world would have to adjust. I was going to marry her; Iwasgoing to make her my wife.
“We’ve been away long enough that some have become bold…enough to express their negative opinion, brother. I hope you don’t have to make a decision you don’t want to make soon.” Dmitry’s voice carried across the room, the rest of the apartment dead silent. Mia slept peacefully in our bed while Dmitry paced my office, his arrival unknown to her.
My power or her love. The question had now become impossible to ignore, and everyone was beginning to pick up on that.
As soon as the Bratva thieves smell weakness, they pounce. And I was so deeply intertwined in my world that I wouldn't be able to just walk away, not the way Mia wanted me to quit.
My mind worked overtime to come up with a solution. I would have to act first, before they aimed at my heart.
“Lastly, the Italians have regained a large part of their territory over the last month. Domenic isn’t backing down.” Dmitry shot me a worried look and downed the rest of his whisky before adding his last words, “Scare him. I know you don’t want to do it, but…take Alessandra until he gives us what we want once and for a–"
“No, I’m not taking his wife,” I responded strongly, the thought repulsive. That wasn’t a tactic; that was a dirty game, and I was going to win on strategy and brains alone, not intimidation and kidnapping. I’d matured, but clearly, Dmitry never did. My answer had no effect on him while he collected his phone and car keys off my desk.
“You’re the boss,” he added with slight humor that I didn’t appreciate. Right before stepping out of the door at three in the morning, he checked his watch and his large frame leaned in for a hug. “Happy birthday, brother. Go, enjoy your birthday night.” He sighed with a small suggestive smile and disappeared.
Careful not to disturb like every night, I climbed into the warm bed and hugged my perfect girl, falling into oblivion with her, forgetting all my troubles.
Before I opened my eyes in the morning, a warm and delicate body pressed against mine, and gentle kisses landed on my neck, my shoulders, and my chest. Mia’s sensual caresses drew me out of my slumber, and I was becoming attuned to where her hands traveled. This was the best way to wake up. The sheets slid off my naked body while the morning sun blinded me even with my eyelids shut.
“Baby…” I breathed out just as Mia’s wet kiss landed on my lower abdomen and her hands ghosted down my hips and thighs.
“Mmm…”Her soft moan against my skin intensified my morning wood in a second. “Happy birthday, my love.” That angelic voice resonated in my ears, and I remembered that indeed, it was my birthday today. “I don’t tell you enough how incredibly fucking hot and irresistible you are.” Oh fuck, her little pecks and trails of her wet tongue were so satisfying, clouding my mind. “I love licking these V-lines.” Mia’s fingers traced my skin, teasing without mercy. “You make me so fucking addicted.”
Her lips landed right on the tip of my cock, but she kept her hands away while I was becoming delirious with every passing second. “I just want you to…” And then she plunged my cock into her hot and wet mouth, and the most desperate moan escaped me.
I had done something right in my life to be granted Mia beside and on me.
