Page 96 of The Tsar's Obsession
My girl.
That’s all the time that I needed. I pulled with everything I had inside me, finally snapping the steel right when all three of us piled on top of each other.
“Suka!”He screamed in my ear just as he twisted and threw Mia off him like a piece of trash. Her body hit the floor with a sickening thud, andI saw fucking red.
His blood. That’s all I wanted.
That angry, violent, merciless part of me was now alive. I lunged at him, mounting his chest. “I warned you—” I sank my fingertips into the soft skin of his neck and throat, “—I will paint the wall with your brains.” I slammed my fist into his nose, the crack and ache in my knuckles a satisfying reprieve from reality.
Harder. His lip split open on the second hit. The third knocked his head back onto the cement floor, his disgusting blood splashing around him.
Harder!
I wanted more blood. Every drop! Every fucking breath he had inside. My body twisted and turned with every punch, and he was already limp, but I didn’t stop. He needed more.Ineeded more. With every scrape of my raw knuckles against his dismantled face, my hunger was slowly being satisfied.
His face was ravaged and I pulled back, already thinking of how to end him—not without her. Working on instinct, I rushed to the work-bench and pulled out a drawer, snatching some rope. Within a minute his wrists and ankles were bound. He was ready.
I dragged his limp body across the floor toward Jeremy, leaving a trail of red behind him, like a slug. “Hi Jer.” I caught the shock in his eyes once I slumped the traitor at his feet, but fuck them both.
There was only one person who mattered.
“Mia…baby.” I was on my knees beside her in seconds. My hands hovered over her, afraid to touch, afraid to hurt her more. Fuck, the crater in her buttcheek bled red, and I ripped my shirt off, covering her body with something,anything.
Real, genuine terror bloomed inside all of me at the sight of her weak and limp body, bloodied, bruised, and cold.
My Sunshine. The woman who made my life worth living. She would’ve never ended up like this if she didn’t link her life with mine. I was careless. I was stupid, naïve, and blind. A complete fucking fool. Never had I made such a grave mistake in my entire life.
Footsteps and muted gunshots upstairs were few and far between now, but nothing else mattered except her. "Mia…baby. Wake up,” I begged, scooping her into my arms. She was freezing.
My forehead on hers, my lips pronounced the words that couldn’t save her. “I'm so sorry, baby. I’m so sorry.” I prayed. I prayed to God for her life, for her eyes to open, and for forgiveness. Anything, everything—I would have given up everything to have her safe and sound beside me once more.
"Kirill..." The softest whisper. The most heavenly sound I’d ever heard. Her eyes fluttered open, unfocused, looking right past me. A little tremble accosted all of her, the shock of pain now fully registering in her body.
My tears flowed out of me, and like the angel that she was, she wiped them away with her bloody fingers. “I’m here, baby, don’t cry, I– I need a new tattoo,” she breathed out, a little smile on her face. But then, she fucking laughed. She cackled manically, delirious from the pain and what she’d been through.
I shuddered at her state, and unable to say any words, I pressed my lips to hers, dousing the pain the only way I knew how. And she answered me back. This was just like the first time—ten years ago. She was cradled in my arms, pressed against my chest and my heart, and I silently wept, realizing how close I had come to losing her forever.
41
Cover Your Eyes
Mia
Faint,butdefinitelythere,I heard Kirill’s voice in the middle of Dmitry’s carving. He came for me; he was here. This would be over soon. I focused on breathing, the only action I had strength for.
I was plunged into a delirious trance of pain and hate. My thoughts were sharp, and vivid images of my past infiltrated my mind. I sawhimagain—that young boy I kissed ten years ago. That young boy—dangerous and intriguing. That young boy who awakened my chase for a high that, up until this moment, I couldn’t figure out.
That little fun and flirtythingI did ignited a craving. It burned low and slow, always there, but withhim,it exploded. With him beside me, I was fearless, just like that one time on the dance floor. With him I was an angel and a devil. I was fire and ice. I was light…and I was darkness.
I chose Kirill and everything that came with him—his world…was just an afterthought.
I was finally alive. I no longer lived in a simulation; I broke out of the matrix. Nothing was fake. No shackles, no restraints, I wanted that high—always.Hewas the drug.
In his arms, on his lap, close to him—that’s the only place I ever wantedto be. I was his, irrevocably, come hell or high water, and he was mine.
I asked for what I wanted; I wasn’t afraid to feel. And I was feeling it all now. When I asked forjust one night,I knew what I was getting myself into. I knew then, deep down, I understood that it would never be enough. A whole lifetime would never be enough.
Madness, passion, lust, sacrifice, love, care, tenderness, vulnerability—everything. I wanted it all with him, and that’s exactly what we had. There was no doubt in my mind, not an ounce of hesitation anymore. I would stay in his possessive arms and fulfill every single one of my deepest desires.
