02| Did You Miss Me?

SIX YEARS LATER.

I stare at my reflection in the mirror, admiring the strong young woman who stares back at me. 

Today is my twenty-first birthday, and my parents have decided they want to celebrate it with all their corporate friends and close confidants. 

I usually feel like an outcast at large gatherings or in crowded places. I am the awkward girl in the corner of the room who has been sipping the same drink for three hours while watching everyone else enjoy themselves.

I turn to the side, drinking in my reflection as I take note of how well the gown fits my body.

It savagely clings to every generous curve the Gods have blessed me with. The silver gown that sparkles under the light heightens the sapphire blue irises in my eyes. 

I have my mother's red hair and my father's eyes, but somehow I have inherited my Aunt Ana's spitfire tongue.

FOR ONCE, my mother has picked something for me that doesn't make me feel like I am too overly dressed; something that will draw too much attention to myself.

I sweep my red hair over one shoulder, exposing the delicate column of my neck and the diamond studs that Uncle Deniz gave me for my birthday last year.

A soft knock sounds at my door, I turn around and watch as the door is slowly pushed open. "Oh... Zee, you look beautiful!" My mother sings with pride in her eyes as she approaches me. 

She stands behind me and we both look at the women staring back at us.

They look similar in many ways, but they can't be any more different on the inside. There have been multiple occasions when I have wanted to be just like her. 

A fearless lioness who isn't afraid to get her paws dirty; stained with blood. 

She is a fighter, a strong-willed woman who doesn't take crap from anyone. 

Though she has told me on multiple occasions that she wasn't always a strong woman. She had to step up and grow some thick skin when my father was sent to jail on my first birthday. He was accused of murder back in Russia.

There was no stable evidence to prosecute him with. But, someone really had it out for him, and their fabricated lies; evidence put him behind bars for nine years.  

He was missing from my life for nine years, nearly half of my life, and it has never sat right with me because time is the one thing that you can never get back.

"I still can't believe that you are twenty-one today. It's like I blinked and time just got away with us." Tears brim my mother's jade green eyes, and she lightly squeezes my shoulders. "I just hope that the world is ready for you Zee. You have always been the shy, timid kitten." She says softly as her gaze never leaves mine. "But it's now time for you to show your claws, baby. The world is full of evil and so much hatred."

I blow air out of my nostrils, "I know ma, you have told me a gazillion times, but you haven't explained to me why you see the world you do."

"I know, pumpkin. Tonight, you're father and I have decided that it is time for you to learn the truth about how your father became one of the most feared men in the organisation he was tied to." She sighs as she nervously nibbles on her lower lip with a look of apprehension tarnishing her soft features.

"Here are my two favourite women in my life." The sound of my father's deep voice resonating off the walls always sends a chill up my spine. 

He has this way of dominating everyone's attention when he enters the room, and I wish it was a trait I inherited from him.

"We are the only two women in your life, dad." I giggle as I turn around to face him. 

"Wow!" He breathes out, rubbing the back of his neck. "How did I get so lucky and become severely cursed at the same time?" 

My mother and I roll our eyes heavenward, "Smooth, my love." She coos with laughter.

My father responds with a deep vibrating growl as his eyes openly ravish her from head to toe.

I love the way my father stares at my mother as if she is the only person in the room. 

I hope that one day I will meet a man who has eyes just for me.

"Our guests have started to arrive. It is time to go downstairs and mingle." My father says as he holds out his arm for my mother to take.

She links her arm with his, "We will be waiting for you downstairs, pumpkin. Don't keep us waiting too long." My mother says as she winks knowingly at me. 

I sigh and nod my head. "I'll be down shortly." 

The moment the door closes behind them, I exit my room and make my way down the hallway to the other end of the villa.

There is a particular room where I prefer to escape and relax. It is the room in the entire villa that appears to have a calming effect on me.

I turn the brass handle, push the door wide open and I close it behind me.

 I notice, as I press my head against the door, that the aroma of his cologne still lingers in the air, and I inhale deeply into my nose, filling my nostrils with his seductive, divine scent.

My twisted fantasies about him should make me repulsed within myself. Since we grew up together, my affection for him should be forbidden.

"Printsessa..." His hot breath fans the crook of my neck that rouses a ripple of awareness to surge through my thrumming veins. "You look beautiful... from behind that is." He chuckles with amusement.

I suck in a razor-sharp breath at the sound of his earth-shattering voice, swallowing thickly as I try to slow my hammering heart down.

What is he doing here? 

Aunt Ana said that he regretfully couldn't make it today as he was stuck in Russia.

His hot fingers grip my hips as he steps forward, pressing his front to my back and locks the door.

 I place my open palms against the timber door, feeding off the coolness it possesses as I do my best not to turn to putty under his touch. 

I slowly turn around to face him, and instantly regret my decision when his lips brush against mine, taunting every logical reason to push him away that crosses my mind. 

"Did you miss me?"

I shake my head, lying through the skin of my teeth, "What are you doing here, Dmitri?" I whisper.

A deep growl vibrates from the back of his throat as his torturous fingers, the very ones that gave me my first orgasm at fifteen digs into the flesh of my hips, leaving a pinch of pain in their wake. 

"I love it when you say my name, printsessa," He hums, "How long has it been? Two-"

"Three years." I snap unintentionally wishing I could take the words back. 

A sly grin slowly spreads across his angelic-looking face, "You've been counting." He states in a cocky tone.

I place my hands flat on his chest, and I shove him away. "Still a cocky son of a bitch I see." I hiss, hating the way he makes my body burn with fever.

Slowly panting through my parted lips, I realise that he is shirtless, his gold skin and sinuous muscle put on full display for my eyes to feast upon. His eyes look darker than I remember, smouldering with carnal intent. 

The perfect curve of his lips etches with cruelty. He's so hot with lust and anger that it should be a crime. He's sin in human form and he makes me want to be a sinner.

"And you're still a stuck-up printsessa holding a grudge." He snarls, throwing his hands in the air.

I open my mouth to say something just as snarky, but the words never leave my lips as the sound of open fire rips through the air...