Epilogue 1
As we step off the private jet, my heart flutters with excitement. Las Vegas—the city of lights, the city of dreams— it is the perfect destination for our wedding, a place where magic and passion intertwine.Nikolai had arranged a limousine to take us to our hotel. As we drive down the Las Vegas strip, I am amazed at all the lights and scenery. Nikolai takes my hand and tells me, “You’re going to be my wife.”I blush; it still feels like a dream. “I never thought this would happen, especially after everything we’ve been through.”Nikolai smiles and squeezes my hand. “You’ve changed my perspective on relationships. I never imagined feeling this way about someone. You’ve become the most important person in my life.”Tears fill my eyes as I tell him, “I never thought I would find someone who accepts me for who I am, flaws and all. With you, I feel safe and cherished.”Nikolai leans in and whispeElizaMistakes don’t happen, only happy accidents.I press my paintbrush against the canvas, elongatingthe bright white streak until it’s stretched to the edge. There, now it looks like it’s supposed to be that way, a blur of light against the bleak New York sky.It’s a happy accident, not a mistake. There are no mistakes.I breathe a judgmental laugh out of my nose as I watch a woman come out of the luxury boutique with so many bags she can hardly carry them. Her expression is one of pure annoyance, as though the world has cursed her with so much money.How can someone have so much, yet be so ungrateful? Is that also a happy accident?There must be something I’m missing. They say money can’t buy happiness, but being broke hasn’t bought me anything at all.Except some half-used tubes of oil paint, a simple canvas, and a shoebox apartment that I’m about to miss my rent on if I can’t sell any of my artwork. It’s hard to feel grateful for anyof that, but not being grateful would only p
LevMid-twenties?”“Something like that, with ginger hair just aboveher shoulders and lips like a red candy apple,” I reply, tapping the ash off the end of my cigar.“Not on the floor, fucking dickhead. I told you about that,” my uncle Valentin says, coughing as he shakes his head. He’s had that cough since I was born. I swear I remember it from the day my mother first brought me home.“It’s marble. It’ll come off with a quick mop,” I reply, waving my cigar over the gallery floor. A few extra ash flakes flutter down.Valentin curses under his breath, glaring at the ash like it’s a cockroach. “I can never have anything nice with you around. I’m sure you scared that girl off the moment you opened your mouth. No twenty-something artist wants anything to do with an old man like you. Those days are over.”“Maybe for you,” I mutter, puffing smoke into the spacious room. Valentin has been hounding me to stop smoking in here, talking about the smoke yellowing the paintings, but nobody comes
ElizaI’m shaking so hard that I can barely hold my phone. I can’t believe this is happening. The money is real and it’s in the bank, my rent is paid, and he’s coming back with moreonce I finish his painting!I almost want to run out to the boutique and work on it under the light of the moon, just to get it finished sooner. My excitement comes not only from my ability to make more money, but also from seeing Lev again.Oh my god, he’s so handsome. I don’t think I’ve ever met a man with a jaw so powerful and pronounced. And those eyes… Fuck, he could electrocute me with them and I’d probably have an orgasm from the pain.Nothing like Noah. Oh, good God, no. I don’t even want to compare the two.My mind is racing. I can’t think straight.I sit down on my bed, looking out the window and wondering how many people are out there tonight, falling in love, breaking up, getting drunk, sobering up. In my little hometown, once the clock struck midnight, nobody was out but the sheriff. If you w
ElizaIpush my hair behind my ear as I put the finishing touches on the painting outside the boutique. I’ve been anticipating Lev, but he hasn’t made an appearance. Of course, hewouldn’t just show up here again for no reason, but I feel like I need to be prepared in case he does.Maybe he forgot something, one last luxury item to grab from the store on a rare sunny autumn afternoon. I wonder what he does for a living to afford such expensive things. I’ve been in that store once, more out of curiosity than anything, and I couldn’t believe the prices.Of course, everything is quite beautiful, but in what universe is it normal for jeans to cost a thousand dollars? In my hometown, you’d get them from the little shop down between the pancake place and the postal service, and they’d always be priced the same – $19.99. That never changed in the ten years I was shopping there.I’d be lucky to get a pair for ten times that here, but I’m probably not going to be doing any shopping for a long
LevIt’s a cute place, warm and small like Eliza. I think it fits her well, but I have to duck to get through the doorway, and the slanted walls make it even more difficult for me tomove with ease.“It’s not much, but I’m working with what I got,” Eliza says with a nervous laugh, making her way to the stove. “Would you like some tea?”That’s an invitation to stay longer, and I’d die before saying no to her. I don’t know why, but I feel the need to be close to her, to learn everything about her, inside and out. Maybe it’s the innocent way she pouts her lips, or the inviting swing of her slender hips.She has a body like a dancer. I bet she knows how to move when she’s on top.“I’d love some tea,” I say, snapping out of my perversion for the briefest of moments before my eyes begin following her body again.Perfect waist, perfect breasts, perfect everything. It almost makes me angry that a woman can look so good and not even realize it. Valentin would laugh at me, but I legitimately be
ElizaAlright, now I know he’s coming on to me, but what the hell am I supposed to do? I don’t want to be too easy, or be treated like a whore who’s willing to perform sexualfavors in exchange for his help. I’d be passed around to all his rich friends, and they’d line my pockets with cash while using me like a toy.I cross my legs behind the canvas, trying to squeeze out my impure thoughts. I hate that I’m so turned on by the idea of him sharing me. I don’t want to be that kind of woman. I came here to do art. I’m a painter!I take a deep breath, letting it out slowly and trying to make my face turn a lighter shade. I know I’m red. I have a pale complexion, and I’m sensitive. All someone has to do is look at me wrong and I blush.But he hasn’t suggested that I do anything sexual for him. That’s all my doing. Those are my thoughts, and there’s no way for me to know what’s going through his head right now. For all I know, he’s just a nice man who appreciates art and wants to help my ca
ElizaI’m struggling so hard with the size of Lev’s cock that it feels like I’m going to ruin everything before we’ve even begun. Maybe I should’ve just let him cum in my mouth,but I had to have him inside me. I wanted him all the way, and I’m paying the price for it.“You’re just tight, darling. Relax,” he says, pausing for a moment as my body adjusts to his girth.It’s no easy task, and it takes almost a full minute before he’s able to start moving again. But once he slides in all the way, all the overwhelming tension inside me dissolves into pure bodily bliss.Waves of euphoric pleasure move through me as he begins to make love to me, blossoming into electric pulses in my brain that cause me to lose what little control I had left. I’m consumed by Lev, and yet I’m the one consuming him, taking him inside of me deeper with every thrust.Lev’s huge hand encircles my neck, applying pressure and testing my limits. I wouldn’t stop him even if I couldn’t breathe anymore, but he appears
LevI almost feel guilty for what I did to Eliza yesterday. She’s never going to be able to be with another man without craving that kind of treatment, and the number of men whoknow how to do what I did to her are few and far between.I own her pussy now, and nobody else is going to touch her unless they want every bone in their body shattered. Eliza doesn’t know that I would kill for her, and I pray she doesn’t find out the hard way. If this ex she’s been talking about attempts to find and reclaim her…Then I’m going to prison for murder.My demented thoughts are only proving Valentin more correct, but I’ve lost control. The beast is loose, and all it took was a kiss.But even amidst my newfound sexual obsession, I haven’t forgotten the promises I made Eliza. She’s more than an object for my amusement, and I don’t want her believing that I only want her for sex. I recognize her talent, and I’m willing to give her the leg up she needs to make it in the art world.It’s a cutthroat in