PASHA“Hey, Pash—mmf!”The kiss that silences her is brutal and crushing, but so is every emotion raging war inside me as I haul her onto the kitchen island and step between her thighs.I want her.I need her.And I need her to understand how things around here, between us, actually work.She’s changed out of her work clothes and into a more comfortable lounge set of sweatpants and a tank top that won’t quite cover her baby bump as well as it used to. It’s also stretched tighter around her breasts than I recall.Just like that, all the blood pounding in my head rushes straight to my dick.I already tossed my coat and tie aside, and was in the process of working my shirt buttons open when I came into the kitchen. Now, everything between her skin and mine is a barrier that pisses me the hell off.With one swift move that makes her yelp with surprise, I yank her top off over her head and her pants down.No panties. No bra.Naughty plamya.“Pasha, what are you—ohhh…”Her confusion melts i
PASHA“I thought you’d be at lunch with Daphne and Mama.”Sofi makes sure the door to my office is locked before she settles into the chair facing my desk. “We already had lunch. Mama is taking her shopping for baby clothes and more toys.”I frown. “Daphne has work today. Why isn’t she going back to work?”The way my sister drums her fingers on the arm of the chair sets me on edge. Whatever update she’s sitting on, it’s not good.“You’re not gonna like it,” she confirms.“Just fucking tell me.”“Ewing stopped by the gallery.”She was right: I do not like it.“And?”“And you don’t need to freak out; I already took care of it. I just thought you should know because Daph seemed a little pale during lunch, and the last thing she needs right now is for you to go all silverback gorilla on her?—”“Tell me what happened.”Sofi sighs. “He assaulted her. In the showroom.”My chair tumbles to the floor. I think I throw my desk to the side, or at least I try to, because it’s a loud series of cras
And in one swift motion, Conrad is ripped off me.“The fuck is going on here?” Sofiya wedges herself between us. I can’t see her face, but her entire body is simmering with rage.“This is between Daphne and me.” Now, Conrad is officially pissed off. He steps forward and reaches out to push Sofi aside, his gaze set squarely on me.Again, Sofi grabs him, but this time, it’s for leverage. Her hands grip both his shoulders so she can deliver a knee to his groin hard enough to crush his testicles into baking powder.His eyes bug out of his head the same time his lungs emit a high-pitched wheezing sound. When he doubles over, Sofi takes the opportunity to uppercut his chin, snapping his head back and making him bite his tongue with enough force that blood starts trickling between his lips.The man crumples to the floor. Bloody, wheezing, and curled up in the fetal position cradling what’s left of his nuts.“Are you okay?”The petty side of me wants to ask him if he’s painting a new abstract
DAPHNEI don’t know what sort of “business” Pasha does in the middle of the night. I’m not sure I want to know.What I do know is that, whatever it is, it compels him to come home and sit on the bed next to me for a while. He never says anything. Never touches me. He just sits there, assumes I’m sleeping, and stares off into the dark.Last night was one of those nights. He sat down next to me, sighed, and gazed at the wall for a while. I didn’t say anything, too afraid to break whatever spell had him bewitched. Then he got up, went into the bathroom, and took a shower before heading off to sleep on the couch.This morning, he insisted on taking me to work himself. No special occasion, and my guards were perfectly capable of doing it themselves. But Pasha calmly stated this was happening, ushered me into the car an hour earlier than I usually leave, and took us to the drive-thru for a vitamin smoothie and pastry.He seemed on edge. I asked him about it, but he just forced a smile and
I saw nothing but him as my enemy.I felt nothing but pure, unadulterated rage.The one lesson I learned from my father that day was to never allow my emotions to overrun my logic. If I let my heart get in the way, I’ll miss the knife coming for my back.The one lesson he learned that day?My little brother and sister don’t care how big my enemy is. My enemy is their enemy, and they do not hold back when it comes to protecting their big brother. They may have cowered in the corner while our mother screamed for them to run.But when I hit the floor, they turned into demons.Kostya never raised a hand against our mother after that night. He also lost half the sight in his left eye and walked with a permanent limp. He’d do his best to fake it, to pretend like he didn’t need a cane, but his men knew.Everyone knew.“You’re not like him,” Sofiya offers, her voice quiet.“I look like him.” I rub a hand over my jaw. “And sometimes, I… Blyat’. I catch myself sounding like him. Making the same
PASHA“Don’t look at me like that.”“Like what?” Sofi protests. “It’s not like I’m?—”“Stop. Don’t try to moonwalk into the conversation you’re clearly angling for.”“Rude,” she sniffles. “Extremely rude.”I roll my eyes. “You want polite? Fine. I’ll thank you for keeping your thoughts to yourself. How’s that for polite?”“Which thoughts specifically?” Sofi tilts her head to one side in mock concentration. “The ones about you being head-over-heels in love with Daphne?”I clench my jaw. “Don’t be ridiculous.”“Oh? So, you don’t find it interesting that, after your gushingly romantic date, you’re brooding in your office instead of home with her?” She lifts a hand. “Don’t start with me on that ‘I have work to do’ bullshit. You don’t. This isn’t work; it’s avoidance.”It wasn’t gushingly romantic, I think to myself. Matter of fact, it was a silent, bitter disaster. After she brought up my father, I shut down, and it’s taken hours since dinner ended for me to claw my way back out of the ps