LOGINI froze then smiled a little, thinking maybe he was teasing me. "What does it look like I’m doing, genius?" He shifted again, a shallow hitch catching in his chest before he could smooth it out. His fingers flexed where they rested at my lower back, the pads of them pressing in and easing off, like he wasn’t trying to move me at all, just checking that I was real. That he was real. "Why are you on top of me? Naked?" He asked. I blinked, still catching my breath, my hands resting on his chest. "What do you mean?" I murmured, a small smile tugging at my lips despite the chaos around us. But then he shifted, propping himself up on his elbows, and his eyes dropped between us. I felt him tense and very muscle locked up at once. He propped himself up on his elbows, staring down at where we were still joined. His cock had gone soft inside me, but the sight of it, of his cum starting to leak out around the edges, made his whole body go rigid. "Jesus fucking Christ," he muttered. Befo
So why did my chest ache with a pain that had nothing to do with vengeance?The look on his face kept pulling at me. That raw, unguarded agony. It unsettled me in a way I didn’t understand and cracked something open where rage was supposed to live. I had spent so long imagining him as a monster that I wasn’t prepared for this... this broken, human version of him.And I hated it.Because all I wanted in that moment was to make it go away. To wipe that look from his face and replace it with the cold, intimidating mask I knew. The one that made him easy to hate. Easy to destroy.This version? This one made my chest hurt.I didn’t know how to comfort men. That had never been my role.What I knew was how to undo them; how to unravel them with pleasure or end them with death. Those were the only languages I’d ever been taught.And since killing him wasn’t an option right now, I reached for the other weapon in my arsenal.My bare feet carried me across the rug, avoiding the spreading dark po
"You have to believe me, Pakhan. Come on. You’ve known me over ten years. Ten fucking years of loyalty. I’ve bled for you, taken bullets, buried bodies—whatever you asked. She’s been here... what? Three weeks? A month tops? You really think I’d lie to your face after everything?"He sounded desperate and his voice cracked at the edges. I almost felt sorry for him.Almost.Dominic didn’t answer right away. Instead he turned those dark eyes on me. "What do you have to say for yourself, Raven?"I took a shaky step closer to him. Not too close—I didn’t want to look like I was trying to seduce my way out of this—but close enough that he could see the tears still shining on my cheeks. I made my voice small and cracked, the way people sound when they’re about to break."I’ve never lied to you," I said quietly. "Not once. Everything I’ve told you so far? It checked out, right? The brother, the college, the way I showed up here… all of it was real. I get it if you pick him. You’ve known him fo
Starlet was perched on the edge of her bed, watching him with wide, curious eyes. Sergei’s head swiveled towards me as I entered. Relief flashed across his stony features. He cleared his throat. "Miss Raven," he rumbled, his voice too loud for the quiet room. "The boss. He wishes to see you. Now." He didn’t say it like a request. It was a statement of fact, an inevitability. The week of quiet was over. The ghost had decided to reappear. *** My heart was slamming hard against my ribs as I followed Sergei down the hallway. Why the hell did Dominic want to see me? After a full week of nothing, was this it? Was I about to get fired? Thrown out on my ass? Or something worse? I pushed those thoughts away, forcing myself to breathe steady. No point in freaking out before I even knew what was up. We stopped at the familiar dark wood to his office. Sergei gave me a quick nod, motioning for me to go in. He stayed outside, pulling the door shut behind me with a soft click that echoed in m
When I finally got out, my skin pruned but relaxed in a good way. I wrapped myself in a towel and padded back to the room. My panties were laid out on my bed with a pad already stuck in. Next to them, my comfiest sleeping shorts and a baggy tee, folded neatly. Starlet was sitting cross-legged on her own bed, pretending to be very interested in her phone. She peeked over. "Feel any better?" I stood there, dripping on the rug, trying to calm my racing heart. A weird, warm feeling bloomed in my chest, right next to the usual ball of anxiety and anger. It was… nice. Someone had done something nice. For me. "What's this?" I asked, hiding the warmth in my voice. She smiled sheepishly. "I... uh, went through your suitcase. It's still unpacked, right? Figured you'd need comfy stuff. And the pad—thought it might help. I didn't mean to snoop, just wanted to make it easy." No one has ever done something like this for me. But I didn't say anything, I just nodded and dressed quickly. T
He stared at me as if I’d started speaking another language. "What is with you? This fucking attitude… is it the goddamn hormones? Are you really that cranky because of your fucking period?"Every cell in my body screamed to let loose, to unleash the torrent of curses and accusations. I pictured Haley’s face. I pictured Josh, smiling, clueless and swallowed it all.I breathed, in and out, slowly. "I’m just tired. I want to go.""You’re ungrateful," he stated, his own anger returning, laced with something that sounded almost like betrayal. "I scouted you from that shithole club. You begged me to bring you here. I put you on the top floor in weeks—a promotion others wait years for. I gave you a weekend off on your second fucking day. I don't usually do that."And there it was. The opening.A sick, reckless compulsion took over. The need to wound him back, to shatter his arrogant control."You didn’t give me that weekend off out of kindness," I said, my voice eerily calm. "You did it for







