I find myself smiling back despite everything I witnessed today, and after being made aware of what’s to come.
“Then that makes me the luckiest man in the world.”
With the temptation right in front of me, I lean in, brushing my mouth against hers. It’s slow and tender at first, but she doesn’t pull away.
When our lips meet fully, it sparks with mutual fire and tension. It’s all-consuming, but perfectly encapsulates just how deeply I need her.
And this time, it feels like the beginning of something we both want and deserve.
Chapter 24 - Katya
The Las Vegas sun streams through the windows as I sit at the kitchen island, picking apart a croissant I don’t even really want.
The house is quiet, and yet my thoughts are anything but. For days now, Sergey’s been gone more than usual, holed up at the club or the docks or wherever men like him gravitate to when business becomes more stressful than usual.
He comes home smelling like blood and guns, and his eyes always hold whatever horrors he was just exposed to. He’s still careful with me, though. His touch is hesitant and cautious, almost like he’s afraid I’m not really here, or that I might vanish right in front of his eyes.
And I hate how much I just want more of it.
This wasn’t the plan. I never wanted to be here, and I sure as hell didn’t want to be married into a world I spent years running from. A world I watched break my father and corrupt my brother. But now I’m tied to it, and to Sergey.
Worse yet, I’m starting to care in ways I shouldn’t.
Tired of even entertaining it, I shove the pastry away and lean back to fold my arms as I stare at the ceiling.
Since the moment Sergey hauled me to Vegas, there have been two pieces inside me. One is the woman who wants to claw her way back to New York and her old life, and the one who wakes up every morning wondering if this is the right thing, and if I might have something deeper with Sergey than I once imagined.
I don’t understand him most days. He’s reckless, infuriating, obsessive… but then he’s tender in ways I didn’tknow men like him could be. Protective in a way that feels dangerous and comforting all at once.
While I don’t understand how he operates sometimes, I also feel like I entirely get it somehow, almost like I’m programmed to know.
In a way, we’re both restless when things don’t pan out how we want them to, or when circumstances start to feel beyond our control. He’s a little more willing to act than I am, but I’ve seen how he’s been trying to slow down his impulses.
The thought of staying in this life terrifies me, but by now, leaving and discovering a worse fate with Yuri scares me even more.
I don’t know how long I sit there for, but the sound of the front door swinging open pulls me from my seemingly endless thoughts. I hear his boots first, then the familiar jingle of keys while he holds them in his palm.
“Katya?” Sergey calls, voice low and unreadable, but not entirely hurried either.
“I’m in here,” I answer, still trying to shake the fog of my thoughts thanks to so much uncertainty hanging around us.
Sergey appears in the doorway a moment later with a strange energy about him, almost like he’s holding something back. Like he knows something I don’t.
I scan his face instinctively, hoping for context clues. But I find no blood and no fresh bruises. That’s already a good thing.
“Are you busy?” he asks, seemingly forgetting about our current arrangement.
I look at him pointedly. “Hardly.”
He gives me a faint smirk, and the crooked grin that used to make my blood boil now makes me feel things I never thought I would. “Come with me. I want to show you something.”
I hesitate, but something in his tone is different. Almost like it’s less commanding and more…excited.
Curious, I get up and grab my shoes before following him out. At least it’s something to do.
We ride in one of his cars in silence for the most part while he takes the backroads, weaving through parts of Vegas I haven’t seen before. I take in the sights, even if I never dreamed of finding myself here.
When he finally pulls into an unfamiliar lot and cuts the engine, I stare out the window at a newly renovated brick building with glass garage doors and fresh black trim. My stomach flips.
