The warmth of his release fills me, the force of it sending a shockwave of pleasure through my body. He drops his head against my shoulder, his breathing ragged and hot against my neck. I lie beneath him, spent and shaking, when his fingers wrap around my throat—not squeezing, just… claiming.
“You’re mine,krasotka.” The words slither across my skin as he slowly pulls his cock out of me, making me feel every inch.
“You’re my captive, my prisoner.” His teeth graze my pulse point, and I feel his lips curve into that cruel smile I pretend not to crave. “You belong to me, Clara Caldwell.”
44
Leonid
The soft hum of the engines is the only consistent sound on the Gulfstream G700, but Maksim is about to change that. He slouches into the leather seat across from me, stretching out like he owns the damn plane.
“Pakhan,” he starts, settling forward. He never calls me that unless he’s dead serious. And Maksim is rarely serious—maybe five times in the entire time I’ve known him. Whatever this is, it’s going to be good.
I glance up from the tablet in my hand, skimming through logistics reports about the mining operation. The screen reflects back a tired version of me—sharp brown eyes, tension etched into my forehead, and a jaw that hasn’t unclenched since we left New Orleans.
“Don’t do thismudak,” I warn.
“Do what?” Maksim’s grin is all teeth, the kind that makes people nervous if they don’t know him well.
“The thing where you pretend you have a legitimate question, but really, you’re about to waste my time.”
He holds up his hands like I’ve caught him in the act. “Fine, but explain something to me, yeah? What exactly is the plan here? Because forgive me, but bringing yourdevushkaand her little one along isn’t exactly your style.”
I don’t answer. Not immediately.
I let him squirm under the silence, even as he shifts in his seat, the leather creaking slightly.
“I mean,” he continues, undeterred, “we barely got her to leave her house. Had to dig out their passports from a drawerexactlywhere she said they’d be.”
His eyes gleam with amusement, but it’s the kind that irritates me.
“I don’t need to explain myself to you, Maksim.”
“Maybe not,” he says, leaning back like he’s settling in for a show. “But I’ve gotta say, watching you wrangle a woman and a kid like some kind of doting husband and father is not what I expected from our fearless leader.”
The tablet slips from my hand onto the table with a muted thud. I fix him with a look that would shut most people up, but Maksim thrives on pushing limits.
“The plan…” I start, but the rest of the words hang there.
The plan wasn’t to fuck her.
Wasn’t to have her around for so long, either. Wasn’t to sit here, wondering if Ludis will try something while I’m gone or if Fiona’s already setting the chessboard for her next move. And it definitely wasn’t to care about whether Clara’s comfortable in my jet—or if she’s glaring daggers at the door like she’s imagining how best to jump out at 40,000 feet.
Which, to be fair, isn’t entirely wrong.
Maksim leans forward, his eyebrow arching like he’s challenging me to finish my sentence. “The plan is…?” he asks, dragging the words out like he’s savoring them.
I don’t answer right away. My gaze flicks to the tinted window, where dawn spills over the horizon, streaking the sky with pink and gold. The Swiss Alps are out there somewhere, waiting, but the weight in my chest makes them feel farther away than they should.
“The plan,mudak,” I finally say, leaning back and reclining the seat slightly, “is to find out what the fuck Ludis and Fiona are doing behind my back. Their little games stop when I say they stop.”
Maksim’s grin widens, but I keep going before he can interrupt.
“We’ll need more muscle, more loyalty, and more eyes on the ground. No one betrays me.”Suka, my voice drops a notch as I tilt my head toward the door to the private sleeping quarters, where Clara and Elijah are tucked away. “And no one touches what’s mine.”
Maksim whistles low, shaking his head.
“Right. No one touches what’s yours—meaning Clara.” His tone is drenched in mock innocence, but his eyes gleam with mischief. “Because this is all about the Bratva and not about playing house with your woman and her kid. Totally makes sense.”
