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Her eyes widened, and her mouth formed a perfect O as the pleasure crested. She shattered over me, her body clenching and pulsing, her orgasm triggering my own. I buried my face in her neck, muffling my groan as I poured myself into her, my hips thrusting upward to meet her final downward plunge. I wrapped my arms around her, holding her close, the leash and my cock still connecting us. One of her hands came up to stroke the back of my neck, the other resting over my heart.

“My Daddy,” she whispered against my skin.

I held her tighter, my eyes closed, a sense of rightness settling over me. “Thank you for coming back to me, my sweet girl.”

I wouldn’t make her leave ever again—not from my arms, my life, or my heart. The leash I held symbolized the trust we were rebuilding, a trust I would protect with my life.

* * *

Afterward, we dressed and sat together on the rug in front of the library fire, Alessia between my knees with her back resting against my chest. The leash lay across her lap, the end still held lightly in my hand.

“I’ve come up with a plan,” she said.

My body tensed automatically.

“Listen before you object, though.”

“I’m listening.”

“Levon still needs my authority over the Bellandi ports. Sokolov still has to appear in person with the key and the records that make the transfer real. Dmitry believes our marriage fractured because I left the townhouse.”

“He may have surveillance confirming it.”

“Good. For once, let him believe what he sees.”

She turned slightly, enough to look at me over her shoulder.

“I’ll tell them I’m willing to break ties with you and Raffaele. I’ll propose giving Levon the port authorization in return for control of the American companies. We make them name the warehouse holding the live node. The Bellandi and Morozov teams stay outside until I signal.”

“You would be in the warehouse with Levon and Sokolov?”

“Yes.”

“And Dmitry too?”

“That’s correct.”

I looked toward the leash in my hand. The old Sergei would have closed his fist around it and told her that it was too dangerous, that we would find another way. We could even send someone else. But I wasn’t that man anymore.

The man Alessia had chosen needed to trust his wife.

“What do you need from me?” I asked.

“You’ll need to wait outside until I give the signal,” she continued. “You’re going to need to trust me.”

The fire shifted beside us, wood crackling softly beneath the flames.

I swallowed hard. Waiting had once cost Mila her life. That was the lie my body whispered if Alessia waited beyond a door I couldn’t see through. Each silent moment would stretch into a corridor of an apartment. Every hesitation would feel like blood spreading across the floor. Choosing to trust her signal would come before fear convinced me I had already lost her.

“I’ll wait,” I said.

Alessia searched my face. “Even if the silence terrifies you?”

“It does. But yes.”

“Promise me as my husband, not my security chief.”

I wrapped the loose length of leash once around my hand, not shortening it, only acknowledging what she had entrusted to me.