After I hang up, I finish putting on the other earring. My movements slow down when I catch Kyle’s reflection in the mirror. He’s standing right behind me, his chest separated from my back by a mere breath.

This is the dozenth time he’s been able to sneak up on me, and I only see him when he intends it. What other surprises does he have in store for me that won’t happen unless he allows them to?

He’s dressed in a light blue shirt and dark gray pants. His hair is styled and he smells of his standard shower gel, only there’s nothing standard about his scent. There’s a special masculine musk that I’m only able to smell on him. Either he’s too unique or I’m so attuned to him that I effortlessly recognize his natural scent.

“Shouldn’t you be downstairs?” I pretend to fix the pearls around my neck.

“I’d rather drive my beautiful wife.”

“I have Ruslan.”

“I insist.” He places both hands on my shoulders, and I freeze when his thumb swipes over the new hickey he’s left on my neck.

Even though it’s mostly covered with foundation, it twinges back to life at his touch, causing me to squirm.

Ever since he came down my throat two weeks ago, he’s upped his methods of playing games. Now, I have absolutely no clue when the hell he’ll make the toy move inside me.

I’m kept on my toes all day, waiting for the familiar vibration. The sense of the unknown adds more to the anticipation until it’s almost…exciting.

Exciting—that’s such a strange word in my dictionary, but if there’s a definition for it then it’s absolutely Kyle.

When the toy does go off, I nearly come then and there. If he’s in my vicinity or calls me just to stimulate me, an orgasm is usually a given, and it’s tenfold stronger.

Our dynamics are odd, and we often clash on everything. We’re still both fighting for the power that will give us free rein to achieve our goals.

Me, because I want to protect my family and the legacy Dedushka left behind.

Kyle, I assume because he wants to climb the ladder of the Vory. I assume because I can never be too sure about anything that concerns him. He’s still a dark tunnel with no way out.

He leaves meetings as soon as he pleases, pretending to have to work, but then he’ll be typing away on his phone as if it’s his lover or something. I try not to notice the subtle ways he agrees with my propositions during meetings, even if those disagree with Igor’s suggestions. He does it with humor, and discreetly as to not draw attention. Kyle is smart, and the way he’s been helping me cement my position in the brotherhood in the background, without speaking on my behalf, has been throwing me off.

When I asked him about his intentions, he said it’s because we’re husband and wife. I’m far from falling for his words, but I also can’t figure out why the hell is he doing all of this.

Then, during some nights, he’s been coming home late, after I fall asleep. I only sense him when he spoons me from behind and removes the toy from inside me.

In the mornings, he wakes me up with his teeth nibbling on my neck and his fingers thrusting deep inside me, then he won’t let me go until I scream my orgasm.

I hate how natural this routine has become in the span of two weeks. I hate that when he didn’t join me last night, I kept tossing and turning all night. The ghosts from the past crowded my space, and I couldn’t shoo them away no matter how much I tried. Or that when he didn’t put the toy inside me this morning, I felt something was missing.

“Aren’t you going to ask where I was?” He keeps stroking my neck.

I lift my perfume bottle even though I already sprayed some. “I don’t care.”

“Are you saying you didn’t miss me last night and this morning?”

I rub some perfume on my wrist. “Not at all.”

“Not even a little?”

My lips tremble, but I mutter, “No.”

“I bet your body missed me.” He wraps his fingers around my throat from behind as his other hand wanders down my back before he grabs my ass cheek in his strong palm. “I bet if I checked on your pussy, she’d tell me the truth.”

Tingles erupt at the bottom of my stomach and I resist the urge to close my eyes and fall into the sensations he elicits from my body. The way he grabs me by my throat, hard and merciless, stimulates me like nothing else can.

But I won’t let him have his way again. He left last night, just like he left seven years ago. And this time? This time, I kept staring at his phone number, but I didn’t press the green phone. When I called in the past, all I heard was the same message over and over again, and that message gives me fucking nightmares.

So even though my body would willingly surrender to his touch, I won’t. He killed that part of me.

Pulling away, I coerce him to release me and turn around to face him. “I don’t care where you spend your time or who you spend it with.”

“I’m not leaving,” he says calmly, soothingly, almost like he read my previous thoughts.

My chin trembles and I force it to stay in place. “I don’t care if you leave.”

“And I’m telling you I’m not. You might not want to know where I was, but I’m going to be a model husband and tell you anyway. I had a meeting with Nicolo Luciano in his club and he insisted I join him and his brothers for a drink in their house.”

“I said, I don’t care.”

“Before that, I got myself tested for your sake and had the clinic email you the results,” he continues as if I said nothing. “If I came back semi-drunk, I would’ve fucked you, so I chose to crash in the Luciano mansion.”

I pretend his words mean nothing as I leave the room and go downstairs. The dining room door is closed, which means Sergei is having another morning meeting.

Anastasia is sitting on a sofa in the entrance while Vlad is talking to her guards. She’s wearing a sophisticated flowery dress. Her hair is loose and her heels are brand spanking new.

As soon as she sees me, she stands and spins around, grinning. “How do I look?”

“Perfect, as usual.” I kiss her cheek and let her place her arm in mine as I address Vlad. “We already went through the security procedures with the guards.”

“There’s no harm in repeating them.” His gaze slides from me to Anastasia, and back again. “Do you want me to go with you?”

“No need.” Kyle’s voice cuts in from behind us. “I’m accompanying the ladies.”

It’s pointless to fight him on this. He’ll just start another verbal war with Vlad, and I don’t have time for that. So I simply nod at Sergei’s second-in-command to communicate that I’m fine with it, then I head outside.

Kyle places a hand on the small of my back. The possessive gesture isn’t lost on me. He’s doing this so Vlad knows to stay the fuck away. He’s been making it a habit in front of him and the other leaders in the brotherhood—especially Damien.

I try to get out of Kyle’s hold, but that only causes him to tighten it further, eliciting a shudder down my spine.

He drives Ana and me to the coffee shop we rented for the brunch. It’s located in a quiet neighborhood and is considered private enough that Adrian agreed to send his wife.