Page 25 of Cruel Love

My gaze wanders away to scan the walls around us. A year ago, my life was very different. Unrecognizable. I was the head of my family’s security. It was my job to keep them safe at any cost. Now, I entrust others to do what I failed to do.

I didn’t live in the master suite on the top floor either. My mother insisted that Sofia and I move in here after our wedding. We needed the privacy and the extra space to raise a growing child, or so she claimed.

If you ask me, she was too heartbroken to be here after what happened to my father. I don’t blame her. My mother is the strongest woman I’ve ever met but even I can see the pain behind her smile when she looks into my son’s eyes. He will grow up without knowing his grandfather, but I’ll make sure he knows the name Nikolai Lutrova.

Sofia kisses me, instantly drawing me back to her. While I acknowledge the pain that’s wrecked my family, I can’t forget the hope we’ve brought to her. In the simplest terms, Sofia grew up a slave to the Zappia crime family. Raised to obey the middle son, Giovani, and breed the next generation — whether she wanted to or not. She took it upon herself to make sure that never happened and vowed to bring them down. In the end, she succeeded, but not without great personal cost.

The Zappia family still thrives in America but their reputation is in shambles everywhere else. Their assets have been destroyed, not just by me and Yuri, but by our former rivals, the Petrovin family. Decades of hatred brought to a stand-still by a single common enemy. Our alliance has made Russia more powerful than ever and brought Italy to its knees.

Sofia sleeps soundly at night knowing that she’s lying safely beside me and not her ex-husband. She accepts my touch knowing that it’ll never be used to bring her harm.

But, every so often, she’ll twitch awake in my arms with her fearful pulse slamming rapidly against her ribs.

Gio Zappia is still out there somewhere.

If I accomplish only one task in my life, it’ll be to find him and make him pay for everything he did to her and my son.

I kiss her deeper as I sway my hips to take her again. Her lips curl and pleasure returns to her face. Soft noises spring from her throat. Her fingertips dig into my sides. My passions push me to the edge. My love. My beautiful, darling Sofia. The little girl in the garden shed with adventure in her eyes.

Sofia’s back arches upward and I kiss her neck, tasting the subtle vibration in her throat as she moans through climax. She bites her lip, holding back her scream before I kiss her again. I laugh with her as I continue my thrust. I could stay inside of her forever. The thought is obviously tempting.

“Sofia...” I whisper.

Her satisfied eyes flutter open. “What?”

“Just...” I grin. “Sofia.”

She smiles and guides me onto my back. I let her move me, resting my hands on her thighs beneath her dress as she slides me back inside. Her mouth sags open and she places her palms on my chest to hold herself up. She rides me slowly with closed eyes and I buck my hips to meet hers, doubling the pleasure begging to erupt from me.

“Luka...” She moans and beckons me to her.

I push up to sit. I touch the sharp curves of her hips and the humps of her breasts. “Yes, lyubov’ moya?” I ask.

She cups my face and rests her forehead on mine. “Ya tebya lyublyu,” she says.

I love you.

I clench, feeling climax take hold. She feels it and kisses me, offering her tongue to my parted lips. I taste her, gripping her body tightly as I come inside of her.

My cell phone rings beside the bed. I ignore it in favor of resting against her breast. Her fingers run through my hair, softly trembling, as my throbbing shaft relaxes.

“Do you need to get that?” she asks.

I shake my head as it stops ringing. “Probably just Yuri.” I tilt my head up. “I’ll talk to him lat—”

The ringing begins again.

I look at it and groan with impatience as her smile grows.

“Later,” I finish. “A man deserves ten minutes alone with his wife.”

“Only ten?” she jokes as the ringing stops. “Is that all I get nowadays?”

“Unfortunately,” I answer, burying my face in her breasts again. I kiss the peaks of her warm cleavage rising out of her dress, relishing in what I can of her for as long as possible. “But, someday soon, I’ll take you far away from here.”

“Is that so?”

“A nice, long vacation. Just the two of us.”

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