Page 123 of Little Blue

Standing before him, I grab hold of his flaccid dick. I pull it taut from his body as cold sweat beads his face. A tremble rocks through his body. He begs, “Please. Please, no.”

I meet his frantic eyes with a cool gaze. “This is for all the women and children you’ve sold and abused.”

I lift the toothy hand saw to his cock and begin to slowly cut through skin.

Ivan screams.

I grin. “This is just the beginning, Popov. Settle in.”

Fifty-One

Irelynn

The knock on the bedroom door comes just as I’m about to throw back the covers and ready myself for bed. Ilya commanded I rest, and lots. So, I’ve been doing a lot of that.

“Come in,” I call, watching as the door opens and Luka steps inside the room.

I haven’t seen him since Boris took me. He’s been totally MIA. When I asked Ilya where he’d gone, fearing that he’d been a casualty of the underworld war, he’d simply said he’s dealing with something he feels he needs to deal with.

My smile isn’t one I can hide. “Luka! I’ve missed you.”

He looks strangely pale. “You have?”

“Of course.” I shift in the bed so I’m sitting more upright against the pillows. “Why would you think otherwise?”

“I thought—after the way Boris,” he pulls in breath. “I thought maybe you blamed me for what happened. If I’d known, I’d have taken you shopping, I swear.”

“Oh, Luka.” I shake my head. “I don’t blame you.”

He bows his head. I can see the struggle of his emotions as he tries to hide the way they play on his face. Finally, he pulls in breath, lifts his head and squares his shoulders. “I’ve been in America. New York, specifically.”

I frown. “What have you been doing there?”

“Avenging you in the only way I knew how.” He moves closer to the bed. “I want you to know that Jeremy Wilson will never harm another child ever again.”

I’m stone stiff and utterly speechless for a long moment. Finally, I whisper, “Ilya told you?”

“I needed to make up my failure to you. I couldn’t face you until…”

“Thank you,” I say gently, quietly. It might not be right, but Jeremy had been a terrible man who had done a terrible thing.

His shoulders sag just a little in relief. “I should go then. Let you get to bed.”

“Luka,” I call when he touches the door. “I hope you feel confident being my guard again. I won’t feel safe with anyone else the way I feel with you.”

His shoulders lift just a little more. “I’ll always stand with you.”

I smile. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

He nods, smiles, and walks out.

Ilya doesn’t want me traipsing around the mansion, so I’ve mostly been bed-bound. Laid up in bed with absolutely no desire to attempt another shopping spree in the city quite so soon after everything, I made a massive online order that Ilya paid astronomical shipping to have arrive before Russian Christmas, which I’d been informed we would be spending with his family, at his family estate.

Now, in the mirror in the bathroom, even though I bought some sexy as sin night dresses I figured Ilya would love—I’m wearing one of his button-down shirts.

My bruises haven’t faded entirely, but they aren’t the deep purple that they’d been. Mostly, with concealer and under coverup, I can hide them. Now, though, I’m wearing no makeup. My hair is twisted back into a clip, and my skin is freshly smoothed in the comforting scent of sugar cookies.

I’ve healed, and life has mostly gone back to normal at the Volkov mansion, apart from the fact Ilya has yet to make love to me since he’d rescued me from a fate worse than death.

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