With her shorts gone, there was nothing in his way anymore, and Nikolai couldn't be more frustrated. With the brutality of an aggrieved animal, he tugged at his pants and got the flier out of the way, forcing his hard cock into her mound without warning. Lisa's eyes flew open as he pressed further in, gripping her hair with so much force that Lisa feared he might uproot some strands off the roots.

But at the same time, Lisa felt herself shivering in dire want for him that none of that was important. She wanted him to thrust deep, to choke her and spank her all at the same time. Lisa was getting wilder, and Nikolai was the only person who could satisfy her.

He had broken her, and Lisa didn't want to get fixed.

As if hearing her thoughts, Nikolai spread his fingers on her neck with one hand, abandoning her hair altogether and holding her waist firmly with the other to keep her from sliding to the ground. Lisa moaned and thrashed in his arms as he thrust so hard and roughly, holding nothing back.

Nikolai had a lot to give, but he wasn't sure which part of him would get affected in the long run. But he was certain that this wasn't going to end well for either of them – all the more reason he should back off.

He fucked her like never before, not stopping even after counting four orgasms from Lisa. He fucked like an animal - like his number of thrusts would get her out of his system. And even as he emptied himself inside her, twitching and waiting for the high to pass, he still felt unsatisfied.

But they had somewhere to be.

"Now get dressed, and quit asking questions," he muttered as he left the bathroom, going to wait for her outside the mansion. If he stayed in that room, watching her as she got dressed, there was a high chance that they would end up going nowhere tonight.

And that would only fuck the plan up. Nikolai needed to stay focused.

Lisa tried to ignore the hurt in her heart at the realization that Nikolai had never answered her question. Was she his woman or not? He casually mentioned it like she was a property to own, but did it reach anywhere in his cold hard heart? Thinking about it all only made Lisa realize how stupid she had been for rejoicing that Nikolai asked her out on a date. He was only toying with her, as usual. It was nothing special.

She was a fool.

Donned in a pair of blue skinny jeans and a white t-shirt, Lisa joined Nikolai and two other of his men in the car. The ride was silent even though the Russian Bear was seated right beside her. His eyes were on his phone throughout the time, that he barely noticed that Lisa had her eyes on him.

Or perhaps he didn't want to notice.

When the car finally came to a stop, Lisa noticed that they were deep in the woods, and had driven in from a clearing that wasn't visible from the entrance. Right in front of where the car was parked was an apartment that looked out of place in there. It seemed to be built with all the modern facilities a house required, and Lisa wondered how they got electricity down here.

"Stay put. We'll be back," Nikolai instructed without looking at her. He got out of the car, and the second man - the one who didn't drive - went in with him. Lisa wanted to ask the man she was left with what they were doing here, but she knew he would give her nothing. No one wanted to be in the same situation as Boris, single-handedly caused or not.

Sighing and slumping into her seat, Lisa proceeded to look out into the distance, thinking about a million possibilities of what could be going on in there. If Nikolai had no plans of taking her in with him, why bring her along in the first place? Was it because he thought one of his men would hit on her or, worse, harm her?

Lisa's thoughts suddenly halted as another car drove into the driveway, stopping in the near distance. A group of six strange men dressed in black suits stepped out of the car and moved in the direction of the apartment without glancing in her direction. Lisa pressed her face to the window and narrowed her eyes on the man leading the others. Everything about him seemed familiar to her, especially the way he carried himself while walking. She tried to remember where she had seen him, but gave up halfway, deciding that it was no use. Everything was beginning to feel so familiar to her these days, even her dreams and that stupid picture she had seen in Nikolai's room.

Her mind was just holding on to things that never existed.

After one hour of uneasy waiting, the door of the car was suddenly pulled open as Nikolai and his man got in. Lisa had a million questions on her mind, but Nikolai seemed more interested in getting the windows down. The second he did that, the six men she had seen earlier walked past her, but the leader - the one who had looked familiar to Lisa - reduced his pace and locked eyes with her. Lisa stared at him clueless as his forehead suddenly creased in worry and apprehension etched his features. She was worried that Nikolai had done something to this strange man in the house, but she doubted he would want to talk to her about it.

So, why bring her here at all?

Nikolai smirked and got the windows back up, not taking his eyes off the strange man until the window wound all the way up, shielding them from view.

"Drive!" he commanded and settled into the leather of the car, closing his eyes with a satisfied expression.

"What was that about, Nikolai?"

He said nothing, leaving Lisa worrying about it. The instant they got back to the mansion, Nikolai opened his eyes, got out of the car, and went into his bedroom with Lisa's questions unanswered.

She wondered why she even bothered to ask at all.

Chapter Twenty-One

Nikolai waited for one of his men to take Lisa to Brighton Beach before inviting the leading families over. Although he had been steering clear from her, he knew that it was only a matter of time before she burst again, especially if she wasn’t given something to keep her occupied. The beach seemed like the perfect idea since she enjoyed it the last time. It got her out of the way while he planned what to do with her with the leading families.

They gathered in the living room as he brought them up to speed with his meeting with her brother, Aleksei, and some members of his Bratva three days ago. They had insisted on making sure that Elizaveta was safe, and that was the reason Nikolai had set the meeting in one of his safe buildings in the woods. For the Petrov family to play along, they needed to feel like they were partially in charge, and Nikolai gave them that. But he wasn’t going to do that anymore.

“Are you sure this is a good idea? You want to use that girl as a tool for negotiation.” Andreyev muttered in a mocking tone. “We’ve all seen how protective you are of her. Even Volkov seems to think you are in…”

“Are you with me or not?” Nikolai interrupted rudely, a muscle working in his jaw. “Because the only reason I kept her away from you was this negotiation. If it must work, she must be untainted from your likes.”