Page 59 of Cruel Bet

He goes to grab my ass, to move me up and down and fuck me but I grab his hands and pin them above his head, so my face is hovering inches above his. I kiss him, biting his lip.

“Tell me you’re mine,” I command, throwing his words back at him.

He stares me straight in the eye, “I’m yours, Arianna. Always and completely.”

With those words, I start to grind on him. Releasing his hands I allow him to grip me and help, bringing us both to the edge of orgasm. His eyes darken with desire as he watches me ride him.

“Cum for me,” I demand, enjoying being the one in control.

I feel him shudder inside me as he cums, which causes another orgasm to build and shatter inside of me. We both lie there, panting and spent.

I know that it may have been said in the heat of the moment, but there’s no going back now. I belong to him completely. I’ve made my decision and I have chosen him. I only hope that he meant what he said when he promised to protect me and Mads, no matter what. That he’ll forgive me for lying to him and not telling him he had a child sooner.

Chapter 34

Arianna

Lying in bed with Nikolai, my head resting on his chest, I feel safer and happier than I’ve felt in a long time. I know I just need to rip the band-aid off and tell him about Mads. He deserves it. I’m just plucking up the courage to finally tell him when there’s a knock at the door.

“What?” Nikolai barks, frustrated at being disturbed.

“Um, boss, there’s something you should know… something important,” Endo calls from outside of the door, sounding uncharacteristically cautious.

“It had better be fucking important to disturb me in the middle of the night,” he grumbles.

Checking first to make sure I’m covered by the blankets, he calls out, “You can come in.”

Endo opens the door and hovers in the entrance, his eyes darting between us and quickly realizing what’s been going on. “Um, maybe we should speak outside, in private?”

“Anything you say to me you can say in front of Arianna,” Nikolai states coolly.

“Well, it kind of concerns her actually,” Endo says, running a hand through his hair.

I sit further up, clutching the blankets to my chest. “Is it my father?”

“No… it’s erm… well, there’s a woman here asking to speak with Arianna.”

“What woman?” Nikolai asks suspiciously.

“Here’s the thing. She says she’s Adelina De Luca, Arianna’s sister.”

“But that’s impossible, she’s dead,” Nikolai states.

My mind is reeling at what he’s just said. My heart fills with hope, could it really be? Could my sister be alive? Did my father lie? Or maybe he doesn’t know, and she faked her death and escaped years ago? But if so, why wouldn’t she have contacted me sooner if that was the case? The grim alternative and more likely scenario is that the woman is an imposter sent by my father to kill me.

Clearly, Nikolai favors that alternative. “It must be a trick. De Luca might have sent her. Where is she? Was she armed?”

“With Dimitri in the living room. We checked her for weapons when she arrived, she’s clean,” Endo explains. “She’s pretty convincing if she is a fake, shaken, and by the looks of it, she’s been knocked about, too.”

“I’ll be down in a minute. Go keep an eye on her,” Nikolai orders.

Endo nods and obeys, retreating and closing the door behind him. Nikolai gets out of bed and starts getting dressed. I do the same.

“I’m coming too.”

“No,” he grunts, “It’s not safe. We need to find out what this person wants. I’m not risking you getting hurt.”

“I’m coming. This could be my sister—I know it’s unlikely, but my father has kept things hidden and lied to his advantage before. Sure, it’s more likely that she’s a fake. But what if she’s not? You’ve never seen my sister. Even after all these years, one look and I’ll know if it’s her. It will be far quicker to determine if she’s telling the truth. If it isn’t her, I’ll leave the room and you can deal with it.”

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