Page 114 of Crimson Tears

This time, when she looks at me, a single tear falls down her cheek. She wipes it away before smiling at me and cupping the side of my face with her hand.

It’s such a simple gesture, yet it is one that fills me with warmth.

“I love you too,Vtoraya Polovinka.” She brushes her lips over mine ever so lightly.

My other half.

I close my eyes, feeling complete with those words alone. Almost two weeks ago, I thought I was going to lose her, and now she is in my arms. Safe and mine. Cillian’s too, but I am starting to realize that just because she is wholly his does not mean she cannot be wholly mine as well.

I hate having to leave her in the mornings when I need to head to the office, even if it is in the same house. Now, when I leave her, she just turns and cuddles with Cillian. I never thought I would be a man capable of sharing the woman I love. Yet, that is who I have become, and I would not take it back for anything.

Nessa has fought so hard in her short life, she deserves to have everything she could ever want. A family one day if she wishes. I never thought I would want that again. A little one running around and causing all kinds of chaos.

My thoughts cause my hand to move over Nessa’s stomach as I imagine it full with one of our children.

“What are you thinking about back there?” Nessa asks, turning to me. I do not want to give her more to think about right now, so I table the baby thing in my mind.

“How lucky I am to get to love you.”

Her body melts into mine, causing my heart to overflow with warmth. Nessa does things to me I never knew were possible, and I have a strong feeling I did not know real love until I met her. Not the selfless kind. The one where you would lay everything on the line for that one person.

All too soon, she is standing, but not before pressing a firm kiss to my lips.

“I have to deal with some of this before I go insane looking at that pile.”

I chuckle as she eyes it like she wants to set it on fire before she gets to work, going through each one and placing them in the order she plans to tackle them.

I love watching her work, it is why I kept the house plans for just one office and had a double desk made. The way the tension loosens in her shoulders when she completes a task, or how her eyes brighten when she is needed for something. They are all moments I do not ever wish to miss.

She moves through the papers as I set up a few calls for the week. Alexi, Lev, and Damien handle the more illegal side of the business right now since it is a lot more to get used to. They have to manage many moving parts. Evie helps them when she can, but she is focused on her own organization as well as taking over for the Mafie Society, those who run the island they all met on.

Nessa and Laney help Evie and have their own areas of focus. Laney owns a large part of the new sex club Damien just opened, and Nessa deals with the business side of it, the legitimate side.

They are also assassins when they are needed, which is a constant reminder not to piss them off.

Not really, Evie would never do anything to me. But she actually scares me sometimes. Her eyes have this way of looking like they can read your soul and just know if you are destined for heaven or hell.

While I have known for a while that hell will likely be my destination, I am not ready to go there just yet.

“No, you listen to me, Brad. That will not be how this negotiation ends. You will treat me with the respect I deserve or I will ensure that your board re-elects a new CEO within the next twenty-four hours.”

Nessa’s stern voice has me pausing my email draft to watch the scene unfold.

“You keep testing me, Brad. I can assure you, that is not the move to make. You want to blackmail me, but you don’t even know who I am.”

She lets out a condescending laugh at whatever he says next, then her tone turns menacing.This man is about to get it.

She pulls up a file on her computer before sitting back in her chair.

“You see, Brad, I am about to do you a favor. I am going to tell you why you will never threaten me again.”

My fists clench, wanting to get up and kill this motherfucker that thinks he can threaten my woman. But Nessa holds up a hand as if I were just a child about to throw a tantrum. I stay seated with my mouth shut and decide watching her do this will be so much sweeter in the end.

“Reason number one, I know who Matthew is. He is not your wife, and yet you see him frequently in a dark room, number fifteen to be exact. Reason two,” I can hear him start to yell, but she speaks over him, “I have proof that you have not paid taxes in the last three years. In fact, I am looking at your offshore accounts right now that you’ve funneled exactly one point two million dollars into this past year.”

She sits forward in her seat, a grin on her face that I love to see as the yelling over the line ceases. “And reason number three,Brad. I am not just a girl on the other end of the phone who will take your shit. I know exactly where you live, all four properties you own, and when you will be at each one. I have friends in high places, ones who have all sorts of skills you could only imagine. They are as dangerous as they come. But that’s not even the best part. Do you want to know the best part about all of it,Brad?”

I do not hear him speak, but it is clear she has his attention now. So much for us just handling the legitimate businesses. I guess the two worlds have to mix here and there in order to keep our positions.

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