Page 3 of Zafira

“See that you do because nothing, not even a bullet in the chest, will stop me from leaving here today.”

“Win this contest, and you’re a free man.”

“I better be, Warden... or you’ll be a dead man.”

Two weeks later... Ferma La Guzun, the residence of Viktor and Zafira Guzun, nestled on the banks of the Dniester River, Dubasari, Moldova...

Bogdan’s footsteps slowed as he approached the grand farmhouse where he had spent so much time with his best friend. Viktor had insisted he move in there after they finished college, and until his incarceration, this had been his home for the past five years. Years where he had secured his mark as a mobster in the Guzun Mafia as one of the youngest and best assassins on the circuit.

“How quickly time changes,” he muttered as he looked around and took in the lush gardens surrounding the property. Vibrant flowers bloomed in meticulously tended beds while weeping willows trailed long branches into the river. The wraparound porch was painted a pristine white, which contrasted beautifully with the dark wood accents and green shuttered windows.

As he stepped onto the porch, a movement near the willow trees caught his eye. There, sitting on a quilt spread out on the grass, was Zafira. The sunlight filtered through the willow branches above her, illuminating her in an ethereal glow. She was even more beautiful than he remembered. With dull eyes, he noticed her holding a sleeping infant, bundled snugly in a soft blanket.

Bogdan’s breath caught in his throat as Zafira gazed down lovingly at the baby. Her face was more radiant than he had ever seen it. At that moment, Viktor emerged from the gardens and made his way over to his wife and child. As he sat down beside them, Zafira looked up at her husband adoringly. Viktor smiled and placed a tender kiss on her forehead before stroking the baby’s cheek.

“I’m too late.” The loving scene hit Bogdan like a punch to the gut. In that instant, he knew he had lost her. While he had been fighting for his life, biding his time to get out of that hellhole, he had lost her. Yes, he had known she would marry Viktor, but he had hoped she would’ve kept the love she had for him in her heart. Instead, it was evident that she had fallen deeply in love with her husband; otherwise, she would never have started a family with him. The life they shared together now was one he could never be part of.

Bogdan’s shoulders slumped in defeat as his heart fractured in anguish. There was no place for him in her world anymore. The pain of loss and regret threatened to overwhelm him. Forcing himself to turn away, Bogdan walked off the porch.

“Bogdan! My God! It’s you!” Viktor’s elated shout stopped him in his tracks.

For long moments, he didn’t move as he gathered the strength to face the happy couple.

“Get over here, you big lout! Come and meet Arian... my son.”

“Isus Hristos, I don’t know if I have the strength for this,” he muttered as he turned around and slowly approached them. Viktor met him halfway and hugged him fiercely.

“Where the hell have you been? I’ve been worried sick. We’ve looked everywhere for you. How could you just disappear like that, Bogdan? Fuck that, I don’t care. I’m just happy you’re back and here to share the joy of my firstborn with us.”

Bogdan stopped and stared at the infant, whose azure eyes sparkled as he unblinkingly returned the big man’s gaze. At that moment, a bond formed between giant and baby. One that showed in his eyes as he lifted them to look at Zafira.

“Well, look who decided to come back.” The scorn in Zafira’s voice was thinly veiled, but he detected the hurt it attempted to mask from him.

“Believe me, Zafira, if I had a choice, I would never have left.”

“You’re your own man, Bogdan. We don’t own you. No one does. You can come and go as you please.” She smiled brightly. “Come... meet our son.”

At that moment, as he stared into her eyes, he identified the silent, unconscious plea in the depths of her gaze. The decision to stay and keep her safe was an easy one. He might have lost her love, but his own heart still cherished the feelings for her deep inside. As long as those embers burned, he would stay by her side and protect her from harm. Kneeling beside her, his fingers trembled visibly as he reached out to take the baby boy’s small hand.

“Pleased to meet you... Arian Guzun.”

Chapter One

Current day, Tampa Bay at Temptation Club, Largo, Florida, U.S.A....

“Please, Master Slayer, I can’t hold it anymore. I need to come! Please... fuck me.”

“We’ve hardly begun, subbie. I’m far from ready to fuck you.” The loud cracking sound of the flogger’s leather strips on skin married with the cries and strikes echoing throughout the torture chamber of the exclusive BDSM club. “I need much more to get me high on endorphins before I will indulge in the need for sexual release. For now, I crave that euphoric high only a good, sadistic flogging offers me.”

Walking closer, he pressed his large body against the trembling form of the female submissive tied up on the St. Andrew’s Cross.

“You claimed to be a masochist when we discussed the scene. It seems that was a lie. Should I find a replacement, subbie? One who can take what I dish out?”

It had taken Master Slayer, aka Bogdan Rusu, years to learn how to channel Dom space on demand. Once he established the mechanism to achieve that coveted feeling by relaxing and focusing on the moment rather than chasing the altered state, he found it easy. Dom space was similar to what subspace was to submissives, except a Dominant had to stay in control during a scene since they had to remain sensitive to safe words and other signs that their partners were not comfortable or enjoying themselves.

However, to Bogdan, there was a kind of letting go that divorced him from the outside world and offered an escape from the stormy sea of emotions churning within while channeling his focus toward the submissive in a hyper-intense way.

It was the only means, during a narrow window, that he could lose track of time and the world around him while in Dom space. Where it felt like he was high on drugs with amplified sensations and a feeling as if he was out of his body. His sense of intuition was enhanced as he made a stronger, more intimate connection with the masochistic partners he scened with.

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