Page 35 of The Debt

“Just do it and do it quickly before I lose anything else.” Polov’s voice cracked with fury, then silence fell. His heavy footsteps approached.

Jarek schooled his features into polite concern as Polov reentered with his face flushed and his tie askew. His hands shook as he reached for his drink.

“Bad news,Dedushka?” Tatiana asked tentatively.

“Business,” Polov growled, downing his drink in one go. “Nothing for you to worry about.”

But there was plenty to worry about, Jarek knew as he watched Polov pour another shot. The mighty Pakhan was unraveled. Three major deals collapsed in as many months, millions in forward losses, and his reputation was taking hit after hit. And amid it all, he still had no idea that the architect of his destruction was sitting at his dinner table, courting his granddaughter.

“More wine, Mr. Polov?” Jarek offered innocently as he lifted the crystal decanter.

Polov grunted as he pushed his glass forward. Jarek’s hands trembled slightly with suppressed triumph as he poured the wine.

Soon enough, Polov would understand. Soon enough, he would know what it felt like to lose everything. But for now, Jarek would watch him drown his sorrows, knowing every sip brought them closer to the final act of his revenge.

Tatiana

Two weeks later, Sovereign Residences, Peachtree Road, Buckhead, Atlanta…

The morning sun trailed lazy shadows over the couple lying entwined on the massive bed. Tatiana traced gentle circles on Jarek’s chest as she watched the play of light across his face. These quiet moments were her favorite—when the world was still waking, and it felt like they were the only two people in existence.

The two-and-a-half months they had been together seemed both like an eternity and a heartbeat. She smiled as memories of special moments flashed through her mind like a movie reel.

Visions of moonlight walks while eating ice cream as they strolled through Piedmont Park. Watching indie films at the Plaza Theatre, where they sat in the back like teenagers, making out, purely because she had confided in him that she had never done it when she was young.

Images of the trip to the secluded waterfall flooded her mind. Jarek had led her down a hidden trail with a secretive smile playing on his lips. The crystal-clear pool had taken her breath away, but it was the heat in his eyes as he’d slowly undressed her that made her heart race even now. They’d swum naked in the cool water as his hands constantly found excuses to brush against her skin until she was trembling with need. He had carried her to a sun-warmed rock, laying her down beneath the cloudless sky, and worshipped her body with his mouth and hands, taking his time until she was writhing beneath him, begging for more. When he finally joined their bodies, the tenderness in his eyes had brought tears to hers.

Even their scenes at The Pearl Icon had transcended. Master Hades still commanded her submission, but there was an underlying current of affection that hadn’t been there before. He would bind her with silk ropes, creating intricate patterns across her skin, but now he would press gentle kisses to each knot. When he pushed her to her limits, it was with whispered words of praise and encouragement.

“The night he blindfolded me and spent hours teasing me with ice and hot wax will always be one of my most treasured memories,” she murmured to herself.

Even when the scenes were intense, leaving her marked and sated, he never let the darkness fully take over. His control was absolute, but it was wrapped in tenderness that left her feeling cherished rather than just possessed.

But there were other moments, too. Times when darkness clouded his eyes and turned him distant and cold. She had caught him many times staring at nothing with his jaw clenched and his hands fisted at his sides.

He scares me when he’s like that, but luckily, it passes quickly.

Jarek stirred beneath her touch. His eyes opened, immediately alert in that way she’d noticed he always woke. The words he uttered were like ice water over her skin. She had known it was coming, but she wasn’t ready for it.

“I need to return to Boston soon.”

“I don’t know how I’ll sleep without you in my bed,” she whispered, fighting back tears. Tatiana swallowed hard against the tightness in her throat. How had she let herself become so vulnerable? She was usually the one in control, keeping others at arm’s length. Yet here she was, fighting tears at the thought of him leaving.

I am stronger than this. Man up, Tatiana. It’s too soon to take the relationship to the next level, especially since I still know so little about him.

Jarek was an enigma wrapped in contradictions. One moment, he’d be playful and open, surprising her with impromptu dance lessons in the kitchen, and the next, he’d retreat behind an impenetrable wall as his eyes grew distant as if he was seeing ghosts. He deflected questions about his past with practiced ease or answered with carefully curated details that revealed nothing of substance.

She had tried to piece together his story over their months together. His company, Deluxe Enterprises Incorporated, was legitimate and thriving, but sometimes, she overheard glimpses of conversations about other business dealings that seemed to exist in shadows. He spoke multiple languages fluently but never mentioned where he had learned them. The scars on his body told tales of violence that he never bothered to explain.

Most telling were the nightmares. She had woken several times to find him rigid beside her, muttering incoherently with his face contorted in pain. But when she tried to comfort him, he brushed it off with a kiss and a change of subject.

One night, she had whispered, “I love you,” after he had fallen asleep, but she couldn’t bring herself to say them when he was awake. She was terrified of shattering whatever fragile thread was between them. For all his tenderness, for all the passion they shared, she sensed there was a part of him that remained forever guarded and forever out of reach.

The few times she had tried to breach those walls, his eyes had turned to steel, and that frightening coldness seeped in. It was as if two different men lived within him. One who held her so gently and the one who sometimes looked through her with eyes that had seen too much darkness.

“I woke up with the same thought, love. You’ve become my beacon in the darkness these past two months.”

She traced her fingers over his chest, feeling his steady heartbeat beneath her palm as his words settled in her mind.

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