Page 57 of Queen's Move

She capped the bottle and set it on top of the bar. She picked up the glass and turned. As she expected, Sotza’s eyes were on her. All over her to be completely accurate. He looked at her the way she was looking at the brandy, taking in her skimpy outfit. His eyes glowed with feral heat, though his face gave nothing of his thoughts or intentions.

“You disobeyed me, Vee,” his deep voice rumbled.

She lifted her chin and moved to the seat in front of his desk, sliding into it and crossing her legs. The slit in her dress revealed her leg to the top of her thigh. His eyes lingered on her skin, but his gaze was cold when it lifted to hers.

“You have an explanation, I trust?”

Vee wanted to snort but swallowed the impulse.Be good, Vee, she silently begged herself,don’t prod the man and maybe you’ll get through this. “I get to make the decisions in my daughter’s life and I decided that she needed to go. I made arrangements.”

“Indeed,” he agreed, ice dripping from his tone. “However, you are aware, that I had other wishes for the child’s welfare. You went against a direct order when you spirited her into the night.”

“She is not your child,” Vee said, struggling to keep the anger from her voice. “She’s mine and I alone make the decisions regarding her welfare. You are the man who abducted her.”

A chill passed over her and she knew she was dangerously pushing the line. He would already be angry with her, she shouldn’t be arguing. But this was about her daughter, it was one of the most important discussions she could have. She needed to argue until she won.

“You belong to me, Elvira,” he said, his voice dangerously quiet, his stern eyes never leaving her. “You are mine to love and to hold, to keep until one or both of us dies. What belongs to you, belongs to me as well. To maintain and to cherish, the same as I would do for you.”

A sharp pain struck her chest as she absorbed his words. He loved her. And her heart was telling her that she loved him too, completely. This man was willing to love her grown-up daughter simply because she was a part of Vee. Women the world over searched for such a man to have in their lives. But Sotza was still mafia, and he always would be. Which meant that Vee would always be mafia too. Neither of them were good enough to be in Raina’s life. She couldn’t allow him to keep Raina in their organization, even if he believed he was protecting her.

“You can’t have her,” she said defiantly, standing and stepping right up to his desk. She dropped her untouched glass on the desk and spread her hands wide as she emphasized her words. “The further from your reach she goes, the safer she’ll be.”

His gaze wandered down her chest, dipping to her cleavage, now even more exposed as she leaned on his desk. She resisted the urge to cross her arms. He looked down at her hands, contemplating his next words.

“I knew the moment you left the mansion this evening,” he finally said. “I could have stopped you at any time. Could have kept Raina here.”

She suspected as much. His security had small holes in it, holes that she happily took advantage of, holes that she would be fixing when or if they got over this intense clashing of wills. But despite the small deficiencies in his security, Sotza was by no means stupid. During the entire escape she’d had the niggling thought that her powerful husband knew what she was up to and either laid a trap or… now confirmed, had sanctioned the action.

“Why didn’t you have us picked up then?” She hoped it was because he finally saw things her way. Or maybe decided that he loved her enough to let her have her way.

“I wanted to know if you would go with her,” he admitted, looking directly at her as he questioned her loyalty. “Wanted to see if you would get on the helicopter.”

Anger surged through her, heating her pale skin. She took in a sharp breath and let it out in a huff. “And what exactly would you have done if I’d gotten on that helicopter?”

He didn’t hesitate. “I would have stopped you and killed them, then brought you home and chained you to my side for the rest of your life.”

“Raina?” she gasped, a wave of dizziness hitting her as she lost the ability to breathe. Would he truly kill her only child?

“Not her,” he relented. “Through you she is now part of me. No harm with ever fall on the girl from my quarter.”

Vee’s hand shook as she picked up her glass, gazing at the amber liquid. If ever she needed a drink it was right fucking now. She lifted it to her lips.

“Stop,” he commanded her, standing from behind his desk and glaring at her. “Do not drink it, Vee.”

She glared right back and slammed the liquor to the back of her throat. Though the brandy was top shelf and mostly smooth going down she had to fight the need to cough, it’d been so long since her last drink. She thudded the glass on his desk and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.

“Fuck you,” she said, her voice huskier than usual from the drink.

He struck out at her, fast like lightening. She flinched and tried to step back, expecting his fist to collide with the side of her face. He didn’t hit her though, he wrapped his hand around the back of her neck, tangling his long fingers in her hair and forcing her forward until she was half on his desk.

“You want to fuck, Vee?” he said in a guttural voice, eyes blazing with the emotion. “Is that what you’re saying to me right now?”

The savage look on his face, coupled with the way he’d been playing her body all week, called to her. Sent her libido soaring. She wanted to accept his challenge.

“Yes.” The words rushed out of her in an angry hiss. “That’s what I want.”

Pure lust sizzled between them as they stared each other down. She didn’t know who made the next move. If she crawled onto the desk or if he pulled her over top, but suddenly she was in his arms and he was kissing her with a passion that hurt, singeing her lips with the heat that constantly flowed between them until a single spark ignited the inferno. His arms banded around her, locking her against him until she was opening her mouth to gasp for the breath he was squeezing out of her only to be denied by his invading tongue. She could do nothing but hold on and take his onslaught of passion, sinking her nails into whatever she could reach.

She thought she would pass out from lack of oxygen, black dots swarming her vision, when he finally tore his lips from hers. He shoved her back on the desk, his hand cradling her head so it wouldn’t thump against the wood. Still, she cried out as something dug into her back. He lifted her just enough to sweep a broad hand beneath her, shoving everything to the side. She reached for him as his head was descending to take a nipple into his mouth. He soaked the silk fabric of her gown as he nipped at her and then sucked it into his devouring mouth. He squeezed her other breast at the same time, taking her to the edge of pain before backing off. She yelped in protest, but she was squirming under his handling of her body, need crashing through her veins like a tidal wave.

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