Page 81 of Thorns of Lust
An hour later, I watched Tatiana head out of my newly acquired restaurant, her little nephew’s hand in his aunt’s. Even the kid had bleach blond hair and pale blue eyes. He looked more like Tatiana’s son than her sister-in-law’s.
I wondered if Tatiana’s children would have the same coloring as their mother. Like little angels running around.
The image danced in my mind, tempting me. I wanted a family with her. It was all I wanted from the moment I found her.
I loved pleasuring her. I loved seeing her smile. I loved putting that smile on her face. I intended to show her - eventually. Until then, I’d bind her to me through pleasure. It was the only thing that currently worked.
I shook my head.
I was losing my fucking mind, and the woman barely spared me the time of day. Unless my head was buried between her thighs, or my cock buried deep inside her.
She said she found something. It might be something or it could be nothing. One thing she made clear was that her brothers knew nothing about it. Just like Aiden Callahan declared, Tatiana would protect her family with her dying breath. And I would protectherwith mine. Either way, I’d meet her later at her place, and we’d find out together if her discovery was relevant.
As if she could sense my eyes on her, she glanced over her shoulder and found me staring after her. Then she looked around before flipping me her middle finger.
I didn’t know whether to laugh or be furious at her. The latter seemed impossible when it came to her so I settled for a laugh. I had been pining after her for over seven years. Now that she was within arm’s reach, it was hard to take it slow. But I had to play my cards right.
One slip up, one revelation too soon, and she’d be gone. Forever.
Kidnapping her was a possibility but her brothers would move heaven and earth to find her. They’d burn everything in their wake. So that probably wasn’t the best course of action.
But it was a possibility.
Nikita walked in, sizing up my back room in my new venture. Once the Nikolaevs received word of my new acquisition, they’d blow a gasket.
I let out a sardonic breath. Maybe I should corner them and force them to give me their sister. The day I learned Tatiana got involved with Adrian was like a nauseating pill I had swallowed and its effects refused to ease.
Of course, it was too late. I’d held it against him. I even held it against her for mistaking him for me.
Until she was mine - in body and name, my jealousy and obsession wouldn’t ease. I knew it.
“Yakuza is back in town,” Nikita declared. “I tried to get him, but he disappeared before I had a chance.”
Tension rolled through me like lightning. Somehow I believed it was Maxim’s doing.
“Do you have a location on my brother?” I asked.
“He’s in New York as you demanded,” Nikita answered. At least my fucking twin did one thing right.
I had always been logical. Maxim, on the other hand, while excellent with hacking skills let emotions swing him one way or the other, depending on his mood or how high he was.
When I ordered him to pay up his debt to Sasha, he went into a psychotic rage. He managed to throw a fit even under the influence of narcotics.
The two of us looked almost identical, but that was where our similarities ended. Sometimes when he was around our sister, he seemed to get better only to spiral out of control once he left her. Maybe I should demand he spend all his time watching over our little sister, but I worried about his influence on her.
“Put extra men on Tatiana,” I told him. “I don’t want anyone but her brothers and immediate family getting close to her.”
With a nod, he left to execute my order.
* * *
I came alone.
It was Tatiana’s condition. No man or woman dared to put ultimatums and conditions on me, but this one had me wrapped around her little finger. I wouldn’t have brought any of my men into her house, but the knowledge that I was so deep under her influence was concerning.
My car stopped in front of a black metal gate, but no guards stood there. She said she’d get rid of them, and it turned out she really meant it. Tatiana must have been a handful for her brothers when growing up. Isla, my own sister, never caused issues. When I asked her something, she did it. I had yet to see her rebel.
The black metal gate, as tall and as high as the one at my own home, slowly opened with a loud creak. As I drove through the gate, I surveyed the security. My own men lingered around the house, unbeknownst to the homeowner.
