Page 69 of Caged in Desire
Henry blinks at me owlishly for the better part of thirty seconds.
“I want your baby,” I clarify. “Please, Daddy. I know I’m nineteen, but you’re certainly not getting any younger…”
I squeak as I find myself thrown onto the bed, barely bouncing once before Henry is on top of me and inside me. He’s feral, absolutely unhinged in his pursuit of giving me what I want. I smile before giving myself over to the pleasure, happy to receive the best present of all.
Chapter thirty-three
The days we’ve spent at Mom’s house have been some of the best of my life. Our security system hasn’t been sorted out yet, and we’ve had to stay longer than intended, so the entire family decided to stay in solidarity. It’s coming up on a week of us being here, and I don’t feel smothered at all. I can’t recall the last time I’ve spent this much time with my family, and I don’t know if it’s because I have my wife at my side, but it's been therapeutic. A peace I didn’t realize I was missing until now. Katarina seems to be enjoying herself as well, lazing about with Mom, Margot, and Sloane.
Since the snow has melted, Ledger, Jack, and I left early this morning to run before the girls woke up. I’ve run ahead of them since my wife isn’t quite the late sleeper that Margot and Sloane are, and I’m hoping we can have a moment of quiet together to do our daily crosswords before we have to leave for the morgue.
A couple of days ago, a man was found dead on our property, and authorities have asked us if we could help ID the body. We aren’t suspects, considering our alibi is airtight, thanks to the video evidence of us being here for the past week. Additionally,I had already reported the break-in on the day we left, so it’s pretty clear to the authorities that we’re not involved.
By the time I reach the kitchen, Katarina is sitting at the table, dressed with today’s paper in her hand. She accepts my sweaty kiss but demands I go get a quick shower, insisting that we can do the crossword in the car on our way.
“That’s him, Henry. That’s the man I was telling you about. Tommy or Timothy or whoever,” Katarina says, eyes wide as she stares at the dead body in front of us. “Do you think he was on his way to break in again? What happened to him?”
“We aren’t sure, ma’am,” the medical examiner says. “The body shows no signs of an attack. There are no aberrations or wounds. There were no signs of internal bleeding during the autopsy. The quick toxicology report didn’t show any signs of drug use, but we’ll have to wait several weeks for the more comprehensive testing results. As of right now, all we know is that he died approximately four days ago.”
“That would’ve been Christmas. All the staff knew we would be gone.” Katarina says, still staring at the lifeless man. “So maybe he didn’t want to do us any harm, just wanted to get something from the house. But what? And why wouldmy roombe the first place he would look?”
I wrap my arms around her and pull her into my chest. “Darling, there’s no way to understand some people. We don’t even know if it was him in the first place. I’ll admit, he’s my first suspect, but his death is strange.”
“Where was he found?” Katarina asks.
“I believe near the western border of the property,” the examiner says, flipping through the charts. “Yes, western border, in front of a greenhouse.”
“Hmm, that’s not even close to where I ran into him that one day. I was walking back home from a loop around the pond in the southeastern corner.”
I move my hands to bracket Katarina’s shoulders, sensing how uncomfortable she is. “Well, if that’s all you need, I think we should be on our way.”
The examiner shakes both our hands and tells us he’ll be in touch with the reports of the other tests they ran, and bids us goodbye.
When we get back to the house, Mom greets us with a spread of lunch, letting us know the rest of the family, including LJ, are napping. We both join her at the breakfast table, munching on some leftovers, when she hands Katarina an envelope.
“This is addressed to you, darling.”
Katarina looks as confused as I am as she takes the piece of mail from my mom. “Um, that’s strange. The only person who knows I’m here is Sasha, and he’s hardly one to send Christmas cards.”
“Ah yes, your oh-so-charming cousin! You should have invited him to join us. He seems like he would be a great compa…”
Katarina’s gasp stops Mom from finishing her thought. Both Mom and I wait foranythingfrom her, but she just sits there, eyes wide. When she starts shaking, I decide I’m done waiting.
“Kitten?” I take her wrists in my hand and rub calming circles with my thumbs. “What is it?”
She slowly brings her eyes to meet mine and hands me the letter in her hand.
Two lines. Eleven words. It’s such an insignificant amount of ink to make such an impact.
Mom takes the letter from my hand after I’ve gone still as well. “Oh fuck!”
Mom’s sudden burst of profanity causes Katarina and me to fall out of our stupor as we snap our attention to her. I’m not sure what’s going through my wife’s head right now, but my brain has finally started working again as I lift her out of her chair and march her up the stairs to our room. I don’t give a damn who I wake up in the process.
As soon as we get in the room, I lock the door behind us, then toss her maybe a little too roughly onto the bed. I don’t care at this point. Not even her fucking adorable little squeak will change the darkness I’ve spiraled into since reading that letter. She watches me pace back and forth for God knows how long, probably too scared to say anything. I'm sure I'm a sight right now: hair disheveled, shirt untucked, and barely holding on to my sanity.
I’m racking my brain, trying to figure out who might be after her, and the only person who fits all the clues is her uncle. Ivan Taranov. The man who was weird as fuck at our wedding and at her father’s funeral. The motherfucker who triedbuyingher back from me. Who in their goddamn mind does something like that?
I’m trying to figure out how to strangle the bastard to death right fucking now, but he’s so heavily guarded I wouldn’t stand a chance. There’s a reason they were able to keep Katarina hidden for so long. Nobody has dared to say anything, but there’s no denying they atleasthave strong ties to the bratva. His men would gun me down before I even stepped foot on that compound uninvited.
