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“Holding on to your conditions will only heighten your suffering. Understand this, Lia. I’m not to be crossed or defied. The harder you push me, the more ruthless I become. The greater you challenge me, the harsher I react. You do not want me to react, and you certainly do not want to see my inhuman side. I’ve been showing you mercy, so be grateful for it.”
“You’re a masochist to my sadism, Lia.”
Knowing that he got hard by whipping me, that he got off on causing me pain, should be degrading—blasphemous, even—but it’s not.
I know he thinks he’s looking at his wife, and not me, but how lucky can a woman be to have a man look at her that way? Like he’ll destroy the world as long as she stays safe?
Softening my voice, I smile at him. “I won’t do it again, my little angel.” “Really?” “Absolutely not, so stop crying.” I wipe his cheeks with the pads of my fingers. “You said you’d sleep with me, Mommy.” “Your father had other plans. Talk it out with him.”
He smooches me, his small hands wrapping around my neck. I can’t help feeling the need to hug him, so I pick him up and sit him on my lap, ignoring the sting of pain on my ass.
He grins. “Are you gonna cuddling with me every day?” “Every single day and then…” I trail off, tickling his tummy. “I’m going to attack you.” He breaks down in uncontrollable giggles. “No, Mommy, nooo!” “You’re done for, Jer.” “Mommy!” He snorts out laughing while trying to protect his stomach. His joy is infectious and I break down in laughter with him. And just like that, my day is off to the best start possible.
“Mommy?” Jeremy stops dancing and I realize it’s because I’ve come to a halt. I rip my gaze from the snow globe and smile at him. “Yes?” “Don’t worry. You’re more beautiful than her.” The innocence of this angel. “I am?” “You’re the prettiest ever.” “Thank you, my angel.”
That devil isn’t capable of emotions, let alone something that requires giving more than taking. But he went to great lengths to replace her with me, so maybe he felt something for her.
“Don’t you feel bad about him not being around more?” I ask. “No.” “Why not?” “Because Papa stayed with me when you were a ghost, Mommy.”
He’s watching me so intently, it feels like he’s standing right over my head and sucking at my soul. I try to break eye contact, but the sheer intensity of his ashen gray eyes takes me hostage.
“The big deal is that no one looks at you the way I do. No one gets a glimpse at what’s mine.”
There it is. The sense of ownership. The subtle obsession that he doesn’t show openly but can be felt, nonetheless.
Adrian’s attention is like a powerful magnet I can’t escape from. A black hole that swallows everything in its surroundings.
She’s developed the habit of napping with Jeremy over the past couple of days. Something that makes my son ecstatic.
Her movements remain hesitant with a slight twinge of fear in her light blue eyes. But the moment I touch her, she free-falls with no wings to hold her upright.
I’m waiting for her to come around with time, but I’m not a patient man. Correction. I’m not a patient man when it comes to her.
Sooner or later, she’ll be completely mine. Literally. Figuratively. In every sense of the word.
The warmth of his skin captures me in its dark depths, pulling me under despite myself.
All his answers are vague at best. I can’t figure out what he’s trying to say or what he isn’t, but at the same time, he’s not completely refusing my questions. If anything, the small conversation has loosened him up a little to the point where his hold around my waist feels intimate. It’s no longer to ensure his control on me, but more like he wants to touch me.
Some of the light goes back to his eyes at the mention of his son.
Adrian wipes a thumb under my eye, his expression warmer, almost like he doesn’t want me to cry.
Adrian’s never kissed me before, and yet, it feels like we’ve been kissing since we met. Like kissing has been the highlight of both of our existences.
I get drunk on him, not the alcohol.
“Can I have Mommy?” Adrian’s ash eyes slide to me before he focuses on his son again. “You already do.” “Not now. At night. I want Mommy to sleep with me, but she said I have to ask you for it.”
Adrian meets my gaze with a small smile that leaves me breathless. Holy shit. It’s not even a full smile, but I feel like I’m being attacked.
“Do you need Mommy too, Papa?” Adrian pauses before he says calmly, assertively, “I do.”
“All right, Papa.” Jeremy grins at me. “We’ll share Mommy then.” “Thank you, Malysh.” Adrian smiles at his son, and I’m once again caught off guard by it.
Adrian’s lips pull in a small smile. Holy hell. I’m glad he doesn’t smile too often because I’d go into cardiac arrest or something.
Lia was one lucky woman. Or maybe it was the opposite, considering the savage ways he touches me—her. I wonder how it felt to have a man as hard as Adrian care for her like this, as if she was his world. Was she tingling like me, or did she consider it suffocating as I should?
I shouldn’t feel safe enough to fall asleep in the embrace of a monster like Adrian, but it just happens.
“I wish I’d never met you.” My lips brush against her forehead. “I’ll meet you over and over again if I have to.”
I don’t know what it is about his voice that’s soothing. It shouldn’t be, considering how deep it is, but during unfathomable moments, it feels like his voice is the only anchor I need.
My eyes close, soaking in the deep, low tenor of his voice and the feel of him behind me. It’s safe and so damn familiar. I shouldn’t be having these thoughts right now, not when he’s speaking about another woman, but I’m unable to think past his presence. His touch. His words.
girly is still jealous of herself lmao
“You’re proud of me?” I grab the sides of his shirt for balance. “I’ve always been proud of you.” He pauses. “Let’s change that to mostly.”
I don’t care what he sees me as right now, because I’m the one here. It’s not Lia. Me.
He’s always a sight to behold, something that I can’t take my eyes off of, even when my instincts tell me he’s dangerous. Despite that danger, or more like because of it, I’ve been caught in his orbit with no way of escaping.
I want to bite my lip, to end this, to not allow him to hear my voice when he’s still calling me by another woman’s name, but the look in his eyes stops me. The gray is intense, but not harsh. It’s like being trapped in a bright dream and knowing that I’ll wake up soon, so I should enjoy every second of it.
“You’re so beautiful,” he rasps, rolling his hips until his cock is all the way inside me. “You’re fucking home.”
Since he started kissing me, I haven’t longed for air. He’s my oxygen now. The reason I’m fighting tooth and nail to hold on to life.
For a moment in time, I feel like I’m suspended in mid-air. My head and heart are lightheaded. My scar doesn’t tingle, my chest doesn’t ache. I’m free. In Adrian’s arms, I’m free of everything and everyone. I’m just me.
I’m about to melt from the way he touches me. The care in his eyes. The softness that doesn’t suit his character that he shows only to me.
She’s the addiction I didn’t see coming, and when I finally noticed her, she was already streaming in my blood. She’s the one whose boundaries were supposed to be pushed, but I ended up being the one in a clusterfuck of problems.
This woman is intoxicating. She crept under my skin and injected her black magic into my bones. Now, she’s the reason I breathe. I feel like if I stop touching her, if I let her go, she’ll disappear again. I’ll never have her again.
There are still tears in her eyes and I wipe them with the back of my fingers. She leans into my touch because, even in her sleep, her body is attuned to me.
I don’t have a choice in wanting to be near her. It’s engraved in the very marrow of my bones without an option to purge it.
“What do I smell like?” “Like roses and fucking addictions.” “How do you know what addictions smell like?” “I didn’t. Until you.”
I’ve always been meant to ruin this woman, but I also get to own her. To confiscate her. To have her all for myself.
I love making her happy. I love how she melts in my arms and I intend to show her how much I love it all night long.
“Have a date with me tonight.” “A d-date?” “Yes. It’s when two people have one-on-one time together.” “I know what a date is. I’m just not sure why you want it.” “You’re already having a date with Jeremy. Why not with me?” “Are you jealous of your own son?” “Sometimes. What do you say?” “About what?” “The date.” “Do I even get to refuse?” “You do, but it’s more fun if you don’t.” “Fine.” “I’ll see you later, Lenochka.”
