Tempted by Deception (Deception Trilogy, #2)

by Rina Kent

For letting him hurt me again by calling me his weakness.

I tried ignoring that she never called him our son or our baby, or that she never once referred to him as ours. As if, in a way, she was tolerating me and this marriage only for the child. And while I attempted to let that slide, I don’t like it. I don’t like that she’s been slowly erasing me since the wedding.

However, no matter how much she comes undone around me, she never lets me hear her voice anymore. As soon as I’m out of her, she gives me her back and moves to the edge of the bed. That doesn’t stop me from spooning her from behind, but while she sleeps in my hold, she still squirms every night, still tries to get away from me. Which will never happen.

If anything, I’ll burn the world if anyone so much as gets near him or his mother.

She smiles, though it’s laced with sadness. “He looked so much like you.” And she hates that. She doesn’t like the fact that her son looks like me.

I feel like an intruder watching the mother and son bonding, and something in my chest aches. It’s probably the pathetic boy in me whom I thought I squashed a long time ago.

I sit on the bed beside Lia and she stiffens when I wrap my arm around the both of them. “What are you doing?” she whispers. “What does it look like I’m doing? I’m being a part of this family.”

I like that. My wife and son.

“Don’t worry, Lenochka.” I try to make my voice as calm as possible as we descend the stairs. “I’ll protect you.”

You’re my wife and that means you belong by my side. So don’t you ever—and I mean fucking ever—think you can get away from me.”

This is the first time I’ve felt like I have a family again. Lia and Jeremy. If I have to destroy the world and everything in it to keep them safe, so be it.

“It must be written all over my face that I’m going to fuck you until you scream my name. Then do it over and over again to get my fill of you. Only…” he murmurs. “I probably won’t.”

“I’m going to fuck you senseless until the morning. Or more accurately…” he motions at Jeremy’s crib. “Until Malysh wakes up.”

“Fuck, I’ve missed this. I’ve missed you, Lia.”

“Do you have any idea how much I’ve missed your throaty little moans?” he rasps, his accent thicker than usual, as he pushes his thumb in my tight hole. “You’ll scream for me when I claim this ass, won’t you, Lenochka?”

I think he’s going to leave, but then he lowers his head and captures my lips in a slow kiss. Usually, his kisses are all-consuming, as hard as he fucks and as unforgiving, too, but right now, he’s kissing me with passion that reaches my bones.

Like he cares.

“I’ve missed you, Lenochka.”

I love him. I fell in love with the devil despite his monstrous nature.

“I just…I just wanted to protect him from…from…” “Me?” “From your life,”

“You’ll make it a habit, won’t you? No matter what I do to make you happy and comfortable, no matter how much I try to make progress with us, you will try to escape every chance you get.”

I didn’t think of it much at the time, but I liked how Adrian attentively looked out for me. I loved his aftercare and how he always made sure I was comfortable and satiated. How he held me every night and kissed me before leaving the house. It was his way of telling me I’m more than just an object of desire to him. But if he takes all of that away, I’ll be no different than a whore with a shiny diamond ring.

I believed he only wanted me because of Jeremy, but his attitude has never changed toward me post-birth. If anything, he’s been doing his best to take the load off me.

“Are you…going to punish me now?” “If I do anything in my state, I’ll break your fucking skin, so no, I won’t touch you when I’m angry, Lia.”

A sob tears from my throat, because I know, I just know that I lost a part of Adrian tonight. The part I fell in love with.

While I prefer she talks to me, that’s not possible lately, after I snapped at her for trying to leave. Though she comes undone around my dick, mouth, and fingers every night, she’s still scared and wary of me. She counts her every

move and word, and even her damn breaths around me now.

I should probably call it a day, put Jeremy to sleep, and have Lia all to myself. I believe that with time, she’ll forget about the idea of leaving. Sooner or later, she’ll realize that her place is with me and our son.

Adrian still has the best aftercare and goes out of his way to make sure I’m comfortable, but it’s more mechanical now. It used to feel as if he enjoyed taking care of me; however, now, it feels like a duty.

My little angel has become the only reason I wake up every morning. Okay. That’s a lie.

A small part of me, the part that never fell out of love with Adrian, still hopes that today will be better, today Adrian will trust me.

I know that Adrian isn’t capable of returning such emotions. I know he cares. I know Jeremy and I mean something to him, but it’ll never be more than that. He’ll never look at me the way I secretly look at him when he’s not paying attention. And that hurts more than I care to admit.

I thought she was in a state of shock, but it hasn’t seemed to go away. Instances where I hear her voice are becoming few and far between. Lia isn’t just muting herself during sex. She’s doing it all the time.

But it does happen again and again. Her confused state has been recurring enough that I’m worried. Not only about her, but also about Jeremy.

I often find him curled into Lia’s side, as if he wants to make up for the time she closes off from him and the world.

“But then again, you never really cared about me, anyway.”

I turn around to face her, a muscle working in my jaw. Does she really believe that? Does she fucking think I’d put myself in an unfavorable position within the brotherhood if I didn’t fucking care?

At any rate, finding the bastard who threatened Lia’s life has been the only thing I can focus on, and yet, she says that I don’t fucking care.

I need those strong emotions. Let them all out, Lia.

“If I deny it, you’ll never believe me. You’ll just lock me up and suffocate me more. You’ll kill me slowly, so think what you want, Adrian. Do whatever the fuck you want! You’re using me, anyway, so get on with it.”

“I said, is he your fucking lover?” She lifts her chin, and all emotions vanish from her face when she says the one word that shatters my world to smithereens, “Yes.”

“I should kill you right now.” “Do. It,” she manages. “Dying is better than living with you.”

I’m hard, but it’s with rage, with the need to murder him and punish her. The need to own

her whole so she’s mine in every sense of the word.

I’m not an idiot, I know Lia’s never really loved me. It’s evident in the way she’s pulled away from me any chance she gets, how she tried to escape, but I believed she was as devoted to me as I am to her. That sh...

Usually, I’ll let her adjust to my size, but I’m in no state of mind as I pound into her with a wild rhythm that’s meant to punish her, to let her feel how much she’s cut me fucking open.

You belong to me, and I will fuck that fact into you until it’s the only thing you breathe and think about. Next time you even consider letting another man look at you, let alone touch you, you’ll recall this moment when every inch of you is owned by me.”

“Fuck me. Own me…” she whimpers. That’s all the words I need. Lia sucks in a deep breath, more of her arousal dripping down her cunt and onto my dick as I push farther inside. Her head rolls back and I groan at how tight she is. Even though I’ve fingered her here before, I’ve never taken it, because I wanted to leave it until she came to me, until she fucking wanted me enough to initiate sex. But fuck that. Fuck my sappy notions about her. She went ahead and ruined us, so I’ll ruin her in return.

“Understand this, Lia. I might not hurt you, might not fucking kill you, even though you deserve it, but I’ll find that bastard, and when I do, I’ll fuck you in front of him before I slice his fucking throat. Then I’ll fuck you again in the pool of his blood.” I release her neck and she sucks in deep breaths, tears sliding down her cheeks. “Protect him while you can.”

He’s been taking away my angel.