Page 148 of The Darkness is Calling

Ekaterina shakes her head, confused. “Then why did they still want this wedding?”

“To gain access to Russian merchandise and the connections we have, only to stab us in the back afterward.”

Yaroslav adds after me. “I suspect they will also want to attack the Italians, to impose a chaotic dictatorship there as well, one run without honor.”

“Maybe we should tell Tristan Romano,” Sasha chuckles, though his joke isn’t a good one.

“More than likely, the rumors will reach his ears without me bothering with him,” my older brother replies.

“I met his wife, Libertine,” Katya intervenes. “She has a beautiful design studio where I had a dress made for a recital in Rome few years ago. We liked each other from the start. We even exchanged phone numbers.”

All three of us look at her as if she has suddenly grown not a second head, but a queen’s crown... on a second head.

“And here we thought we’d have to go to the Italians with machine guns if we wanted to talk to them,” Sasha says, almost fascinated. “Turns out our girl has a direct line to the red phone straight to the Capo.”

“My girl,” I point out sharply, and my youngest brother raises his hands in surrender. “In any case, the Italians are not our concern. I couldn’t care less about their fate when our own situation is slightly complicated.”

“Slightly?” comes Yar’s ironic question, which I ignore because my mind is already drifting back to the woman beside me.

Like pressing a button, all problems disappear and the voices go quiet when I look at my wife.

Her lips are still swollen from earlier and, because I can’t resist, I pull her closer, lost in her azure eyes.

I can’t wait for these two bastards to leave so I can enjoy her the way I want, even if she’s still furious with me. I’ll make her forgive me eventually.

Chapter 26

Ekaterina

Artem’s hands around my throat.

The air almost stops reaching my lungs. His cock driving deep and hard inside me. The shivers that take over my body when

orgasm lights up every inch of my flesh.

The explosion of pleasure that shakes my body and the strangled moan that barely escapes my lips.

Suddenly, the air comes back when he frees my airway, but he isn’t finished with me. He turns me onto my stomach, lifts my hips, and enters me again.

He is like a dark monster, one who seems to abuse my body as he pleases, but all he does is give me orgasm after orgasm for almost an hour, whispering how beautiful I am and that I belong only to him.

When he’s done with me, I’m too exhausted to move. But he takes me in his arms and places me in the tub filled with warm water, with him behind me.

He touches me carefully, cleaning my skin. He treats me like a fragile doll, even though in bed he destroys me as if I were as resilient as he is. But I adore every second in which he takes possession of my body, and he knows it.

With him, I discovered the pleasure of sex in a way I have never felt with anyone else. Even though Artem always gives me the feeling that, at any moment, he might lose the battle with the voices in his head, about which he has given me small hints to make me realize he isn’t joking.

My husband is not a man like all the others.

In fact, none of the Koronov brothers are, but I can state one thing without hesitation: nowhere do I feel safer than beside Artem or his family… Even if I still haven’t made peace with the thought that I had to accept a marriage to him in order to escape the one with Oliver.

Did I jump out of the frying pan and into the fire? A part of me still feels that way, and it keeps me just as angry about everything happening in my life. Before, I was only the daughter of a Vor, and Bratva barely noticed me. Now I am the wife of the most feared Pakhan.

His gestures, just like his touches and kisses, filled with the need to touch me and keep me close, make me believe that behind our marriage there truly are feelings he has been showing me ever since I was in his mansion. Only in those moments do I forget the madness surrounding us and let my own feelings take over.

I missed him. Too much...

If Oliver’s attitude grew colder with every passing day as we drew closer to the wedding, Artem becomes more intense with each day, making me fall in love with him more and more.