Page 18 of Mistaken
My phone buzzed, and I sighed as I picked it up. This is the fifth call from the most entitled princess in the Bratva. Katya was also the most vicious. I put the phone on silent and after stripping off my tux, got into bed. My suite had a panoramic view of the harbor on one side, and downtown on the other.
I’d fucked more than one woman against the glass, looking down at my kingdom. The one my father had built and died for. The one I’d expanded, even though the older Bratva leaders thought they could control me. With the cool head of Yuri, we’d danced on the edge of all-out warfare, but there was an uneasy truce between the Bratva. And the Italians, and the Irish.
Instead of sleep, or strategizing, my mind kept drifting back to the temptation in the guest room just down the hall from me. Ella, equal parts infuriating and arousing. She’d be asleep by now, wearing some of that sexy lingerie my personal shopper picked for me from La Perla. My father would have mocked me for even knowing the name of a lingerie shop. But I enjoyed how scraps of silk and lace could frame a woman so beautifully. I was very specific about what I wanted for my new fiancée.
Groaning, I put one arm behind my head as the other hand drifted down to my cock, already painfully hard. Why was I waiting? She was mine. She was only a few steps away. But the vision of having her on our wedding night, the ring on her finger finally forcing her to realize there was no getting away from me… I wanted that.
My hand slicked up and down my cock, already wet with precome and the vision of her racing along the trail in that dark forest…
“Blyad'!”I groaned, squeezing harder. I could picture chasing her again, this time Ella knowing I would fuck her right where she fell if I caught her. She’s too competitive to allow herself to be captured easily, I’d hear her furious gasps as she tried to outwit me. But eventually, I’d catch her. I would always catch her. And true to my threat, I’d fuck her right there, on the forest floor in the leaves and grass, pine sap sticking to us both and our breath coming out in a cloud of vapor as the only warm place would be inside her. I’d hold her head with one hand to keep her from the twigs and rocks, my other would be pulling her thigh high, pressing against her chest, and letting me pound into her deeper. My toes would dig into the dirt to push harder, and-
With a long groan, I came. I came harder than I had in months. Lying back for a moment, chest heaving, I grinned. If the thought of that woman made me come like this, the real thing might actually kill me.
Ella…
I look like the Stepford Wife version of myself.
Freaked out at meeting Maksim and Yuri's mother, I tried to dress in a way that showed I was a Responsible, Well-Educated Professional with Excellent Breeding. It seems the continued good health of everyone I love depended on it. I’d opened the doors to the dressing room this morning to find a rainbow of dresses, suits, coats, evening gowns, matching shoes and boots and…
Good god, this man is nuts. How confident can you be about successfully terrorizing your fiancée into marrying you? Apparently, confident enough to spend more than the gross national income of several small countries on a wardrobe for me.
I hate that everything fits perfectly. I hate that I love the clothes. Like, the green cashmere dress I’m wearing. I’d pulled my hair into a well-behaved ponytail. My nails and my lips were painted in a simple nude shade.
I felt like a complete fraud. But better a fraud than someone who had two funerals to attend.
***
I’m standing in the fancy little lounge area in the back of the bridal shop and it’s just like in the movies; little white couches, a platform surrounded by mirrors, and champagne chilling in an ice bucket. This wassocheesy. I always pictured getting my wedding dress at Sak’s annual sale, where fistfights regularly broke out over the best gowns.
“Damn girl I have missed you!” Tania rushing in, hugging me from behind and I grabbed her arms tight. “Are you okay? What did that crazy Russian bastard do to you?”
Turning around for a proper hug, I whispered, “Shh, I’m not joking when I say this guy has ears everywhere. I’m so glad you’re here!”
The high, excited pitch of teenage girls echoes through the quiet shop’s dressing area before the owners of the voices show up, along with a tall, terrifyingly beautiful woman who is clearly the matriarch of the Morozov dynasty.
“Holy shit, I might pee myself if she looks at me,” whispers Tania, hovering beside me protectively, but still looking like she was on the edge of a panic attack. Not that I could blame her, I was, too.
“Thank you again for being here,” I whispered back, barely holding in a yelp as she pinched me.
“Yeah, we’ll talk about that later,” she hissed, “but for now, let’s get through this. Where’s your hot as balls fiancé?”
“You must be Tania.”
She couldn’t control her yelp and once again, how could I blame her? That lunatic Russian had slithered silently behind us.
“Oh, god,” she smoothed the back of her hair, “and you must be-”
“The hot as balls fiancé, yes,” Maksim interrupted smoothly. He shook her hand politely and I knew she was getting weak in the knees over his gorgeous black suit - Tom Ford, I happened to know - crisp white shirt and a blue silk tie that just matched his eyes. Damn him. Heknewhe was hot as balls.
He took me by the waist, pulling me against him, “Mother, may I introduce my fiancée? This is Ella Givens. Ella, this is my mother Inessa Alyona Belyaev Morozov.” He spoke her name with a heavier Russian accent that was doing bad things to my body.
Holding out my hand, I tried to sound like a well-bred young lady. Which I was not, but there was no reason to let her know that. “Mrs. Morozov, it is a pleasure to meet you. Thank you for flying in on such short notice.” The last was a dig to Maksim, which he let me know landed by squeezing my waist hard enough to make me smother another yelp.
Mrs. Morozov gave my hand the briefest of touches with an expression that indicated she was wishing for some hand sanitizer. “I hear a trace of a British accent. Midlands, I think?”
“Well- I-” spluttering for a moment, I forced a smile and nodded. “Yes, Birmingham.” I could see Tania stiffening next to me, and Maksim’s mother’s sharp blue eyes caught the movement. She had his icy blue eyes, but the blond hair of Yuri.
She pinned me like a bug under her stare for a moment before turning to her daughters. “Girls, this is Maksim’s intended, Ella Givens. Ella, this is my youngest, Mariya…”
