Page 65 of Mistaken
“Tell me,????????,”I bite her earlobe, “tell me what you feel.”
“How can there be a place inside me that I never knew was there? Because you’re nudging me- it’s different- I-” My bride came again, so intensely that she froze, internal muscles locked tightly and holding me immobile inside her. Groaning, I came too, feeling her squeeze me from the base to the tip of my cock.
Dropping my head onto her chest, I panted harshly, trying to regain my breath.
Ella’s hands slid to my shoulders, and one very carefully, lightly, stroked my hair. It wasn’t repellant, the way I’d expected and as something to be tolerated. Her delicate touch was good, and gentle in a way I’d always despised.
Until now.
Ella…
“This is quite the development.”
That’s Yuri,I thought,the master of understatement.Because this is a huge “what the actual hell is this?” moment.
We were both standing in Maksim’s office in the penthouse, staring down at an elegant, cream-colored card.
Dear Friends,
Due to the tragedy of recent events I, Katya Sokolov, the only child of Pavel Sokolov, entered into marriage with Vasily Shevchenko, son of Trofin Shevchenko on January 10th.
It was not appropriate to have a large celebration after the terrible loss of my parents. Thank you for your sympathy and condolences for my family, and congratulations and well-wishes for our marriage.
“Did you know that the Sokolovs died?” I asked Maksim.
“We heard the news when we arrived back from Russia, they were both killed in a fire on January seventh while Katya was showing off her engagement ring in St. Petersburg. The blaze was said to be so intense that everything - and everyone - inside the house was incinerated almost immediately.”
“That’s horrible,” I said. I had barely met them at our wedding, and I know they certainly didn’t like me, but what a terrible way to die.
“It’s suspicious that any home of theirs would not have a state-of-the-art security and fire system,” Maksim said, still frowning at the announcement.
“So, she managed to work through her mourning period in, what? Twenty-four hours?” I asked.
“Now, now, Ella,” admonished Yuri with a barely concealed smirk, “I am sure Katya was completely inconsolable for at least eight or nine minutes.”
“Enough joking, you two,” Maksim said sternly, tapping the card against his desk. “The timing here is too perfect. She has to be behind the death of her parents; a blaze so vicious that it consumed the mansion in moments? There are very few accelerants that can create that level of destruction in that amount of time.”
“And none that are available in your standard household products,” I added. “What?” They were both staring at me with speculation. “I’m in pharmaceutical research but you’d be surprised how many chemical compositions cross over from one use to another. But wouldn’t fire investigators in… where were they? Costa Rica? Wouldn't they be thinking the same thing?”
Maksim shrugged. “Not if they’re bribed well enough, or educated to the fact of how quickly their lives could end if they brought attention to it.”
Yuri seated himself next to me on the long, comfortable office couch. “Katya could not have taken over her father’s organization without a man to actually lead it. So how quickly did she pivot to Shevchenko when she couldn’t sink her talons into you, brother?”
“It was known that Pavel used the Shevchenko Bratva for his dirty work in Eastern Europe every now and then,” Maksim said, “picking a lower-level enforcer to marry may have been what she thought was insurance that she would be the one leading her family’s organization.”
I’m sitting there, a fire blazing cheerfully in the fireplace and snow falling delicately outside, and in a state of disbelief that not only were we talking about such bloody business - but even more outrageous - that Maksim and Yuri were discussing it with me instead of kicking me out of the study.
So, since I was there…
“Do you think Katya hired the mercenaries who shot up King’s New Year’s Eve party like it was the OK Corral?” I asked.
Both men turned to stare at me, and I was struck with how much they looked alike- not just the familial resemblance, but the cold, focused expression that was unmoved by violence and more interested in how to retaliate.
“She has the means and the motive,” Yuri speculated, “she could have been making a head start on eliminating other major families and opening up their territory.”
“The attack at the party, the raids on our warehouses, the attempt on Ella’s life,” Maksim shook his head. “That would cost an incalculable amount of money, plus a percentage for whoever brokered the deals.”
A light knock on the door interrupted my next question, and Alina simpered her way in after Maksim called, “Enter!”
