Cruel Paradise - A Mafia Romance Chapter 146

“Under most circumstances,” I muse, “I’d be inclined to agree. But in this case, it’s neither necessary nor inevitable. The only lives I’m going to be taking are the ones who are directly involved in this whole scheme.”

Kirill raises his eyebrows.

“What?” I demand impatiently. “What’s that look for?”

“Nothing,” he mutters. “It’s just… you sounded like your father just then.”

A few years ago, a comment like that would’ve pissed me off. But now? I can appreciate my father’s temperate nature. I can admire his penchant for self-restraint and mercy. Even when all his advisers, including Vadim, were pushing him to stoke fires, he usually stayed calm long enough to put them out.

As a young man, I thought he was weak.

But perhaps what I mistook for weakness all this time was nothing less than hard-earned wisdom.

“I’ll find another way to deal with Adrik. His days are numbered.”

Kirill nods with satisfaction. “I’ll be counting them down.”

The door opens and I notice Emma’s profile before she stops short, catching sight of Kirill. She fidgets self-consciously and starts to retreat back out of the office. “I’m sorry; I should have knocked. I’ll come back la—”

“It’s okay, Emma,” Kirill interrupts quickly. “I was just leaving.”

He tosses me a quick wink and waltzes for the door. Emma lingers there tentatively, looking between the two of us.

I meet her eyes. “Come in, Emma.”

She hesitates for only a moment before she closes the door and walks into my office. She sought me out this time. That’s a step in the right direction.

“I’m sorry…”

“For what?”

She picks at her lip. “For disturbing you.”

I shake my head. “You’re not.”

The vein on her forehead is throbbing gently. “I, um… I don’t have a reason for being here. I just… well… I was lonely and I just thought… God—” She cringes. “This was dumb. I shouldn’t have come.”

She’s turning for the door when I lunge out of my chair and catch her after three long strides. “You’re not going anywhere, kiska.”

“You’re busy.”

“I’d rather be busy with you.”

Her cheeks flush with color. My God, she’s stunning. My cock is in full agreement. I pull her to me and graze her lips against mine, sucking on their sweetness until she’s breathless and melting in my arms.

“Ruslan…” She puts her hands on my chest and pushes gently, just enough to make me stop pawing her. “I didn’t come here for this.”

I drop my hands immediately, which fucking kills me, but I do it anyway. “Okay. We can do whatever else you want to do.”

She raises her eyebrows skeptically. “Even if it’s just… talking?”

“Especially if it’s just talking.”

“Or just… cuddling?”

“Especially if it’s just cuddling.”

Her eyebrows pull together. She actually looks a little… annoyed? Am I reading that right? “Dammit,” she snaps. “You always do this.” Then she launches herself at me, kissing me desperately, her hands clawing at the front of my shirt.

Laughing, I lift her into my arms and carry her over to the sofa. I drop down onto it, positioning her on my lap with my hands on her hips. She rips into my shirt, tearing it off and exploring my abs with her fingertips. Impatiently, she moves on to my zipper. My cock jumps out at her eagerly and she gives me a coquettish little smile that makes the beast in me adamant to stake its claim.

I rip her panties down her legs first. She sits on my cock and it slides inside her, filling her up with one deep thrust. Her eyes roll back in her head. “Fuck yeah.”

I slap her ass and away she goes, riding me furiously. I pull at the buttons of her blouse until I can see her tits bounce in my face. I watch them, mesmerized at their fullness, their pert enthusiasm.

Mine.

All fucking mine.

I pull a nipple into my mouth and suck on it while she rides me. Her hips jerk back and forth as her body erupts with goosebumps. She cranes her neck backwards and moans loudly like she doesn’t care who the fuck hears.

“Ahh… Ruslan…”

She comes with my name on her lips and if her orgasm didn’t do it, that certainly does. I explode inside her, filling her to the brim. She jerks her hips back and forth tiredly—once, twice—and then she collapses against my chest.

It takes a while for her breathing to slow down. I just hold her until it does.

“I really didn’t come here for this,” she mumbles self-consciously, hiding her face in my shoulder.

I chuckle. “I don’t care what you came for, just as long as you came.”

She smiles and plays with my hair. It’s curling at the back just a little. I’m probably due for a haircut sometime soon.

Ring, ring, ring.

I glare at the unwelcome intrusion my phone presents. But when I notice it’s Kirill, I grab it. “Yeah?”

“Just wanted to let you know it’s done. We have a body.”

I grin with violent satisfaction. “Good.”

When I hang up, Emma is staring at me curiously, but she doesn’t ask what that was about. Probably because she assumes I wouldn’t tell her.

“That was Kirill,” I explain. “He wanted to let me know that any remaining threat Remmy might’ve posed to you and the kids is gone now.”

She raises her eyebrows. “H-how?”

“For one, I bought the newspaper that Remmy worked for just so that I could squash the story he wrote about us.”

Her jaw snaps open. “That must have cost you a fortune.”

I shrug. “Luckily, I have several of those to spare.”

“B-but… Remmy can always go to other newspapers and sell the story there. Or print an anonymous thing, like a letter to the editor or whatever. Or even just publish online—”

“He won’t be writing, printing, or publishing anything else.”

The vein in her forehead is jumping erratically now. “Y-you mean… do you mean that he’s—”

I don’t pull any punches. “He’s dead, Emma.”