Avrora
"It's time you get another rude awakening about your beloved Mikhail."
I snap my gaze back at him. "He's not my beloved. I told you what happened."
He replies by pushing two fingers into my passage, pumping in and out of me slowly. I suppress a moan, but he teases it out of me.
"Always wet for me, though." His voice is a whisper that speaks to the secret parts of me that crave his touch. "Your beloved Mikhail would never have been able to keep his dick in his pants, but there's something else you should know about him."
I don't like the sound of this. Anatoli's fingers trail up to my back again and linger by my spine.
"What should I know?"
"It's about the vineyard."
I narrow my eyes when he returns to my face and brushes his nose over mine.
"What about the vineyard?"
He releases a slow, pensive breath, tickling my skin, then moves away.
I continue watching him, our gazes tangled and unwavering. He undoes his belt buckle, shoves his pants and boxers down his hips, then steps out of them.
I've seen him naked so many times, but my heart still skips a beat at how perfect he is. Perfect and closed off to listening to me.
Anatoli climbs onto the bed, getting behind me, leaving the questions of the vineyard and the reminder hanging in the air. Then his cock is pushing into my passage and he's moving inside me. Slow at first, as if he's torturing me, then fast. And faster.
He grabs my hips and tightens his grip, so it's more painful. Then I see stars when he starts slamming into me.
Moments later I come so hard my body feels like it might shatter, but he continues his relentless pounding, pulling me back toward him so he can fist my hair with one hand and pinch my nipple with the other.
"Des... mier. Ahhh." My voice crashes into the walls along with the wild sounds of us.
He's fucking me like he wants to unleash his rage and possess me all at the same time. Like he hates to feel anything for me. Like whatever we have between us is my fault and he wishes he'd never met me.
I'm not even aware when we crash down in a sweaty heap. All I know is that he's still pounding into me.
He flips me onto my back and slides on top of me, plunging his cock back into my now-sore passage. Catching my face, he keeps me there, locked in his furious passion when he starts pounding into me again.
Finally he comes, unleashing his hot cum inside me, which is hotter than normal. When his pumps slow, he rests his forehead on mine, kissing my nose and cheeks.
My mind is a wreck, and I can't think past him and the new possession he's inflicted on my body
Lifting himself up on one elbow, he continues to stare at me and I wait for him to speak. That's when his guard drops and I see pain. That pain again that desolate souls carry. It's like looking into a black hole of doom.
"Your vineyard isn't merely a vineyard." He speaks after what feels like eons in a low rusty voice, still thick with arousal.
"What?" I breathe. "What do you mean?"
"It's an oil company. Your father and Mikhail tried to trick you into giving it to them."
My lungs squeeze and my heart nearly leaps out of my body. "What are you saying to me?"
"You own an oil company worth billions, Avrora. They wanted to take the company from you. The ownership is currently being masked, but it's yours."
A stone drops in my stomach and I feel like I'm going to have a heart attack. My heart won't stop racing while the thoughts in my head scramble like eggs being tossed around on a hot grill.
"No... Everything was all a lie?"
"Yes, they lied to you."
"My God."And Dad telling me how much the vineyard meant to him was part of the bullshit, too. "When did you find out?"
"I've known for some time, but I wanted to keep it secret so I could watch them. When we got married, we became co-owners and the only way to get things back on track is to kill me."
"Kill you?" My heart becomes a tight fist, clenching my chest.
"Kill me and they get you back. Mikhail marries you and things go back to normal. But I have the last ace up my sleeve."
"What?"
"I've started the process of transferring my half of the company to you, so you own it completely. That way, no one would be able to take it from you." He gives me an uncanny smile and leans in closer. "I'm the fool, aren't I? The fool who wanted the girl more than the money."
I can't believe what I'm hearing.
"Anatoli-"
"Shhhh, baby girl. It gets worse for me, because I just figured it out. You do love Mikhail."
I shake my head. "No."
"Yes, you do. You always did, and you still do."
"No. It's not true." Lorelai was right; I was never in love with Mikhail. The truth sang to me the day I gave myself to Anatoli.
"Yes, Avrora. Here's why. You're not a crier. I've only seen you cry one time, and that was because you were in pain. You were in pain tonight. A different sort of pain for love lost. No matter what you and I have, you grieved the loss of the man you thought Mikhail was. The man you wanted to be with. The man you love."
His words seep into me, stalling my mind.
"I was upset because he was never true to me."
"Exactly. And that's the problem. You were upset. If you didn't still love him, you wouldn't be so hurt. You would feel nothing but relief that you escaped being with a cheater. But you're so blinded by love for him, what's right in front of you is not enough." He pauses for a beat, and my mind stops too as I see the grievous error I made. And I regret it. "I can't bleed Mikhail from your heart or drain him from your soul. I can't steal those parts of you because they still belong to him. That's the reminder I needed. Along with the fact that you are Uther Galitze's daughter. My enemy forever. That's what you are to me. No longer my Valkyrie."
His crude words scrape deeper than the layers of my skin, cutting into my bones. I'm so fragile I dare not breathe in case I shatter into a million shards from which I'll never be able to put myself back together again.
Anatoli slips off the bed, and I lift myself up.
"Anatoli-"
"Don't. Do not speak. You heard what I said and I mean it."
I stare back at the man I just lost as he drags on his pants and grabs a t-shirt and his biker jacket from the wardrobe. Then he walks out the door without looking at me.
As the door slams, I realize I just lost the only man I've ever truly loved.
My husband.