Nikolai

  He ducked into the library to survey the piles of wedding gifts. They'd been arriving for days preceding the wedding and this afternoon he'd had his men bring the remainder over from Faze. He ran his hands over the colorfully wrapped boxes and thick envelopes. He didn't much care for the custom of giving such ostentatious gifts to men in his position but he understood it was a matter of respect.

  A bulky wrapped object in the far corner caught his eye. Even from this distance, he could tell it was a painting. He assumed it was a gift from Yuri because he shared Vivian's love for art but one glance at the card attached to the gift disabused him of that notion. His jaw clenched at the sight of boldly scrawled message from Niels Mikkelsen.

  Bright stars for the next bright star ~ Niels

  He didn't even want to know what obscenely expensive painting the billionaire Dane had given Vivian as a wedding gift. As he debated whether or not to tear the wrapping paper for a peek, his cell phone began to ring. He fished it out of his pocket and answered. "Yes?"

  "I'm not interrupting the newlyweds?" Yuri's amusement carried through loud and clear.

  "Not yet," Nikolai replied. "Listen, you need to tell that Danish bastard you hang around to watch his step."

  "Niels?" Yuri sighed loudly. "What has he done now?"

  "He sent Vivian a painting as a wedding gift."

  "Which painting?"

  "I haven't opened it yet."

  "He hasn’t stopped talking about Vivian's talent since he met her. Knowing his collection, it's probably a very rare piece." Yuri hesitated. "Don't do anything stupid with it."

  Nikolai glowered at his reflection in the mirror. "I'm not that petty. I don't trust his motives but that doesn't mean Vivian shouldn't keep and enjoy the painting."

  "You're going to need insurance on it. Once Vivian takes a look, have her call me and I'll send her the name of the agent I use. But, listen, I didn't call to talk business. I've been thinking about those papers the deacon gave you yesterday."

  Nikolai's gut clenched. "What about them?"

  "Do you remember the night someone tried to kill Lena by shooting at her in my backyard?"

  It was a phone call he would never forget. "Of course."

  "We always assumed it was Jake. We figured that somehow he'd managed to set up a remotely fired weapon. The shots taken at Lena were too close for comfort but they weren't the types of shots you'd expect from an expert marksman."

  Nikolai remembered Dimitri's theories that they'd all dismissed as something that belonged in the pages of Ivan's favorite thriller novels. "Where would Jake have gotten a gun like that?"

  "I've been asking myself that same question. There was so much more about that case that didn’t make sense. There were too many holes in the story for me so I hired a private investigator back in Moscow."

  "And?"

  "And he called me earlier to tell me was dropping the case and to never contact him again. He sounded like he was about to disappear one me."

  "Why?"

  "Well, I asked him to email me everything he'd compiled on Katya and Jake so far. He agreed but only if I wired him more money." Yuri sighed. "I'm looking at the file and there's one name that keeps popping up again and again."

  "Maksim?"

  "Grisha."

  Nikolai blinked. "Grisha?"

  "Yes. He was meeting with her for years. They had an apartment and everything. I don’t know if they were lovers but they were definitely digging around in our pasts. There are files here for Ivan and Dimitri and you. She even had dossiers on Erin, Lena, Benny and Vivian in that apartment. They're extensive. He was making huge payments to Jake but I don't think Jake was pocketing the cash. It looks like he was withdrawing it and paying it to someone else. There are notations about consulting fees…"

  "Consulting fees?" A suspicion formed. "What was Jake's last name?"

  "Peterson."

  And suddenly everything became clear. "The girls. My contact told me that a man who called himself J.P. made the payments and arrangements."

  Yuri made a gasping sound. "No. It's not possible. Jake was a lot of things but he wasn’t cruel enough to traffic young girls."

  "He probably didn’t know. I'm sure Katya or Grisha convinced him that he was paying freight for something less sinister." Nikolai scratched the top of his head as his mind raced. "My contact told me that the payment and the handling changed a few months ago when J.P. was shot. That would have been around the time Jake died."

  Yuri swore nastily. "I can't believe this. I can't." He exhaled roughly. "Grisha's level of obsession with us is insane. These files are frightening. And my investigator made notations of Grisha's increasing dependence on drugs. I'm very concerned."

  "You should be." As a Moscow captain, Grisha wielded immense power. For some reason Nikolai didn't quite understand, Grisha had decided that he wanted to put him six feet underground. None of it made sense. Grisha was the heir apparent to the family. There was nothing Nikolai had that Grisha could possibly want badly enough to kill him and hurt his friends.

  Unless…

  Nikolai thought of the birth certificate the priest back in Russia had unearthed and sent to Houston. Was that the reason for all of this?

  "There's something else you should know," Yuri said. "I called in some pretty big favors and had Grisha's travel movements for the last year compiled. He was in the States when Vivian was taken and you were attacked."

  Nikolai's stomach churned. Was Grisha the man who had held a gun to her temple and then set the building on fire to burn her alive?

  "And he's here now."

  Nikolai went rigid as that piece of information registered. He gripped the drapes and quickly pulled them closed. The night of Vivian's rescue came to mind. Grisha had known Vivian was in his bed. At the time, he'd assumed Kostya had let it slip but now he wondered if he was under surveillance.

  "You should take Lena and get out of town. Call Ivan and Dimitri. Tell them to get out for a while or be very careful. No one can be trusted."

  "What are you going to do?" Fear edged into Yuri's voice.

  "I'm going to protect my family."

  * * *

  I'd already showered and slipped into a nightgown by the time Nikolai finally made it upstairs. He wore an intense expression and my belly trembled at the very sight of it. I had a feeling he'd gotten some bad news. "Is everything okay?"

  He dragged me into his arms and kissed the top of my head. "Let me shower. Then we'll talk."

  "Okay." I reluctantly allowed him to slip from my embrace. Once the bathroom door was closed, I glanced around the room for something to do. My gaze settled on Nikolai's jacket and shirt. A frosting stain on the elbow of his jacket made me smile. No doubt he'd bumped into someone at the reception while talking or taking a picture.

  I grabbed one of the sturdy wooden hangers from Nikolai's closet and draped his jacket and shirt over it. As I brushed some lint from the front of the jacket, I heard crinkling papers. Curious, I stuck my hand into the pocket hidden along the front panel and retrieved a stack of folded documents. I quickly recognized them as our church paperwork.

  The sight of Nikolai's birth certificate surprised me. We'd been certain it would be impossible to locate but apparently that priest Ivan had kept in touch with had been able to find it. I scanned the Russian document for the relevant details. His mother's name had been Marina—and she was only sixteen when he was born.

  But it was the name of his father that made my knees weak. I flopped down on the bed and stared at the name in shock and disbelief. Maksim Nikolayevich Prokhorov—the boss of Moscow—was Nikolai's father.

  Before I could even finish processing my discovery, Nikolai emerged from the bathroom with only a towel wrapped around his waist. He froze the moment he spotted me reading the birth certificate. I expected him to be upset but a look of utter relief flashed across his face.

  "How long have you known?"

  Nikolai sighed and crossed the room to sit beside me. "I
found out right before the wedding."

  I grabbed his hand. "That's terrible. Why would Father Semyon blindside you like that?"

  "It wasn't the priest. It was his deacon."

  I rolled my eyes. "Of course."

  "I don't think Maksim knows that I know."

  "He's never said anything to you? Not once?"

  Nikolai shook his head. "It's not as if he treated me any differently than the other men. Maybe he doesn't even know."

  "I doubt that very much." I gave the papers a shake. "Do you think a man as powerful as Maksim would allow a sixteen-year-old girl to put his name on a birth certificate without his knowledge? Things might have been different over there when you were born but they weren't that different. Besides, you have your grandfather's name."

  He ran his finger over the faded type. "I don't think he knew about me when I was little. If he'd known, he wouldn't have ever abandoned me to an orphanage. Even a mob boss' illegitimate children are looked after properly."

  I thought of all the things he'd suffered and it made me sick. "I'm so sorry, Kolya."

  He kissed my cheek. "It's done. I can't go back and change anything. I can only move forward."

  "Earlier, you said you thought Maksim was trying to move against you. He's your father, Nikolai. Would he really do that?"

  "I was wrong," Nikolai admitted. "Yuri called with some information that's changed everything. I don't think it's Maksim. I think it's Grisha."

  Grisha. Gregori Vostrikova, a notorious captain of the Moscow syndicate. I'd heard his name whispered in hushed tones. The tales of his violent outbursts were the stuff of legends.

  Bile rose in my throat as I remembered my time in that dog cage. "Nikolai, does Grisha smell like cloves?"

  Nikolai went ramrod straight. He grasped my shoulders and turned me to face him. Searching my face, he asked, "Why? When did you smell cloves?"

  "The man who would come into the room and poked at my cage smelled like cloves. He was the one who shot the guards and put that gun to my head." I rubbed my temple.

  "You didn't say anything before this. Why?"

  "I didn't think it mattered. It was just a smell."

  Nikolai's eyes briefly closed. "He's smoked clove cigarettes as long as I've known him. It's a scent that follows him everywhere."

  "I'm sorry. I should have mentioned it."

  "Don't," he whispered and pulled me into his strong arms. "You were traumatized. It's normal to forget small details."

  "What does Grisha have against you, Nikolai?"

  "He was always jealous of me." Nikolai threaded his fingers through my hair. "Ivan and I were sponsored in the family by him. He always expected us to be his happy little soldiers, but after a few years working directly under him, I knew I couldn't handle it much longer. He was too violent, too grisly. He was constantly dipping into the product he moved on the streets. It made him erratic. Eventually, Maksim broke me out into my own crew. I took Kostya and Ivan with me. We had a successful run in Moscow."

  "But?"

  "But then the rumors started," he said with some frustration. "People began to ask me if I was really intending to make a go of my own organization. I couldn't believe it. I'd never wanted to break away from the family. I was happy with my small crew and our small but profitable jobs."

  "Do you think it was Grisha?" It sounded like a sneaky thing he would do.

  "I never would have suspected him at the time. He was always such a good friend." Nikolai laughed harshly. "Now, I realize he was trying to keep me close so he could watch me better."

  "What happened after the rumors started?"

  "Maksim called me in for a private meeting. He asked me not to go against him and I swore I had no intention of doing that. Then he offered me Houston. He wanted to expand the family, and he wanted me to come here and see if I could make any inroads. Now I'm wondering if he wasn't trying to save my life by getting me out of Grisha's crosshairs."

  "But Grisha hired my dad to kill you." The awful truth struck me finally. "And I went with him."

  Nikolai's embrace tightened. "You didn’t know. You were so young."

  "Now my dad is out and I bet you he's rattling Grisha's chain."

  "I'm sure of it," Nikolai agreed. "Grisha is trying to clean up loose ends before the old man finds out what he's been up to around here, trafficking those girls and trying to kill me and taking you."

  "What are you going to do?" I had a bad feeling that things were about to get very violent, very fast.

  "What am I going to do?" The grim line of his mouth curved to a devilishly sexy grin. He playfully walked his finger up my thigh to the hem of my short nightgown. "I'm going to make love to my gorgeous wife. How does that sound?"

  He was trying to shield me from the ugly details of what was probably going to happen. I shouldn't have given in so easily but the ticklish sensation of his hand inching along my inner thigh made it impossible for me to stand my ground—and he knew it.

  Giggling, I fell back to the bed. In an instant, Nikolai was on top of me. He kissed away my worries, stabbing his tongue between my lips and twirling it around mine. His hand snaked under my night dress to cup my breast. I ran my hands down his back and enjoyed his rippling, lean physique.

  The towel he wore fell open. Not breaking away from my mouth, Nikolai gave it a jerk to free it from the spot where it was trapped between our hips and threw it to the floor. My nightgown quickly followed the towel.

  Naked beneath him, I gazed up into his eyes. The all-consuming love for me burning there made me tremble. Desperate for him to know I felt the same way, I rose up to press my mouth to his. "I love you so much. Whatever happens—"

  "We'll figure it out…together." He sealed his vow with a kiss. "You and me, Vee. Forever."

  I swore then and there I'd do whatever it took to make sure that happened. I wasn't as well-connected or street smart at Nikolai but I wasn't going to let that stop me. Just as he'd do anything for me, I would do anything for him.

  Nikolai's hand swept down my belly and dragged me from my troubled thoughts. He pushed my thighs open and petted my pussy. He dotted my breasts with noisy kisses. "Are you sore?"

  The question made my face flame with embarrassment but I answered honestly. "A little."

  He lifted his head and smiled at me. "Let me try something."

  I expected him to slide out of bed and offer me some ibuprofen but instead he nibbled and kissed his way down my body and slid to the floor. When he dragged my bottom to the very edge of the bed and shoved my thighs apart, I gasped and tried to close them but his strong hands held me in place. "What are you doing?"

  He chuckled and shot me an amused smile. "I'm going to kiss it and make it better."

  "You're what? No, I don't think—Oh God!" I cried out with delighted shock as he placed a tender kiss right on top of my clitoris. He gently parted my delicate folds and swiped the pointed tip of his tongue along both sides of me. "Oh!"

  "Hold still," he urged with a laugh. "You're about to wiggle right off the bed."

  "I don’t think I can." I moaned loudly as his tongue fluttered over the swollen kernel hidden there. "Oh, Nikolai. Nikolai…wait…I can't…"

  "You can." He ended my protests by suckling my clit with long, slow tugs. My hips shot off the bed but his tight grip on my thighs prevented me from getting very far. He licked and lapped at my pussy like a starving man.

  I clawed at the bed as his tongue circled and fluttered and dipped inside me. I'd never imagined anything could feel like this. When my friends had described the techniques their men used, I'd always been uncertain whether I'd want to have a man do this to me—but now? Oh God. I never wanted Nikolai to stop.

  "Please. Please…" I begged him without even knowing what I really wanted. He seemed to understand. That skilled tongue of his drove me straight to orgasm. I bucked wildly as he suckled and flicked my clit and elicited the most wondrous explosions in my lower belly. "Nikolai!"

  He made an exci
ted sound as he continued to drive me crazy with that wicked mouth of his. It seemed one climax wasn't enough for him—and I wasn’t about to ask him to stop. It felt so good. I surrendered then, giving him total control as he went wild between my thighs and made me come again and again and again.

  When he finally had mercy on me, I threw my arm over my eyes and tried to regain my breath. My head pounded and my belly trembled. My clit vibrated and I didn't know if I'd ever come down from the euphoric high he'd given me.

  Nikolai kissed his way back up my body. He spent a few minutes just enjoying my breasts before he dragged my arm out of the way to gaze down at me. "Are you all right?"

  "Yes." I'm sure I wore the dopiest, sappiest smile ever. "That was amazing."

  He grinned before dropping a slow, easy kiss on my mouth. The intimacy of smelling my arousal on him shook me to the very core. "I though you would enjoy it."

  "Enjoy it?" I brushed my knuckles against his jaw. "You nearly killed me."

  "That's probably why the French call orgasms the little death." He slid down beside me and hooked his leg over mine.

  "Probably," I agreed and rolled on my side to face him. The throbbing between my thighs had eased some but I was still so sensitive that the slightest movements sent delicious ripples right through my belly.

  Curious, I explored his body. My fingers traced his tattoos and scars. The feel of his warm skin beneath my palms emboldened me to kiss his jaw and neck. Wondering if men were as sensitive as women, I flicked my tongue against his nipple. His hiss of surprise spurred me on in my little experiment. I swirled my tongue over the dark disc before grazing my teeth over it.

  His cock jumped against my thigh. Apparently, he enjoyed that as much as I did. Glancing down at his rigid shaft, I noticed the glistening drops leaking from the very tip. Unable to stop myself, I gathered the slick wetness with my fingertips and brought it to my mouth.