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I was tired of the back and forth with my opponent always seeming to get the upper hand. Protections would be in place that couldn’t be sabotaged, which would allow me to concentrate on the necessary actions and decisions.

She’d commented about trusting her. What troubled me was that so much of me wanted to while a smaller part was fearful in doing so.

Why? Was it possible I couldn’t trust her? That she was indeed a part of some intricate plan to drive me insane? I closed my eyes and brought my steepled fingers to my face, tapping several times in some attempt to put the pieces together.

If she was as innocent as I wanted her to be, she’d dropped a significant clue. Whoever was behind the façade appeared to have known me prior to becoming Pakhan. When I’d been my father’s enforcer, I’d been accused of dozens of heinous crimes.

Most bogus attempts at discrediting me.

But I’d been burning off my own heightened testosterone and sowing my wild oats in my attempt to prove myself to my father. I’d become little more than a killing machine because I’d wanted to outshine him.

It had taken years and finally Anastasia’s death for me to realize I wanted no part of the old Russian ways. An eye for an eye. That’s what my father had told me and I’d taken him at his word.

I’d cleaned up the organization, moving away from the toxic push for masculinity, preferring cleaner methods of obtaining my wealth and power. And yet, the old methods of handling business had never left my mind or my toolbox. How did I know that? Because all I’d thought about since the first attempted kidnapping had been reverting to an eye for an eye once again.

The question now became who had crawled from under a rock where he’d been hiding for as much as a decade. I also couldn’t shove aside the thought that the same person was responsible for Anastasia’s death.

There was a distinct reason serial killers were almost always brought to justice. They used the same method of abduction, torture, and kills. Every. Single. Time. Once a pattern was established, it was only a matter of waiting the monster out or anticipating his or her next move.

There was no difference with members of crime syndicates, other than that often most weren’t bright enough to realize they were leaving a trail of clues behind them. Only the best in the business alternated methods and never left a scrap of evidence.

Whether by design or by accident, the man responsible was providing a much better look at his methodology. Now it was up to me to put the pieces together.

One thing was annoyingly clear.

Someone was working on the inside and you bet Hannibal’s Law would come into play.

The sheets rustled and as I opened my eyes, I was rewarded with a hint of golden light shimmering across the sheets and over my… guest.

Soon to be my wife.

A soft, inviting murmur had the same effect as our argument had had on me the night before. My dick was already twitching, pressing hard against the zipper of my jeans. She shifted again, which pushed the sheet to the side, exposing way too much of her luscious body for me to ignore.

I rose from the chair, moving with stealth toward her. Very gently, I tugged on the sheet until gravity allowed the soft material to slip to the floor. When I was anywhere close, my hunger exploded. No other woman had pulled such a dark part of me before.

Even as I crawled onto the end of the bed, she still didn’t move. The way her eyelashes were fluttering across her cheeks indicated she was dreaming. The sight of her always made me smile, this early morning no exception.

With gentle strokes, I rolled the tips of my fingers along the side of her leg, darting my gaze toward her face every few seconds. The last thing I wanted to do was to awaken her. At least just yet.

My building desire would force me to do so soon enough.

I trailed my fingers down the length of her other leg, laughing inwardly from seeing the building goosebumps that followed my touch.

Her body was completely responsive to me, more so than any other woman I’d been with. That alone was a temptation I couldn’t resist. Nor could any red-blooded male. The scent of our sex lingered in the air, staining our skin. I’d taken her twice after the rough sex in my office and I craved her all over again.

She was a temptation I couldn’t resist.

As I gathered her legs into my arms, I constantly checked to see if I’d awakened her. If she was toying with me, she’d soon learn that wasn’t in her best interest.

I was still the master of the house.

With her legs bent and her knees pressed against the bed, I slowly lowered my head. Her skin was so soft, her scent of desire far too delicious for a beast such as me to resist. She mewed softly while lolling her head to the side.

Every few seconds the sun brightened, enough to create a warm, golden hue across her porcelain skin. The coloration also augmented her rosy nipples, both swollen from my vicious manipulation. Even now, my mouth watered to have one inside.

That would also come with time.

As I lowered my head until my mouth was only inches away from her sex, I took a deep breath. I was a famished man and only one thing would satisfy my hunger.