Russian Killer's Baby (12 page)

“You have to stop him!” she pleaded.

Feliks didn’t answer. There was no time to spare. He leaned around the thick wooden legs of the sofa and took aim at Yuri. The insane man was standing over the lifeless body of his own father, grinning like a lunatic.

Then Yuri suddenly pivoted, sighting Feliks and laughing. He raised his gun and fired. Feliks ducked back behind the sofa just as a puff of feathers and fabric went flying into the air.

“You want a piece of me, Feliks Koslov?” Yuri screamed. “Come get me!”

Feliks gathered himself, knowing there was no other way. He had to stop Yuri or the man was going to wind up murdering Annika. Feliks refused to allow that.

Rolling out from behind the sofa, Feliks sprang to his feet. Yuri was already taking aim. Feliks ignored what was to come, sighting his target very carefully and preparing for the return fire.

“No!” Pyotr dove between Feliks and Yuri.

Just as Feliks expected to feel the bite of a bullet into his flesh, he saw Pyotr crumple. Fury made him almost lightheaded with bloodlust as he fired his weapon over and over again into Yuri’s body.

“Feliks!”

Annika reached for him, and Feliks gently pulled her close. But it was Pyotr who held his attention. The old man was gasping for air, his lifeblood draining out of his chest at an alarming rate.

Feliks dropped down onto his knees and pulled Pyotr’s head into his lap. “You foolish old man, what were you thinking?”

“I told you I could still hold a gun,” Pyotr gasped. “I wanted to be the one to kill him. For Irina.”

Feliks touched his friend’s pale, pasty cheeks.

“Take over here and make things right,” Pyotr told him. “Vasily would have wanted it that way.”

Feliks would have agreed, but it was too late to make promises. The light left Pyotr’s eyes just as his body went limp.

Feliks dropped his head in sorrow. Pyotr had done things that could never be forgiven, but he had still been a huge part of Feliks’s life, and nothing would change that.

“So much death,” Annika whispered. She clung to Feliks, her arms twined about his neck and her cheek pressed to his shoulder. “Why couldn’t they see what was about to happen?”

“They got complacent,” Feliks told her softly. “Something we will have to guard against.”

“Are we really going to do this?” She gazed around the room, taking in the carnage. “He decimated almost the entire council.”

“Then we start over.”

She seemed transfixed by the sight of Yuri lying in a puddle of blood on his father’s carpet. “Did Motya Orlov have any more sons?”

“One,” Feliks admitted. “He’s away at school.”

“He needs to take a seat on the council,” she decided.

Feliks snorted. “No Orlov will be welcome here. Not after this.”

“You’re wrong.” The expression on her face was so certain and so calm that he felt compelled to listen. Annika smiled and touched his face. “Blood feuds do nothing but create more blood. Talk to this younger Orlov. Tell him what happened. Give him a voice and a chance to redeem his family. That is the way to create a strong syndicate.”

Feliks nodded, feeling an incredible wave of emotion swell inside his heart. “It was a good day when they ordered me to kill you, Annika Polzin.”

The merry sound of her laughter was almost macabre against the background of blood and death in the room, but Feliks was grateful for the light she brought to his darkness.

She touched his lips. “I would say that the best day was when you accidentally knocked me up.”

And there was no way he could argue with that.

Chapter Fifteen

One year later…

Annika pulled the light blanket up over her baby son’s tiny body. He made a little moue with his mouth and gave a few reflexive sucks on the pacifier before settling into a deeper sleep. Watching him never ceased to amaze her. He was so small and helpless, and yet in twenty years he would be running around Boston like his bad ass father kicking butts and taking names.

Feliks appeared in the doorway of the nursery and rested his shoulder against the frame. “Are you still in here?”

“Obviously.”

“The baby can sleep without you watching him, you know.”

She knew, but sometimes it made her feel safer to be in the same room with her helpless infant son. Feliks opened his arms, and Annika went to him for comfort.

“He’s safe,” Feliks promised. “The house is secure. There are guards on the ground floor, and besides, we have no enemies.”

“Right now.” She sighed. “What happens in six months when we piss someone off? Our family might become a target. Yuri wasn’t the only sociopath in the world.”

“No. But sometimes it’s safer to be on the wrong side of the law. At least we
know
what’s out there.”

“How’s Oksana?” She cast a glance down the hallway to the room where their adopted daughter slept.

“That one sleeps like a rock,” he said with a laugh. “I went in and she was turned backwards in the bed. She never stirred when I moved her around.”

“Good.” That made Annika very happy. “Our little girl deserves to feel safe after everything she went through.”

“So do you,” Feliks reminded her.

“I am safe. I’m the wife of the biggest, baddest Russian mafia kingpin in the city,” she reminded him.

“All right, mafia princess, will you please come to bed?”

“Are you going to make me forget how stressed out I’m feeling?” she teased.

He scooped her up into his arms and began carrying her down the hallway to their bedroom. They had chosen a home that was new to them. It wasn’t Vasily’s old house, or Pyotr’s, or even her father’s. This was their place.

“I’m glad we chose this house and made it our own.” She cupped Feliks’s cheek in her palm.

He kicked their bedroom door closed behind him. “I’m glad it has enough room that we can enjoy some privacy.”

“And what is it that you need privacy for? Hmm?” She enjoyed bantering back and forth with him. “Are you afraid I’ll bother you while you sleep?”

“I’m not in the mood to sleep.”

“Are you going to read then?” She gestured to his chair in the corner. “I’ll leave you alone. I know how you value your time.”

“Woman, you’re going to make me crazy.”

“That was sort of the point.” She nuzzled his neck and kissed the place where it joined his shoulder. His muscle trembled beneath her lips. “Have I ever told you how incredibly powerful it makes me feel to know that I can turn you on the way I do?”

He placed his lips right beside her ear until his breath tickled the sensitive shell. “Yes, but I never tire of hearing it, so please feel free to say it again.”

Feliks set her on the bed and gently climbed up beside her. She felt overly warm even though she was only wearing a chemise and a thin robe. He gazed down at her. The only light in the room came from the bedside lamp. The muted glow made his eyes seem that much more intense.

Gently tugging at the belt of her robe, he pulled it loose and let the slippery fabric fall away from her body. Then he placed his palm on her belly and let his hand trace a line up toward the swell of her breasts.

“Feliks.” She barely whispered his name.

He lowered his head and placed kisses along the line of her cleavage. The warmth of his mouth was delightful on her skin. Excitement began to build, and she longed for him to assuage the ache between her legs. She was so hot and wet for him already. Putting her hands on his belly, she explored the contours of his naked chest.

He groaned and arched his back as she scored his taut skin with her nails. She found his nipples and plucked carefully at each one until they grew hard. She felt her own peaks throb as they longed for the same attention.

When he lowered the top of her chemise and kissed her right breast, Annika thought she might die of the pleasure. He gave the left one equal attention and then moved lower to slip the loose fabric all the way off her body.

She lifted her hips, allowing him access. When he appeared above her, she found his waistband and unfastened his pants. The zipper was loud against the backdrop of their ragged breathing. She struggled to push his pants off and was finally rewarded when her palms came in contact with the firm muscles of his ass. She pulled him closer, feeling his erection press enticingly against her mound.

“Annika, I need you so badly,” Feliks said with a gasp. “Can I have you?”

As if she would ever deny him. “Please!”

She spread her legs to welcome him. Her core was soaking wet, and the short curls covering her mound were heavy with her cream. He braced his arms on either side of her shoulders and leaned down to kiss her lips. He devoured her mouth as though he would never have enough. All the while he let his cock gently brush her sex until she was so turned on she thought she might lose her mind.

FELIKS NEVER GOT used to the idea he had managed to snag a woman like Annika and make her his wife. Even as his tongue tangled with hers, dueling for dominance, he marveled at the privilege of being with this woman.

Her soft skin felt sublime against his. A thin sheen of sweat covered their bodies as they moved together. Seconds more and he would slide his cock into her pussy and claim her once again as his own. For now, though, he wanted to savor the anticipation.

She raised one leg and let her calf stroke the back of his thigh. The position opened her sex just enough to allow the shaft of his cock to slide through her warm, wet folds. Her flesh was unbelievably resilient. The friction against his sensitized head was almost enough to snap his control.

“Annika,” he groaned, feeling as though he were balanced on the edge of insanity.

“No more waiting, Feliks,” she told him. “Take me now. Make me yours.”

As if he needed anything else to tell him this woman belonged to him. Her body opened as she spread her legs to welcome him inside her hot pussy. Every muscle inside her channel flexed around his cock. The snug embrace of her was nearly his undoing. Instead, he ground his teeth together and began to move in and out of her heat.

He’d wanted to go slowly, to make gentle love to his wife and bring her indescribable pleasure. Yet she seemed to want none of that. Her nails dug into his shoulders as she arched her back and flexed her hips to spur him on. He deepened his thrusts, feeling the tip of his cock kiss the sweet spot inside her pussy with each stroke.

Fire thrummed in his veins. He felt the familiar sensation of her muscles preparing for orgasm. Her breathing was unsteady, each exhale a whimper of need. Her hips began to move as she met him thrust for thrust. And when she finally came apart in his arms, Feliks soaked up every second of the beautiful experience.

Her cries echoed off the walls of their bedroom when she came. Feliks never wavered in his strokes. He pushed into her and felt her climax nudging him past his peak. His pleasure-soaked brain could barely process what was happening. Then he arched his back so hard he thought his spine might snap as a jolt of ecstasy left him shattered.

He came hard, filling Annika with his seed until he was utterly spent. His arms began to tremble, and he rolled to the side to avoid crushing her smaller frame. Unwilling to put even the smallest amount of distance between them, he pulled her into the curve of his body and wrapped his arms around her.

“Sometimes I think you’re going to kill me,” she told him with a laugh.

“Yes, but what a way to go.”

“Men always
say
that, but would you really want to die like that?”

He considered that notion. “How about I just say that I’ve no desire to die at all.”

“I like that one,” she murmured.

He could practically hear her worrying. “We’re going to be all right.”

“I know. But are we doing the right thing?”

Feliks thought about that. He gently traced the contour of her shoulder blades, loving the feel of her skin beneath his fingers. “I understand what you’re getting at. All of the gray areas we dance around make moral decisions seem impossible. But at the end of the day, we’re just people trying to make a living.”

“By breaking the law.”

“Who gets to decide what is a law and what isn’t? Do you think all of the business people who make their money within the confines of legality really do anything better than we do?” He wished he could help her see things the way he did. “We’re trying to be good people. That’s what Vasily taught me, and that’s what I’m going to teach our children.”

“And that’s why I trust you,” Annika murmured. “Because at the end of the day you are
not
my father.”

“Is that why you named our son Vadir?” He had always suspected, but he had never known for certain.

“I have faith that you’ll teach Vadir to be a better man than his grandfather was. You’ll help him understand self-sacrifice instead of selfishness, and the importance of being good and honest with the people he loves.” She nuzzled his chest. “So yes. I named our son Vadir so that maybe my father will have a second chance at redemption.”

“He loved you, you know.”

She kissed his neck and stretched her body so that every inch of her touched every inch of him. “And Vasily loved you, despite being unable to publicly claim you as his son.”

“So then I guess our only job is to love our children the best way we can and raise them to be productive members of the world.” Even Feliks had to snort at the overwhelming arrogance of that statement.

“Wow, no pressure.”

“You’re an incredible person, Annika.” He gently caressed her face. “Our children are blessed in their luck of getting you for a mother.”

“Does that mean you’re blessed to have me as a wife?”

He wondered if she would ever truly understand. “Sometimes I feel as if I’ve completely cheated fate in having you for my wife.”

She rolled him onto his back, climbing astride and letting her breasts gently brush his chest. “Is that right?”

“I’m sorry, were you saying something? I can’t think when your breasts are this close to me.” He cupped their fullness in his hands and gave them each a kiss.

“I’ll tell you one thing,” she said matter of factly. “I never in a million years expected to have this much
fun
with my husband.”