Reign (The Syndicate_ Crime and Passion Book 2)(45)

“Oh. You want to be fair?” he said, his expression darkening.

“Is that so wrong?”

“Yes. It is. Because ‘fair’ doesn’t exist. There’s no such thing as fairness, my sweet Daniela. I would have thought Santo had taught you that,” he said.

I sat a little straighter, my heart beginning to pound, my stomach twisting. “You don’t know what Santo taught me. What he didn’t.”

He softened his expression the tiniest bit, and some of my defensiveness went away. “Daniela,” he said, reaching out to touch me. He cupped my cheek and I leaned into his hand.

I looked into his eyes.

“I know that you care, but this isn’t for you to worry about,” he said.

The protest started to bubble up but I blinked, pushed it down. I nodded and he moved forward to kiss me, brushing his lips against mine before he let me go. I relented, not wanting to push him, but still uncertain about what Davey’s death meant.

I went upstairs and got into bed, and only minutes later he joined me. Sergei curled his body behind mine, his strength and warmth making me sigh. I snuggled into his arms, pressing my back against his hard abdomen, his cock nestled between my thighs.

How was it possible that even after that conversation, the tension that had been there only minutes ago, I could still want him as much as I did?

But I did want him, and I wanted him to know that.

Still lying on my side, I reached for his hand, the rough skin making me shiver. I entwined my fingers with his, but then pulled our hands between my legs. He touched me eagerly, used two fingers to explore every inch of my soaking sex.

My body was alive with pleasure, and when he kissed me softly on the neck, the soft caress so sweet, so warm, I almost shattered.

Sergei brought our bodies together, his cock filling me as no one else ever could or would, and in that moment I knew I was forever gone for this man.





Twenty





Sergei



The next morning, the desire to linger next to Daniela was there as it always was, but I resisted it.

I should have resisted last night, but I’d been powerless against the physical desire for her, even as my mind had roiled.

She’d told me a lot, told me how she wasn’t disgusted by me. That made me happier than I could have expressed, but it wasn’t the whole story.

If it had been, things would have been close to perfect.

They were anything but.

Because while Daniela had given me comfort, security in our growing bond, she’d also revealed the depth of her involvement in Santo’s business. Someone had told her of Davey’s death. Perhaps understandable; gossip ran rampant in most organizations, so it wasn’t entirely a surprise that the news had made its way to her.

But her reaction…it was unacceptable.

She’d wanted to be involved, wanted to personally see that Davey’s family was taken care of. That left me torn, in awe of her kindness, yet unable to accept she was so aware, making me wonder what else she knew.

I rolled to a stop in front of Maxim’s house.

“Do I need an appointment?” I said sarcastically, looking at Marcos, who stood in the same position I’d always seen him in.

He said nothing but waved me through, and I drove forward, quickly parked, and made my way to the front door. I knocked, and moments later, Senna opened the door.

“He’s in his office,” she said after taking one look at me.

I followed behind her, watched as she lifted Luka from Maxim’s arms, and left without saying anything.

Her reaction was telling. I always greeted Senna warmly, but I’d been too distracted to do so today.

“Trouble?” Maxim said as soon as she’d closed the door.

“I can’t fucking believe this!” I said, pacing the office floor, unable to stand still.

“Sergei,” Maxim said.

I stopped to look at him, saw nothing in his expression, but knew that I needed to calm down.

“She knows about the business,” I said flatly.

“Of course she does. What of it?” Maxim asked.

“No. You don’t understand. She knows. Someone told her about Santo’s man. She tried to keep it from me, but she knows,” I said. I was bothered that she knew, and I was bothered by the fact that she wanted to keep that knowledge away from me, and I suspected her trying to keep something from me was the more important of those.

Maxim huffed. “No discipline at all. Make sure the person who told her never does so again,” he said.

I nodded. “That’s not the worst thing, Maxim.”

“What is?”

“She wanted me to see after his widow, see that she was taken care of,” I said. “And she’s done this before, Maxim.”

That was the thing that had me so on edge. Perhaps I could have assumed it was an isolated occurrence, that maybe she and Davey had had a closer relationship. That wasn’t the case though. Daniela had been too calm, too certain of what to do, and the thought of her being in that position, being involved in Santo’s business at all was something I couldn’t abide.