Ruthless Stranger by Maggie Cole

23

Maksim

My alarm rings.I grab it and turn it off. I've been awake all night and curse myself for not thinking about it when Aspen's eyes flutter open. She needs her rest. I'm hoping she can sleep off her hangover, find a way to move past my stupidity, and come to Dmitri and Anna's wedding with me.

I stroke her cheek. "Go back to sleep. I don't want to leave you, but after everything that happened with Wes last night, I need to meet my brothers for our workout."

I don't take the damage I've created in our relationship lightly. However, I can't ignore the threat that now looms over our family and her.

She sits up, and her eyes widen. "There will be ramifications for my actions?"

My stomach twists. "Nothing that happened last night with the Petrovs is your fault, my krasotka."

Something passes in her eyes. "Did you only come to get me because you couldn't stand the thought of me being with him?"

Her question alarms me. The jealousy and rage I felt seeing her in Wes's arms reignites. My voice comes out harsher than I should allow it and grows the more I speak. "I did not know you were with him until I arrived. You are here because I love you. Did I enjoy finding you sitting on his lap, with his face inches from yours? No. Would I have thought you would replace me so quickly? No. But I will take the blame for it."

She quickly looks away and squeezes her eyes shut.

This isn't the way to win her trust back.

I move her chin toward me so she can't avoid me. Her brown eyes glisten, and I soften my voice. "I apologize. It did not come out right."

"It's the truth."

There is no denying it. "You cannot expect me not to be jealous."

"You want my full loyalty, but you don't give me yours. You hold all the cards to my heart, and yet, at any moment, you can fling them on the ground. That's what you showed me last night. I didn't think you ever would, but you did."

"And you fled to another man's arms," I angrily blurt out, unable to get the vision of her with Wes's arm secure around her out of my head.

She closes her eyes, and when she opens them, all I see is more pain. Hurt emanates in her voice. "It doesn't excuse me getting drunk or allowing another man to touch me to try to forget about you. All I wanted was you, and anything resembling you seemed like a good idea in my intoxicated state. But you made it clear we were through. I begged you not to end us, and you did it so easily."

Rage digs into my bones. "You think that thug resembles me?"

"Maybe not in daylight, but all I heard was the Russian accent. I felt his danger how I feel yours, which I never felt with any man before I met you. And he had tattoos, like you."

I should remember I caused this. I should step back, cool off, and approach this conversation again when my emotions aren't running on all cylinders. Except should and reality are two different things. My jaw twitches, and I growl, "You compare me to a Petrov?"

She gets on her knees and straddles me. Her heavenly hands hold my face, and as angry as I am, I immediately put my hands on her ass, tugging her as close to me as possible. "There is nothing I want from a Petrov or any other man. I'm trying to explain to you how I got to be in his room. Are you not hearing everything I'm saying? Can you only focus on my mistake and not why I did what I did, which is that I was trying to find anything similar to you?"

"From a Petrov," I bark but don't push her away. The need to hold on to her intensifies even through my disgust.

She winces, then tilts her head, bites her trembling lip, and slides her hands to my shoulders. "If you can't understand what I'm saying, we will never move forward." Her voice cracks. "Maybe we are past the point already, and this is just harming both of us further."

"No. We aren't doing this again," I firmly say.

She misinterprets my words. Her entire body trembles. "Oh...ummm... I..." She tries to climb off me, and I slide my arm up so she can't move.

"I mean, we aren't going to not figure this out and let each other go. So tell me you still want me, my krasotka. Tell me, even though you know I'm an ass at times, you're still going to trust me again. And I will promise you I will do better. There will be no more talk ever again about ending us. We will never utter those words, or anything close to them, ever again."

A tear drips down her cheek, and her chest heaves when she inhales.

"Tell me," I demand, my lips brushing hers, my palm fisting her hair.

"I'll never stop wanting you, I already know this."

Her words are more than I needed to hear. I kiss her, and she returns my affection. "Can you trust me again, my krasotka?"

She slowly nods her head. "I don't have a choice. I want us." She opens her mouth but then shuts it.

"What do you need to ask me?"

She hesitates.

"Go on," I instruct her.

Her face darkens. "Yesterday, when I asked you about Lorenzo..."

My stomach flips. "What about him?"

"I'm not sure how to ask you this."

"Just ask. I won't get mad."

She furrows her eyebrows. "Did you kill him to get his lot?"

Things become clear. What I saw on her face wasn't fear about me. It was fear about the motives behind my actions.

"No matter what you tell me, I will deal with it. I won't leave you," she claims.

Would she really not despise me if I was a man who killed for greed?

She believes you may be.

I haven't told her the facts for her to piece it together. I would come to the same conclusion she has if I only had the limited information she does.

God, I was such a fool.

I swallow the lump in my throat. "I do not kill for money. He didn't only threaten my brothers and me. He crossed the line and harmed Boris's girlfriend, Nora, then began sending threats to Anna. There are many other reasons I do not regret his death, but those two things led to his demise."

She releases a breath. "Okay. Thank you for telling me."

"This information would have avoided our issues yesterday?"

"Yes."

I close my eyes.

She weaves her fingers through my hair. "Maksim."

I open my eyes.

"Did you mean it when you said you love me?"

"I am not a man who would ever lie about such a thing."

Her lips form a tiny smile. "I love you, too."

My heart soars. I didn't expect her to reciprocate my love. For years, I told Jade I loved her and never once heard it back. And I fight the emotions forming in my chest.

She kisses me, and I deepen it, growing hard under her. My alarm rings again, reminding me that I still have issues to deal with. I groan and turn it off. "I don't want to go—"

She puts her finger over my lips. "Go."

"You'll be here when I get back?" I'm not sure why I ask, we've moved into a better space, but something inside me says not to leave her.

Her eyes twinkle. "I prefer your bed to mine."

"Good. Get some sleep. I'll be back as soon as I can."

She slides under the covers. "Done."

I tuck a lock of her hair behind her ear. "Does this mean you'll still go to the wedding with me today?"

She smiles. "Are you going to dance with me?"

"All night."

"Guess I'll slum it and be your date, then," she teases.

I lean down and kiss her. "I'll be back soon."

Relieved we've worked through some of our issues, I get changed and go to the gym my brothers and I own. When I walk in, my brothers are already talking.

I pat Dmitri on the back. "You nervous?"

"About marrying Anna? No. About this other shit with Wes? Can't say it doesn't worry me."

My pulse increases. "Wes isn't going to allow this to disappear."

"Why was Aspen in his VIP room?" Boris seethes, his arms crossed tightly to his chest.

The self-loathing I have reappears. "It's my fault."

"How is that?"

I explain what happened. "She didn't know it was him."

"Since when is it okay for your woman to be in another man's VIP room and on his lap?"

"Watch it," I threaten Boris.

His eyes turn to slits, and he steps forward. "She's put all of us, and by extension, our women, in more danger. Nora is pregnant with my child."

I move closer to him. "You think Aspen did this on purpose? It was an accident."

"Knock it off, you two," Dmitri warns.

Sergey steps between us. "This isn't helping."

I step back. "We're already at a maximum level for the wedding security. We'll need to continue it after tonight."

"So now we have two wars going on. Goddamnit," Boris growls.

Nothing about this situation makes me happy. Boris's reaction isn't helping matters. I point at him, angry. "Sometimes, you're such a hypocrite."

"What does that mean?"

"Maksim," Dmitri growls.

I shake my head at Dmitri. "No. He's not innocent in any of this."

"What are you talking about? My woman didn't sit on a Petrov's lap last night," Boris seethes.

I lunge toward him, and my body hits Sergey's. "Do you forget what family your woman belongs to? Hmm?"

Boris's eyes darken. He sniffs hard. "You got something you want to get off your chest?"

"Maksim," Dmitri warns again.

"Don't ever disrespect my woman. And don't you dare sit on your high horse when the O'Malley's issues are now part of ours."

Boris's face hardens further. "I didn't ask you to take on anyone's issues. You're free to remove yourself at any time."

"Boris!" Sergey yells.

"What? He's not obligated."

"You speak in anger, so I'm going to give you a pass," I threaten him.

Boris grunts. "I don't need anything from you."

Dmitri steps behind Sergey and pushes Boris back to the wall. He puts his hand on his cheek and firmly states, "We are brothers. Our blood is thick. It does not separate, no matter what the circumstances. Do not ever lose sight of this. If one of us has a problem, we all do. And you know we do not keep score. We sacrifice for each other without thinking twice. You have demonstrated this your entire life. This is not the time to change or break our bond."

Dmitri refers to the debt that Boris pays off to Zamir each year for our freedom. And guilt crashes through me before Boris speaks.

"Tell that to our fearless leader."

I step around Sergey. "Dmitri is right. I should not have spoken about the O'Malleys. You know I am happy for you and Nora."

Boris stares at me but says nothing.

Dmitri pats his cheek and steps away. He spins. "Do not get upset, but what is going on with you and Aspen? It is fair for us to ask you this after the events of last night."

Sergey surprises me and comes to my defense. "They disagreed. She went out with her friends, and all the ladies drank too much. No one knew who Wes or his thugs were. It was an innocent mistake. They were only in the VIP room for a few minutes. Adrian should have had more backup. In the future, we need to be better prepared."

I nod gratefully at Sergey. "I agree. Adrian shouldn't have been in that situation on his own. We're lucky things ended how they did last night."

Dmitri says, "Call Tolik. Tell him we need a tail on Wes. Obrecht is focused on the Rossi/Petrov war. We can't take his attention off that."

"Agreed," Sergey says.

"At this point, all we can do is add the tail and keep security beefed up. If he makes any moves or threats, we'll know," Dmitri states.

I wish there were something else we could put in place, but he's right.

Boris pats him on the back. "Let's work out. We have a wedding today."

Dmitri grins. "And nothing is stopping me from saying, 'I do.'"