Total pages in book: 132
Estimated words: 127249 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 636(@200wpm)___ 509(@250wpm)___ 424(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127249 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 636(@200wpm)___ 509(@250wpm)___ 424(@300wpm)
Chapter
Twenty-Four
Dante
* * *
My mind isn’t on business as I wrap up the investors meeting. The men around the table already pledged their money and support. I no longer need to sell them the plan. They’ll give me what I need to rebuild Teszner Agglomerate into a lucrative company. We’re just barreling through the legal formalities.
Try as I may, I can’t stay focused on the discussion because I can’t stop thinking about the turn my marriage has taken. Tatiana gave in and came with me on our first real date.
True, it was only pizza, but what we ate doesn’t matter. Even though Noah was with us, I’m still counting the dinner as a valid date. She may not have an inkling of how much weight that win holds for me, but in my book, this is no small victory.
Then, yesterday, she showed up at my office, looking like an untouchable ice princess in that blue dress, and asked me out on a date. She couldn’t have surprised me more, and nothing surprises me much these days, at least not in a pleasant way.
My wife gave me a glimpse of how things would’ve been if I hadn’t killed her father and accidentally murdered her mother. If I’m honest with myself, I’ll admit that I like it. A lot. Maybe a little too much. I like how we are as a family—her, Noah, and me. I love how she submits to me in bed while simultaneously challenging me and standing up to me when she deems it necessary.
From the first time I laid eyes on her, I knew I was going to make her mine. Her moans and writhing body beneath mine were my single-minded goals. So I claimed her, disregarding any obstacles and not considering any price too high. I paid for her in blood and hatred. I sacrificed more than I could bear.
But from the first time I slipped my hand under her skirt and laid her out like a sacrifice on her bed, those goals I’d set with so much scheming, so utterly sure of myself and my infallible control, became my drug. Tatiana Teszner, without realizing, turned the tables on me by becoming an addiction I can never cure.
Said addiction is fast spiraling down a deep, dark, dangerous pit. The physical has long since ceased being the part I relish the most. Yes, I can never get enough of her body. I don’t think I ever will. It’s a weakness I accepted a long time ago. But I’ve come to value her unconditional trust even more. It’s not a gift I ever expected from her, not after how I’d used her and what I’d done. And this weakness should terrify me to my core. Because now that I’ve tasted the sweetness of her loyalty and affection, I’m not sure if I can give it up.
I’m starting to wonder if Sav wasn’t right. Leander is as good as dead. I’m enjoying watching his slow decay. His life has become one big misery. The debtors and bratva he still owes money are closing in like sharks in blood-infested waters. It’s only a matter of time before they make an example of him, and a good example requires that he suffers. Slow torture always sends a stronger message than a quick bullet.
If I could let that be enough, I could let the search for the necklace go. I could live the life I’m discovering with Tatiana. It’s a good life, better than any part of my life has been before. The only parts that mattered were the parts with her in them. The last few days made me realize that I’ve never been truly happy, and like any addict who does the label justice, now that I’ve gotten a taste of the better stuff, I want more.
My life perspective is changing. I’m more focused on my family, especially now that Noah is there, and less on chasing shallow achievements. I have more money than I can use in ten lifetimes. I don’t need more companies or clubs. The reason I’m fighting the wars I do has shifted.
Before, money and power were everything. Now, protecting my family comes first. Money and power are just instruments in obtaining that purpose. My fierce ambition, the risks I take with my life, the blood I spill… I’m not doing it for myself any longer. Those sacrifices aren’t only for the men who fight loyally by my side. They’re for something a lot worthier, for the family I go home to, for the family who is my home.
More and more, I don’t want Tatiana to remember. Selfishly, I want her to live in oblivion so that she’ll continue to give me the soft, sweet side of her she’s been withholding from me since the night she ran away, a young woman wounded, pregnant, and alone. I don’t want her to remember the horrors of the torture and betrayal she suffered. How lonely and frightened she must’ve been.