1
Frankie
Five years ago
She was sweeter than anything I’d ever tasted, an addiction, my obsession.
I pulled her in closer, curling my hands around her waist, needing her tethered to me forever. She was tiny compared to me, her body feminine, her curves slight but womanly.
“Frankie,” she whispered against my lips and I couldn’t help but groan.
I loved when she said my name, especially when I was pushed deep between her thighs. “You know my father has his men watching me, following me.”
Yeah, I knew that, but I didn’t care. It didn’t change the fact that being with Nadja Romonoff was forbidden in her father’s eyes.
I didn’t care that Nadja’s father was Petrov Romonoff, a high-ranking official in the bratva. I didn’t care, because I’d fallen in love with this girl, wanted our lives entwined forever. I didn’t care that what we did could get me killed. I didn’t care that her father would have no problem, no guilt in cutting off my head and putting it on a stake on principle alone.
None of that mattered, because I loved her more than I loved myself, more than I loved anybody else. And that included my brothers.
She was light where I was dark, good where I was bad. We had a chance meeting, an accidental run-in when we met, when she’d come into my life. She was my life preserver keeping me afloat.
My life had been brutality and pain, violence and hardness. But Nadja showed me there was more.
There was so much more to life with her by my side.
And ever since then, she’d been mine. I’d known that the moment I looked into her green eyes. I’d risk anything to be with her, to make sure she stayed by my side. I tilted my head and deepened the kiss, slipping my tongue between the seam of her lips, making her take all of me.
“Frankie,” she moaned my name against my mouth, this strangled whisper.
Hearing her say my name always had me nearly losing control.
“I don’t want anyone else in my life.” She rested her head against my chest, and I held her tightly to me. “You’re the only man I’ll ever love.”
I couldn’t hold back my possessive, obsessive side as my fingers tightened around her, as I inhaled deeply and took her scent into my body.
“I should get you home,” I said low, deep, although that was the last thing I wanted.
“I’m not ready to go home.”
God, I didn’t want her to leave. “Your dad already wants me dead, baby, and it’s way past your curfew.”
She was already shaking her head before I finished. “I’m not worried if you aren’t.”
I wasn’t kidding when I said her father wanted me dead. He literally did, because I wasn’t listening and staying away, but hell, I’d take death ten times over just to be with Nadja.
“Take me somewhere private, somewhere we can be alone.”
My heart thundered at hearing her words, knowing what they meant. I heard the intent in her words.
“You’re sure?” She pulled back enough I could look into her eyes.
She licked her lips and nodded. “I’ve wanted to be with you in every way since the moment I met you, Frankie. I just want you.”
I closed my eyes and rested my forehead against hers, groaning. I loved this girl so much. So fucking much.
I knew where to take her, where we could be alone, where not even my brothers’ presence would be a hindrance. Because I wanted Nadja all to myself.
After a moment, I started driving toward a small motel on the outskirts of town. The owner owed me a favor for giving a beatdown on a punk who wouldn’t stop loitering. I’d been all too happy to beat the shit out of a little asshole if it meant having someone owe me. I racked those favors up like they were gold.
And they were.
There was nothing more powerful in this world than having someone know they owed you.
I was sure her father knew where we’d been, but I risked losing the tail he no doubt had on me. The traffic was thick on a Saturday night, with a few cars behind me. No doubt one of them was employed by Petrov.
I took a left, a right. Another right. One more left. I took the turns fast, seeing Nadja hold on to the armrest as the car jerked in every direction, but she wore a smile. She knew why I did this. It may not lose them, and I was sure they’d still find us eventually, but I’d have her to myself for the time being.
I should have been smarter where Petrov was concerned. He already made it known he didn’t want us together, that when she did have somebody in her life romantically, when she did marry, it would be somebody of his choosing, someone who could tie the families together, build an alliance. So maybe he entertained what we had for the time being, but I knew he’d never let it last, never let it go on.