Page 149 of Jewel of the Assassin

My breath catches as my husband begins, pulling at the lever on the wall, the one that controls the rope suspending Maxym. I love his twisted smile as he lowers the deposed boss into the water, halfway up, so he gets his dick wet with the polar temperatures. Savage screeches burst in the air, but Roman and I hold each other’s gazes. I flick my eyes down and grin because he’s pitching a tent in his pants. He smiles back, having picked up on my attention.

The coat I wear is too thick to see, but my nipples are hard, and wetness grows in my core. The deep blush forming on my cheeks is enough of a sign.

Every encounter like this gets our adrenaline rising, our blood pulsing. Violence gets us both off. But united violence. Because we share everything now. Sometimes, it’s just a quick fuck up against the nearest wall. One recent time, I bratted too much, and Roman whitewashed me in the snow—buck naked. Then, he fucked me until all our extremities grew numb. But the fireplace and Jacuzzi were the perfect follow-ups.

Finally, Roman pulls the lever, raising Maxym out of the water. He’s gasping and crying, his whole body shaking and shivering.

My husband leans in, voice low, intimate. “You have one last thread to cut, Maxym. Where is the storehouse?”

He says nothing. Just spits in Roman’s face.

Circling the ice hole, Roman pauses to stand behind the ex-boss. Heat fills me…for more than one reason. It’s almost time.

I love how my husband’s black gloves subtly crack as he tightens his grip on the harpoon. My breath hitches as he swings it, bringing it down in an expert strike to Maxym’s back. The rodent squeals. The hook doesn’t tear the flesh yet. Romanwill get there. But I imagine the sorry excuse for a man will break down first.

Perhaps Maxym is staying silent because he knows he’ll be dead after he gives us the warehouse location. Regardless, I hope it won’t take too long. The past five months have been amazing but also exhausting. I see the toll it’s taken on Roman, too. I also know it would be a heavier toll if I weren’t at his side. I don’t just take the edge off and help relieve his tension, which I’m proud to do.

I am his partner, his equal, his queen. Where he goes, I go.

He’s still just as crazy, always finding new ways to shock me, to test me. I hope we don’t lose that now. I hope it doesn’t change, given the…circumstances.

But one unquestionable and irrevocable thing that will never change? We’re so goddamn crazy for one another.

Roman swings the metal rod again, striking the man’s ribs with the blunt side.

My heart pounds with the secret I’ve been carrying today, nearly ready to burst. And something I once mentioned comes to me, and it’s just too perfect. So me. So us.

One more blow, and I burst, blurting out, “Oh, yeah, Daddy, do itharder.”

Roman snaps his head to me. One brow lifts. I blush deeper and bite my lower lip. At first, he chuffs a laugh, misinterpreting my meaning as a kink.

So, when he raises the harpoon again, I repeat with one tiny change, “Oh yeah,DADDY, do it harder.”

“Valentina?”

He tilts his head.

I tilt mine. And grin. “Surprise?”

In one second, he’s flung off his mask, and he’s charging for me. I skitter back against the nearest wall as he closes in, looking like a beautiful warlord while still holding that harpoon. “How on earth?—?”

I shrug sweetly, feeling his hot breath on my face. “I found apregnancy test kit in one of the very well-stocked bathroom closets. And well? I’m late.”

I can’t tell what he’s feeling. One second, he looks like he’s going to eat me. And the next, like he’s going to wrap me in his arms and keep me there for the nextninemonths.

Tears form in my eyes as he touches my stomach, but his eyes stay fixed on me. “My queen is with child. A little prince or princess.”

“Or printz or printzessa. I like both,” I say and kiss his cheek.

A muscle bounces in his jaw, but he glances to one side where Maxym is still whimpering. “And now, Maya Valya? You chose now to tell me?”

My laugh sparkles. “I couldn’t wait. And we’ve never done things the conventional way.”

“Indeed.”

One split-second later, Roman is raining down blows and hits on Maxym’s body. He’s unleashed something. Something feral, possessive, and hyper-protective. It’s beautiful and deadly, and I love every moment.

Once he’s bleeding and writhing like a worm on a hook, Maxym finally spits out the warehouse location. Roman takes a few minutes to verify. I admire the bloody mess he’s created. So chaotic. So crazy. Nothing like the slow, surgical cuts I am used to.