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ROMAN

I ’m in the shower when my phone rings. I ignore it, not least because I currently have Lucia’s legs hitched around my waist, fucking her slowly against the tiles as water cascades around us. Abby and Dimitry have taken the children for a walk, and Lucia’s father is off doing his physical therapy. Since the night in the castle, we’ve stolen every moment we can, and some we really shouldn’t have. The kids have stopped looking for Lucia in her room in the morning and instead taken to knocking on my door and commanding us to get up. Even Ofelia seems to have accepted the new normal without so much as a flicker of an eye. Only around Lucia’s father have we been discreet, although that old bastard doesn’t miss a trick, so I’m pretty sure he knows exactly what’s going on.

I’m not sure how I’d feel about that in his place. But I’m too old to apologize to anyone for taking what I want. And I’m too far gone to pretend I don’t want Lucia. Every moment of every day, in every possible fucking way I can.

“Oh,” she gasps now, bucking against me. “Oh, Roman...”

I thrust harder into her. Christ, she feels exquisite. It’s as if I’ve spent a lifetime eating dinner, without ever understanding what food really tastes like. Lucia is a banquet that never ceases to enthrall me. Making love to her is endlessly fascinating, an all-consuming desire that is fast becoming an obsession.

I hold her ass and rock slowly deep inside her. This is where I lose myself. This moment when I’m so far into her body that I don’t know where I end and she begins. And somehow, every time I get here, it feels new.

“Roman...” Her eyes flutter closed, and her mouth opens. I cover it with my hand to muffle her screams, grinning darkly as she bites down on the flesh of my palm. I’m getting better at knowing exactly when she’s going to shriek the house down.

Her body begins to quiver and shake, her muffled screams vibrating against my hand. The phone rings again just as I erupt inside her.

“ Khuy .” I pull reluctantly out of her, kissing her swollen mouth. “I’m sorry, milaia . I have to take this.”

“Uh-huh,” she says dreamily, swaying underneath the water. I wash off and step out of the shower, the sight of her body, flushed from lovemaking, making me half hard again as I towel off.

“This better be an emergency,” I snarl into the phone, still staring at Lucia. She’s watching me through slitted eyes, soaping her body in a way that’s doing nothing to make my cock go down.

“Well!” Inger’s shrill indignation manages to deflate my hard-on faster than an ice bath. I walk into the bedroom, closing the bathroom door behind me, and pull on some clothes.

“What is it, Inger?” I do my best to keep my voice level.

“It would have been nice to be informed that my children were taking part in a public performance. I don’t recall giving my consent for—”

“You were informed.” I cut her off mid-rant. “Every decision I make about the children is emailed to you directly.”

“I work , Roman. I can’t be expected to open every email your assistant sends.” Her whining tone sets my teeth on edge. “It was only because darling Nicky texted me photos that I—”

“ Darling Nicky? ” I laugh scornfully. “Darling Nicky was at the parade for a total of about five minutes, and believe me, the kids were a lot happier when he left.”

“Don’t be silly. They love him. They spent all that time with him last summer on the Guapa , Yuri’s yacht.” Her tone is faintly accusatory, which really makes me gnash my teeth.

Yuri’s fucking yacht was one of the red flags that brought the authorities down on us in the first place. The fact that it took me almost six years to convince him the Guapa was an extremely dangerous, not to mention fucking expensive, indulgence that we do not need still pisses me off. Maybe it’s the street kid in me, but toys for the sake of appearances have never appealed to me. I can’t see the point in maintaining a floating goddamn palace just so that everyone knows I’m as rich as Forbes already reports me as being.

The fact that Nicky flew over to the States, without bothering to inform me, and took Inger and the kids for a month-long jaunt around the Caribbean, on a yacht I was still paying for, pissed me off beyond recognition. It still does.

In the end I brought the damned thing back to Spain and lived on it until the penthouse renovations were finished. Partly to piss Nicky off, but mainly because I figured I might as well make use of it. I finally managed to convince Yuri to sell the Guapa six months ago, which pissed Nicky off even more, since I’m pretty sure he’d been planning to use it as party central the minute I vacated it.

I hear the shower stop running. I need to wrap this up. “What do you want, Inger?”

“Well.” Her voice takes on a sulky edge. “I told you I’d be coming back to Spain for a visit soon. For the Russian Cultural Society Benefit.”

“Sure,” I say blankly. I vaguely remember her saying something about it.

“Well, it’s on in two months. I know how hopeless you are with these things, so I’m going to contact your assistant to put it on your calendar. I want you to escort me, and I want Ofelia to come, too. It’s about time she started to attend charitable functions. And I’ve been a patron of the RCS since before she was born. It’s part of her heritage, Romie.”

I roll my eyes. Inger cares as much about charitable causes as she does about cockroaches. She just likes having her photograph taken and playing the part of Mikhail’s grieving widow, despite the fact that they’d been divorced for some time before his death. Taking Ofelia just adds to the photo opportunity.

“Sure,” I say again. I can manage one benefit, if it means keeping the peace. “Let my secretary know the dates.”

“Ofelia will need a gown. Get that nanny to take her shopping. Although, going by her lion mask in Nicky’s photos, she’s got about as much fashion sense as I’d expect from a South American illegal.”

The bathroom door opens, and Lucia’s magnificent naked body emerges, flushed from the shower. I grin darkly. “That’s true enough. Lucia’s not really one for clothes.”

Lucia throws her towel at me and I duck, grinning.

“Well, then find someone who is. Anyway, Romie, I have to rush. Send kisses to the children.”

“Sure.” I hang up and throw the phone onto the bed, then put my arms around Lucia and start kissing her neck.

“Roman!” She pushes me away half-heartedly. “The children will be back any minute. We can’t.”

“We can.” I pull her against my hardening cock.

“Who was that you were telling about me wearing no clothes? Oh,” she gasps, as I slip a finger inside her.

“That,” I say, marveling at how wet she is, “was the children’s god-awful mother, Inger. She thinks that your lion mask means you don’t know one end of a clothing store from another. I told her that clothes aren’t really your specialty. Not that I’m complaining, mind you.”

“Roman!” Her indignation only makes me laugh more. “You can’t joke about things like... ah ,” she squeals, as I find her still-swollen clit. “No.” She struggles feebly, although she’s half laughing. “What did Inger want?”

“Some stupid charity thing she wants to take Ofelia to.” I tear my shorts off with one hand, keeping my other inside Lucia. “Don’t worry, it’s months away. She probably won’t turn up anyway.”

Then I turn my attention to her mouth, swallowing any further protests in favor of far more important things.

W hen the phone next rings, the children are laughing in the kitchen with Lucia and I’m attempting to get some work done in between dips in the pool.

“Pavel.” I stare at the laptop screen, studying some numbers, listening with half an ear.

“I’ve found something.” The gravity of his tone gets my full attention.

“Speak.”

“I think you need to see this.”

I frown. “Can it wait a day? It’s our last night. We’re heading back to the city in the morning. The kids start school the day after tomorrow.”

“Sorry.” Pavel doesn’t sound it. “But I think you’d rather see this as soon as possible.”

Damn it. Pavel knows better than to fuck with my time. If he says I need to see it, then I do.

“Fine.” I glance at my phone. “I’ll be there in half an hour.”

I end the call and go to the bedroom, pulling on jeans and a shirt as I go. The research facility is barely ten miles from the finca, which is one of the reasons I bought it in the first place. I’m all about convenience.

“Hey.” I touch the base of Lucia’s spine as I come into the kitchen. She jumps, casting a nervous glance at the kids. I grin. I actually love how she jumps every time I touch her when they’re around. And the kids are starting to enjoy it, too. Ofelia rolls her eyes.

“Oh my goodness,” she says with exaggerated sarcasm. “Like we don’t all know what you guys are up to. You’re not exactly subtle.”

Lucia’s face flames red. “Um,” she mumbles.

Masha looks up with interest from some food mixture she’s half covered in. “Why your face red, Luce?”

“Because she’s been a bad, bad girl,” says Abby cheerfully, winking at me. Dimitry guffaws in the corner, then hastily tries to conceal it with a cough.

“Abby!” Lucia shoots daggers at her friend.

“Oh, I don’t know.” I kiss Lucia’s cheek, which makes Masha giggle. “I’d say she’s been pretty good, actually.”

“Roman!” Lucia gasps in horror.

“OMG.” Ofelia clamps her hands over her ears. “Children are present, people.”

“Gross.” Mickey shakes his head, but he’s grinning at his laptop screen.

“Hey, Mickey.” He raises his head. “Want to come hang out with Pavel for a bit? I’ve got to go to Hale Tech to check something out.” The way his face lights up makes me feel a hundred feet tall.

“Yeah,” he says enthusiastically. “That’d be super cool.”

“Right.” I kiss Lucia again, thoroughly enjoying the volcano of color on her face. “We’ll be back for dinner, okay? Sorry about this.” I shake my head at Dimitry when he stands up. “All good, brother. I’d rather you stay here.”

“Copy that.” He sits down again, pulling Abby between his knees.

“Double gross,” mutters Ofelia, shaking her head as she waves me off.

I take the Maybach, since Luis has the day off.

“Wow,” says Mickey as we pull out of the garage. “This car is so cool.”

I realize, with a now familiar twinge of shame, that I’ve never actually had the kids in my car before. So many things I’ve never shared with them.

“I’ll teach you to drive it another time, if you want.”

“That would be awesome ,” he breathes.

“Then it’s a deal.” I wink at him as I take the Maybach around a bend rather too quickly. “But maybe we won’t mention that part to Luce or your sisters, okay?” He nods so emphatically I almost laugh.

“So you’ve been to the software facility before,” I say. “You know the deal—you can hang out in the tech center while I talk to Pavel. I’ll send him in to you when we’re done.”

“Uh-huh.” He gives me a sideways look. “But I’m not allowed down in the server center, right?”

I glance at him, rather taken aback.

“I’m not an idiot, Roman.” He meets my eyes steadily. “I could hack into the Spanish government’s mainframe when I was twelve. I know you’ve got a whole thing going on underneath the facility.”

“Huh.” I’m not entirely sure what to say to that.

“Papa used to take us there all the time when we were little,” Mickey goes on. He’s watching me carefully, as if weighing how much he can say. I keep my eyes on the road and let him talk. “When Mama first left, before all the nannies.”

All the nannies. I try not to wince. I should have fucking been there. But I’d been too busy back then, too focused, to consider offering my help in looking after the kids. Anyway, I’d always stayed away from Mikhail’s domestic life, except for birthdays and Christmas. I didn’t want to get involved. To be relied on.

“I guess Papa thought we were too young to understand what we were seeing,” Mickey is saying. “Ofelia didn’t get it. She wasn’t really interested, anyway. And Masha was just a baby.”

“But you did understand?” I glance at him.

“Not at first. It wasn’t until last year, on the yacht, that I started to get curious.”

“The yacht?” That gets my attention. “Why was that?” I try to keep my voice casual.

“It was something Uncle Nicky said to Mama. He thought we were all asleep, but I was still awake, gaming on my computer. I wasn’t trying to listen,” he says, slightly defensively. “But they were talking right outside my room.”

“It’s okay.” I smile reassuringly at him. “You’re not in trouble. What was it you heard?”

“Uncle Nicky was complaining that you don’t include him in everything, and Mama asked what he meant, because you’d given him that nightclub. Pillars. Anyway,” he goes on, “Nicky said that he should ‘have a piece’ of the software facility. Mama asked what was so special about the facility, and Uncle Nicky said that you don’t dig up acres of mountain behind a high-security fence if you’re just making software.” He shrugs. “Then just recently, Luce mentioned something about it. I know what a server center is, and I started to think back to when we visited with Papa. I figured it out, I guess. Also, the facility produces really boring software. Like, kid’s stuff.” His contempt is so like that of my tech heads that it almost makes me laugh.

Except for the fact that what he’s saying is dangerous enough to put me on high alert.

“Did you mention any of that to Nikolai?” Despite my best efforts, I can hear the tension in my voice.

“Of course not!” Mickey’s indignation is too raw to be fake. “I’d never tell anyone about what you and Papa do. Did,” he corrects himself quietly, and I feel a pang of sadness. It should be Mikhail sitting here, talking to his son, teaching him about the family business.

But Mikhail isn’t here. You are. And Mercura is Mickey’s family business.

I didn’t intend to start involving Mickey, or any of the kids, in Mercura, or any of our businesses. They’re just kids. But suddenly I realize how naive that is. They’re already involved. They’ve lost their father, and their grandfather is in jail. They spend their lives surrounded by security, and in the knowledge that they’re in danger.

“I’ve looked it all up online,” Mickey says, as if to confirm my thoughts. “I know why Deda Yuri went to jail. I know what they say about Hale Property, that it’s just a front for our other businesses.” His casual use of the word our is strangely touching. “And I know that you... well, I know that the men who killed Papa aren’t alive anymore.”

I shift uncomfortably in my seat. “Mickey, I—”

“I’m glad those men are dead.” Startled, I look at him properly. His face is set and hard, oddly mature for the boy he still is. “I know it isn’t right to feel that way,” he says quietly. “But they killed Papa. At least now they can’t hurt Ofelia or Masha.”

There’s no bravado in his tone. He’s not trying to impress me or act tough. He means every word.

I’ve always known Mickey is fiercely intelligent. His report cards are off the chart, and Pavel has mentioned more than once that his abilities are above average. A year ago one of his teachers actually suggested that Mickey was wasting his time in her classes, and that his abilities in math and science already outstripped her own.

But until now, I never realized that he’s strong, too.

Mickey isn’t a child playing on computers. He’s a young man who has lost his father and never really had a mother. And he’s a brother who is determined to keep his sisters safe.

He might be only just fourteen, but I can already see the man he’s going to become. A man his father would have been truly proud of.

No thanks to me.

I’m just sorry I didn’t see it earlier.

“Mickey.” I pull the car into the Mercura parking garage and switch it off, turning to face him. “I’m sorry you’ve had to work all this out on your own. And there’s nothing wrong with feeling glad those men are dead. You’re right,” I say steadily, speaking to him as I would to any man. “They can’t hurt you anymore. Sometimes we have to deal with enemies that way. I don’t like it, and I know you don’t. But that is the life we lead. Sometimes, it’s necessary.”

He nods slowly, his eyes on mine big and solemn.

“I don’t want to lie to you about what is underneath Hale Tech. I always intended to tell you about it, one day. I guess I just wanted to protect you for as long as I could. To keep you safe. Because what we’re doing here is dangerous, Mickey. I need to know that you understand that.”

“Dangerous.” He cracks a smile that takes me by surprise. “You’re explaining to me how dangerous technology can be? Seriously? You can’t even convert a PDF document.”

I laugh aloud at that, shaking my head.

“I underestimated you, Mickey. I’m sorry, okay? But what you’re about to see would mean the end of us all, if anyone ever finds out. I can bring you inside it. But once I do, there’s no going back. I’m not sure your father would have approved of me doing that, while you’re so young. And I’m pretty sure Lucia would kill me if she knew we were even having this conversation.”

“I’m not a kid, Roman.” Mickey’s eyes narrow, and I see a steel in them that I never really noticed before. “I have an IQ of 180. That makes me technically a genius, in case you don’t know that stuff.” He half smiles. “I act a lot slower than I am. It’s easier that way. People leave me alone.”

I look at him curiously. “How did I not know all this?”

He shrugs. “Because people see what they want to see. Even you. And what most people see is a geeky kid in glasses who can’t talk to people.” That makes me actually laugh out loud.

“Well, Mickey,” I say, opening the car door and stepping out, “come with me. You’re about to meet a whole lot of people just like you.”