Page 180 of Villainous Kingpin

Beep. Beep. Beep.

I’d shoot the fucking thing. I twitched my fingers to grab it, but all I felt was soft skin.

God, what the fuck happened?

Then the events slowly came back to me. The drive back after the funeral, the attack. Hearing Wynter’s voice through the fog in my brain.

I love you so damn much it hurts. There has been nobody since I walked away that day, and if you leave me, it’ll break me. Please just hold on. For me.

Fuck! I had never held on so desperately as I did when I heard those words. For her.

The statement shouted loud in my brain. There had been nobody for her.

It had been the avoided topic between us because I knew if she confirmed there were others, I’d dig up those names and bodies would be piling up. I didn’t want anyone else who walked this earth to have tasted what I had. The selfish prick in me wanted it only for myself.

I slowly peeled my eyes open, blinking hard against the light, only to find my wife curled up beside me, her hand wrapped around my torso.

Her wild curls hid her face, and I couldn’t resist reaching out gently and brushing a few of her golden curls out of her face. Fuck. My chest tightened seeing her like this. Her lips were slightly parted as she breathed and her thick lashes rested against her skin. She furrowed her brows as if she was thinking even in her sleep.

She was born for me. The conviction was hard and firm. Every single breath I’d taken from the moment I was born, it had been for the moment when she’d stumble into my life. I couldn’t live without this girl because I had been hopelessly and irrevocably in love with her from the first moment.

“There hasn’t been anyone for me either, principessa,” I rasped, my throat raw. There’d never be anyone else for me.

Her eyes fluttered open and our eyes met. She blinked, then blinked again as if she couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

Then she sat up and her eyes roamed over me. “You’re awake?” she whispered. Before I could answer, she threw herself at me, showering my face with kisses. I didn’t even care about the pain, as long as she kept kissing me. “I was so worried, Bas. How are you feeling?”

She went to pull away, but I tugged her back to me. “Better now that I’ve been thoroughly kissed.” Then she buried her face in my neck and her lips skimmed over my skin, placing small kisses. “Did you get hurt?”

“No, I’m good,” she murmured, inhaling deeply. “Just a little head bump.”

“She has a concussion,” Priest’s voice came out of nowhere. He leaned against the door, both hands in his pockets. “She refused to leave your side and the only reason the doctor’s let her harass your ass was because she’s a famous Olympic skater.”

I chuckled, the small movement causing pain but I didn’t give a fuck.

“What happened?” I grumbled.

“My crazy sister threw herself on you when the crazy old Russian bitch ordered her men to shoot you,” Priest grumbled casually.

I tensed and searched my wife’s eyes to see the truth in them.

“Principessa,” I growled.

She shook her head, narrowing her eyes on me. “Don’t youprincipessa me! First, you would have done it for me. So don’t you dare preach to me,” she said, slightly annoyed. “Mom, Uncle, and Priest have done it enough. And second, the old crazy woman told those men she’d gut them if they hurt me. So it made complete sense to be your shield.”

It was smart thinking but it still sent a fucking shudder through me. If something would have happened to her, life without her would be impossible. Nothing ever fucking got to me like this woman.

“Who was she?” I grumbled. Her eyes flitted to Priest, then came back to me. “What?”

“It’s the Pakhan,” Wynter explained softly. “My great-grandmother is the Pakhan and she wants to destroy all of the underworld. Make them pay for losing her daughter to my grandfather.”

“She won’t stop coming after Wynter,” Priest said, the tone of his voice cold. My cousin was protective of family. He’d be overprotective of his sister. “We need to make her aware I exist. That way she’ll back off.”

Wynter shook her head. “Absolutely not. Mom will never forgive us. Forgive me, if we let that happen.”

A slightly bitter laugh escaped him. “She didn’t seem concerned with me for the past twenty-five years. She shouldn’t start now.”

Sorrow flashed across Wynter’s face. “Christian-” she whispered softly. “She thought she was protecting you.”