Chapter 30

Clara

 

I’m awakened from a deep sleep when I hear men yelling. Rolling over I notice Alexei isn’t in bed with me anymore. I yawn and slip from beneath the covers, grabbing my clothes and pulling them back on. Making my way from the room, I run my fingers over my neck, smiling from the rawness I feel from his fingers being wrapped around it. Alexei is a dark soul, but I love how he brings me to life.

As I pad down the hallway, I see Lev, Alexei’s cousin. I’ve met him a few times but we’ve never really talked.

“What’s happening?” I ask catching his attention. He looks down at me and his eyes lower to my neck. I’m sure Alexei has left his mark and for some silly reason, I love that.

“I’m sure Alexei doesn’t want you to be a part of this,” he says before turning and walking down the stairs. I don’t care what he thinks. After being away from Alexei, I want to be near him. I jog down the steps and find the men moving toward the basement. None of the others say a word as I follow along. Once we reach the bottom, I move past them and into the room when I stop and gasp. My father has a noose around his neck, standing on a chair, as Alexei circles him with a knife and a deadly glint in his eyes. The man with him is already dead or at least appears to be. I watch in an intrigued silence as Alexei walks slowly around him until he stops to face him.

“There are many things I’d like to keep punishing you for, but I don’t want to waste another second away from my fiancé,” Alexei says. My father’s eyes widen, or as much as they can seeing how he’s already been beaten. Blood drips from multiple wounds as Alexei makes another. The knife plunges into his stomach, my father screaming in pain. I can’t stop the smirk that crosses my face. Nor can I stop my feet when they begin to move. Before I can think of anything else, I’m standing next to Alexei. He doesn’t need to look to know that I’m here. He can feel me just like I can feel him.

“Do you have anything to say to your daughter?” Alexei asks him. My father turns his broken and battered face to look at me and smirks.

“You make me sick. Just the way your mother did. You are nothing to anyone,” he hisses.

“I am someone to Alexei,” I say before kicking the chair out from under him. His body jerks and his eyes bulge. I don’t blink as I stare at the man that gave me life, yet took it away. Oddly, I don’t feel bad for taking his life. I feel a sense of pride, especially when looking up at the smile on Alexei’s face.

“You are my own darkness,” he says before leaning down and kissing me.

“I have to tell you something. I don’t know if you’ll be happy or not.”

“Anything that leaves your lips I’ll be happy with, воробей. Just don’t tell me you’re leaving me,” he says, his tone firm.

“I’m pregnant.” His eyes darken, and for a minute, I’m not sure what he will do. He cocks his head to the side, studying me, before placing a hand over my stomach. His eyes come back to meet mine and I’m lost in him. The killer, the man that bought me, the man that saves me every day of my life. How I ever lived without him, I will never know. I don’t plan on finding out.

“A child?” he asks, his brows furrowed. I nod my head slowly and a small dark smirk crosses his features.

“You kill alongside me. You hold a darkness in you that I crave. You can ruin me with your words, but you are giving me something as perfect and precious as a child? You amaze me, Clara.” His words cause tears to spring to my eyes. He pulls me into his chest and kisses the top of my head.

“I love you, Alexei.”

“I know you do and that’s what allows me to breathe every day of my life. That’s the reason I wake up and take another breath. You don’t know how much I’m obsessed with you. With every detail of you, your body, your mind, and your heart. Leaving me is never going to be an option now, do you understand that?” When I pull back and look up at the man that I love, I don’t think I can picture myself without him.

“You gave me a home. You gave me a heart and there will never be a reason for me to go, Alexei. You mean everything to me.” He nods his head and lowers his lips to mine. His kiss is harsh and hard just like the man himself. I gladly take it, all of it because this is us. This is who we are together. There isn’t a better feeling in the world than knowing that you have a man’s heart.

“Now, let’s go get married.”

“Right now?” I smirk at him.

“I have the paperwork together in my office as well as the pastor. I want it official now and then we can plan for a big wedding, yes?” My mouth gapes open as I stare up at him.

“You wouldn’t deny me would you, воробей?” His words and the way he spoke them send a chill down my spine. I shake my head and smile.

“No. Never.” Our love is complicated just like the two of us. We came into this life together not knowing one another, but when we looked hard enough, we are more alike than we thought. We hold each other’s light in our dark hands, and that’s what makes us shine.

 

The end.