Possess (The Syndicate: Crime and Passion Book 1) (13 page)

O
ne Month Later

S
enna

“
W
here do
we want this one? Living room or bedroom?” I said into the silence.

There was no answer, but I didn’t expect one. I had read in some book that babies responded to the sound of their mother’s voice, so I went out of my way to talk to him, wanted him to know I was there.

It helped me too. Talking to him, even without a response, helped me feel a little less lonely, sometimes gave me the strength to get through the day.

“Living room,” I said finally, walking toward the bare wall.

I didn’t have any pictures of my parents, but I’d found a beach painting that reminded me of them and decided to hang it on the wall. When it hung to my satisfaction, I nodded and then looked around the rest of the room. I had been careful with my funds, but had managed to make something that felt like home here, and I was proud of it.

For a while, I had considered leaving town, but that hadn’t felt right. Maxim was here, and knowing he was close by made me happy. A happiness that would disappear because Maxim would leave eventually. I couldn’t follow him and stay in the shadows just to maintain that slight promise of what would never be. This place was where I belonged.

My stomach growled, and I moved to the kitchen, trying to decide what to have to eat. It had taken some getting used to, but I was slowly getting comfortable with the idea of living on my own for the first time in my life.

There was a knock at the door and I stopped making dinner and went to answer it, expecting Adrian. It had been a couple of weeks since his last visit and he was due any day now.

But when I looked through the peephole, I didn’t see Adrian.

I paused, pressed my forehead against the front door, and debated whether or not to open it.

Missing him, longing for him, was something I had decided would be a part of my life forever, but I’d still managed to keep going, move on as best I could. I just didn’t know if that would continue if I let him back in.

My head told me to leave the door closed, but my heart, which had started to race when I had looked at him, wouldn’t let me send him away.

I opened the door.

He said nothing and walked in, his presence overwhelming, my reaction to him automatic.

I watched him as he surveyed the place, though I had no idea what he thought of it.

“This doesn’t meet with your approval,” I said, after several long moments of silence as Maxim appraised the room. The words were snide, but I decided I didn’t care.

He met my eyes, his icy, detached. “It’s lovely,” he said.

I believed him. Things had changed, but not so much that Maxim would resort to empty flattery.

“Um, thanks, I guess,” I said, feeling ever so slightly chastened by my earlier behavior.

He’d been looking at my face before, but he dropped his gaze to the still-small but growing protrusion of my stomach. When he looked back at my face, his expression was unreadable as always, but my heart continued to race in anticipation.

“I was making dinner,” I said, my voice wavering.

I didn’t wait for him to respond and instead turned and went back into my kitchen, and though I knew he followed, I ignored him.

His gaze stayed on me with every move I made, and as he watched, my emotions intensified, and I was filled by so many things, nervous, anxious, joyful at again being in his presence.

A tremble went through me at the feeling of his gaze on me, but I kept my back to him, continued making my dinner.

“I didn’t kill Santo,” he said.

I paused at that statement and then resumed. “So I heard. You have other plans for him?” I said.

“I do,” he said.

“Good for you,” I replied, still not looking at him, not trusting myself to stay strong in the face of my feelings for him.

“I love you,” he said.

I dropped the plate I held and turned to look at him.

“I love you,” he repeated.

I shrugged, the movement far more nonchalant than I actually felt, a complete counterpoint to the exhilaration that had run through me at his words. Still, his declaration, no matter how thrilling, couldn’t be enough to sway me. Because his love, much as I treasured it, didn’t mean he was ready to give me the life I deserved, the one where I knew this thing between us was more than an unfathomable connection, but real, true love, a relationship Maxim would openly acknowledge.

“When did you have this realization?” I asked.

“Ten years ago, but you know how stubborn I can be. I had to accept it in my own time,” he said.

I smiled despite myself but then quickly forced the expression away. “Why are you telling me this?” I asked.

“I’d never said it before. You needed to know,” he said.

“I love you too, Maxim. But I’m not the thing that matters right now,” I said.

He nodded, and then reached into his pocket to retrieve a piece of paper. He extended it to me and I reached for it. It was frayed on the edges, folded into four equal sections, and from the heavy creases, I could see it had been folded and refolded countless times.

I took the paper from him, shivering when my fingers brushed his, and as I unfolded the sheet, my heart, which still pounded against my chest, moved even faster.

I recognized it immediately, had spent more than my fair share of time looking at the very same thing. It was the baby’s first sonogram.

I looked up at him. “How did you get this?” I asked. I should have been angry at the revelation, but I was too busy thinking that this showed he cared, something I hadn’t been sure of.

Maxim did something he seldom did. He smiled, and I couldn’t stop myself from doing the same.

“Stupid question,” I said and then I sobered. “Here’s a better one. Why do you care?”

Maxim walked closer to me, wrapped his arms around my waist until my body was flush against his. “Don’t ever say that again,” he said.

“Why not?” I replied, voice breathy as I waited for his response, wondering why he would be upset at my question. His care was never a certainty, and I was well within reason to question it.

“Because you know it’s not true,” he said.

“How do I know that, Maxim? Because you saved me?” I said.

“You know it because I’m telling you now. And you know it because of what I’ve done. Senna, I don’t care about you, I love you. I need you. You give my life meaning,” he said.

“You let me leave,” I whispered.

“I was trying to give you what you wanted,” he said.

“And now?” I replied, looking up at him.

“And now, I’m done. I have no experience giving people what they want, and I’m not going to learn with you. You’re coming back with me, Senna. You and me and the baby. Together. The way it should be.”

My heart leaped into my throat, disbelief warring with the joy I felt. “You’ll give me everything?” I asked.

“Everything. My heart, my soul, it belongs to you, Senna,” he said.

Then he kissed me, but soon broke our embrace and carried me to my bedroom, the one that had felt so empty and cold without him.

We peeled each other’s clothes off slowly, his hands moving over my body slowly as if he were seeing me for the first time. I did the same, touching him as I had always dreamed of, touching him in the way I had so sorely missed.

And when he entered me, his hardness filling me in a way only he ever would, I knew I had found my forever.

Later, when I lay beside him curled in his arms, he kissed my forehead, looked at me with eyes that were more kind, more open than I had ever seen.

“You think I saved you, little flower,” he said, kissing my forehead again.

“You did,” I said.

He shook his head. “No, you saved me. Before I saw you, I never cared for anyone or anything but myself, my ambition. But even though I didn’t realize it at the time, the goodness I saw in you has shaped me, kept me from becoming even more of a monster than I am.”

“You’re not a monster, Maxim,” I said.

He threaded his fingers through my hair, traced my cheek. “Only because you keep me from it. I love you, Senna.”

“I love you, Maxim.”

M
axim

“
A
re preparations complete
?” I asked Sergei, leveling a glare at him.

He nodded. “The adjacent properties have been purchased, and I’ve started the process to acquire two others.”

“Good. Finish quickly,” I said.

“Yeah,” he said. Then he flashed a smile that was genuine and looked at me knowingly. “So only a few more weeks, huh?”

“Senna hopes it’s not nearly so long,” I said, allowing myself a smile of my own.

This was still unfamiliar, speaking about the baby, knowing that he was soon to arrive, but I couldn’t stop the warmth that bloomed in my chest. That warmth that increased as Senna turned into the room. She moved slowly, a bit more stilted by the prominence of her rounded stomach.

I’d never seen anyone or anything more beautiful.

The warmth in my chest deepened, curled around my heart. Before, I would have rejected the feeling, tried to fight it, but no more. I loved Senna, loved our baby, and I couldn’t allow myself to pretend otherwise.

Senna lifted her eyes to mine, and I could see my own feelings reflected back at me. She gave me a full, warm smile and then turned to Sergei.

“Are you staying for dinner?” she asked.

Sergei glanced over at me, another sly smile on his face. “This tyrant still making you cook?” he asked.

Senna laughed and then came over to me. I looped my arm around her and settled my hand on her belly. “Nope. This tyrant won’t let me lift a feather,” she said, looking over at me, a beautiful smile on her face.

“Good. He’s cooking for you, then?” Sergei said.

She laughed even louder. “He loves me too much for that,” she said.

“I do,” I replied, and then I leaned down and brushed my lips against hers, shivered at the touch, uncaring that Sergei saw, uncaring of anything but the woman in my arms.

After a moment, I broke away and looked back at Sergei. “Sergei won’t be staying. He has work to do,” I said.

Sergei laughed and then nodded and looked at Senna. “Thanks for the offer, but I do have a lot on my plate. I’d come hug you good-bye, but Maxim might not like that. See you later, Se. See you later, little Maxim,” he said, gesturing toward her stomach.

“Bye, Sergei,” she said, her voice rich with humor and affection.

Sergei left, and when I heard the door close, I wrapped my arms around Senna and kissed her deeply, swooping my tongue into her mouth and tightening my hand on her side. I was instantly hard, but even the intensity of my arousal was nothing in the face of the deeper emotion I felt, the love I felt, so new, so deep, and something I wondered how I had ever lived without, knowing I would never live without it again.

I broke the kiss and then looked down at Senna, gazing into her soft eyes.

“You’re still buying all the houses in the neighborhood?” she asked.

“Not all,” I said, to which she laughed.

“Just most, huh,” she said, still smiling indulgently.

“You love this house, so I want you to stay here. It only needs a few alterations to make it perfect.”

She barked out a little laugh. “Only you would consider buying six houses on a block a ‘few alterations,’” she said.

I shrugged. Six, six hundred, it didn’t matter. No cost mattered so long as Senna was happy.

Senna laid her head against my chest, and I wrapped my arms around her, bringing her as close to my body as I could, smiling when I felt the baby move between us. I held her for a moment and then again broke away and stared down at her.

“Thank you, Maxim,” she said, her expression now serious.

“For what?” I replied.

“For everything,” she said.

Those words were so simple but said so much, covered the years that had passed between us, the years that were to come.

She reached up and brushed her fingers against my cheek, her touch, her eyes conveying the emotion I felt.

“I love you, Senna,” I said, though the words weren’t nearly enough to convey what I felt.

Senna possessed me heart, body and soul, and I would spend the rest of my life showing her that.

R
eign
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eep

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The Assassin

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The Con