Wild Billionaire Romance - Chapter 7: Chapter 7

ADRIK
North Bergen was like most Jersey towns, only this one seemed to be designed by a lunatic. Whoever planned that city must have been fucked up on something strong, because the streets made no sense. Never mind that some were so steep they were on seventy degree angles, but others just stopped in the middle of the map with no rhyme or reason.
I could not imagine learning to drive in such a town or riding a bicycle. But this was where Sofia had grown up. I frowned as we sat in the heavy traffic, even more dense in Jersey than it was in Manhattan. But eventually, and under the original forty-one minute timeline, we arrived.
I put my hand on Sofia’s thigh, stopping her from jumping out of the vehicle before my guy could open the door. She looked down but did not remove it, and something spiked within my blood. Pride maybe that she obeyed, that she trusted me to keep her safe.
Imagine that? A soft bunny who trusted her safety to the hungry wolf who stalked her. I cocked my head to the side, memorizing the feel of her through the layers of cheap clothes she wore. Not that it mattered to me. I liked her better naked, anyway.
During the ride, Sofia told me about this Uncle Frank. Her paternal Aunt Linda’s husband was a real winner. Not. Josef sent me a file on him ten minutes after we left her apartment and I’d glanced over it while she spoke. Frank Russo was a sonovabitch plain and simple. A low level wannabe mafioso who liked to gamble and fuck hookers. Young hookers.
I did not miss the revulsion in her eyes when Sofia spoke of the man. She was hiding something from me, and I had my own idea just what Uncle Frank had been like when Sofia was younger. The thought filled me with rage. I released my hold as Josef opened the door, checking traffic to make sure we could cross the busy street unscathed. The winter wind was bitter, and I scowled at the slushy, unkempt sidewalk outside of her grandmother’s building.
“Shit. Dad is supposed to shovel,” she mumbled.
The abject misery on her face tugged at something inside me—could it be my heart? I was not sure. It had been a long time since I felt anything like that.
“Nonna? Dad?” Sofia called as we walked inside past the front door with the broken lock.
The building was five levels, ten units, including a finished basement. Her grandmother owned the building, and all the apartments were supposedly rented to Sofia’s family members. But from what I could tell, the old woman was lenient, and her family took advantage. That was why the taxes were not paid and liens were heavy on the property. My people had even discovered a second mortgage, which had been taken out in Sofia’s father’s name.
I did not know yet if it was really him who took the money, but I would find out. Eventually. I flashed my gaze to Josef, and mind reader that he was, he nodded. I wanted the street cleaned, the front door more secure. And I wanted help for her father. But this was nothing I needed to worry Sofia’s pretty head about. She would not like my interference, but some things were a nonnegotiable part of my nature. I was not a saint. Never claimed to be.
There was arguing coming from inside the first floor apartment, as well as a wonderful smell. Someone was cooking, and the aroma was divine. My men sniffed loudly, and my own stomach growled. Fuck. That was why I hated skipping meals. Sofia looked at me over her shoulder, frowning as she pulled open the door.
“Nonna, I’m here. Frank, you stop right there!” Sofia yelled.
She pointed at a man in a velour track suit who was pushing a pen towards an older woman, her grandmother I guessed, as he stood menacingly over her. There was a younger female, mid-forties, sitting at the table. She looked haggard and dazed, clearly on something, as she smoked her e-cigarette and scrolled through her phone. She hadn’t even looked up when we walked in. The man, though. He noticed. His eyes bugged out of his head as I walked in behind Sofia with three heavily armed men and Josef.
“Sofia!” The older woman cried out and stood up to grab Sofia in a fierce hug.
“Nonna,” Sofia said, catching the old woman’s face in her hands and kissing each of her rosy cheeks.
I watched silently at the byplay, a sense of pride and approval filling me as I watched her put her grandmother at ease. She squared off with this uncle who shrugged and pretended to be the good guy.
“Sof, baby, you know I just wanna help Nonna out. I’ve been telling her this place is too, uh, big for her, but Uncle Frank can take care of it. Now, come on. Don’t be so angry. You know me, kiddo,” he said, and grinned at her.
I did not like the look on his face. It was not how an uncle should look at his niece. I stepped forward, getting right into the man’s face.
“Sofia? Who are these men?” Nonna asked.
“Oh, um, Nonna, everyone, this is Adrik, he’s m-my,” she stuttered, warm brown eyes flashing to me.
“Adrik Volkov,” I said, turning away from the foul smelling man to shake the old woman’s hand.
“Volkov? Hmm, I know this name,” Nonna said, pulling me into a hug with surprising strength. “Call me Nonna. And you are?” she asked, turning to Josef next.
I was stunned. Shocked that this tiny grandmother had not only pulled me and all four of my guards into a hug, but she was now scooping bowls of homemade pasta out and pushing them at us, insisting we sit down to eat.
“Uh, thank you, Nonna,” I said, while Sofia smirked at me from across the room.
“You know, Sof. We don’t need outsiders here while we talk family business.”
Uncle Frank walked across the eat-in kitchen and turned his back, like he was trying to cut me out of the conversation. The man did not know who he was dealing with. While my men sat down, bullied by an old woman, I joined Sofia and Frank on the other side of the room.
“I don’t know what you’re playing at, but you will never get this building,” Sofia hissed.
“Don’t say never, baby girl,” he whispered, and before I knew it I had him by the back of the neck.
Frank squeaked as I clapped his shoulder with my free hand, pretending a joviality I was not feeling in the slightest. The woman, who I assumed was Frank’s wife, still did not look up. She paid us no mind, and Nonna was busy grating cheese over what smelled like a perfectly made plate of homemade cavatelli for Josef who was just smiling like the cat that ate the canary.
Lucky bastard. I was starving. But I needed to take care of this first.
“She is not your baby girl, Frank. And this building is not yours. Like she said, It never will be,” I whispered in his ear.
“Hey, what do you know? The old lady can’t afford it and I got friends,” he whined.
“Your friends know who I am, Frank. Ask them about Adrik Volkov. Ask them about the Dark Wolf,” I told him.
I looked at Sofia, watching her as she watched me handle this piece of shit man. She did not look frightened. In fact, she looked content to see me terrorize him. Good. I would do that for her and more. Gladly. I let go of Frank’s neck, and he almost fell to the floor.
“Leave. Now.”
He nodded, scrambling to his feet as he grabbed his wife’s arm and pulled her along with him, barely taking the time to say goodbye. Nonna did not seem to mind. She was still coddling my men, and I growled, sending them all into a frenzy. They ate quickly and cleaned up, then left the room without me having to tell them.
“Oh, Sofia, I am so glad you came. After the bank called to tell me the liens and mortgage were bought, I was so confused. Then Uncle Frank came over and you know he tries this with me almost daily now,” she said, wringing her hands.
“It’s okay, Nonna. Everything is going to be okay,” she said, hugging the old woman to her chest.
I stilled, watching Sofia’s face as she lifted her gaze to mine and mouthed the one word I wanted to hear since I found her.
Yes.
My heart started pounding, but I made no outward sign of what was happening inside me. No. I would not have allowed Frank to take advantage of the old woman who’d fed me and my men. I was still coming out of the carb coma her pasta had put me under, and stood up to clean my place while Sofia spoke in hushed tones to her grandmother.
The kitchen had standard oak cabinets and stainless steel sink. Weathered wall paper in patterns of beige and yellow lined the walls. It was clean, but old, and well-used. I washed my dish and put it in the sink. Searching for a towel to dry my hands when one was pushed at me.
“Well, how do we do this?” Sofia asked, and I raised my eyebrows as I patted my hands dry.
“You knew well enough how to do it last night, Zaika moya,” I replied, my mind going right to the gutter.
“I don’t mean that,” she said, and her cheeks turned a dusky shade of rose. “I mean, what are the terms exactly?”
“The terms? It is simple. You live with me for one month, expenses paid and compensation will be granted.”
“The lien will be forgiven, and the mortgage brought current?” she asked.
No. I would pay everything off, hire a manager to set the rest of the family right, and fix some of the much needed repairs that even I could see. But she did not need those details. So, I nodded my head.
“And Uncle Frank won’t get his hands on the property?”
“Never, Zaika,” I promised.
Uncle Frank was going to be far too busy running from me to worry about trying to swindle his mother-in-law out of her property. Sofia did not realize she had the wolf in her corner now. She was safe. So was everyone she loved.
But it is only for a month, I reminded myself. Yes. One month. And I was going to enjoy every second of it. I was going to burn through this desire I felt for her, and when it was over, I would still be standing. I did not fully understand my obsession with this woman, but at least I had the chance to cure my fixation.
That was the plan. Keep fucking my Zaika until I no longer felt this ravaging hunger inside my blood.
“What about the rules? Between us for the next month. What is it you want?”
“What do you mean? You will live with me for the next month. You will belong to me. And I will have you, Zaika moya. I plan to fuck you every way I can in that time,” I growl, sounding more like an animal than a man.
But that was how obsessed I was with this woman. She drove me wild. Made me want and hunger in ways I had not felt since maybe ever. Not even when I was a teenager did I get this hard thinking about a woman. My cock jerked, precum leaking from my slit, making my boxers damp.
“Um, I don’t think I like anal,” she stated, and my eyebrows raised.
“You have tried anal?” I asked.
Fuck, my balls seized up, my dick readier than ever to test that theory. Yes, I would have her in every way. Her mouth. Her tits. Her ass. That sweet pussy of hers. My dirty little Zaika would beg for my dick to fill every one of her holes before the month was over.
“Not exactly,” she mumbled, and her cheeks grew even redder.
“Then how do you know?” I asked.
“I don’t know, it’s just, I don’t like pain.”
“I promise you, Zaika, everything we do together will be mutually pleasurable or not done at all.”
“Okay,” she replied, exhaling slowly.
“Anything else?” I asked, curious to hear what would come out of her mouth next.
“Are you gonna—that is, will there be other women, or men, during this month?”
“You will have no one but me, understood?”
“That’s a double standard,” she mumbled, but I was not amused.
I grabbed her chin with my forefinger and thumb and turned her face up towards me.
“I was not finished. For the next month, you belong to me. I do not share what is mine. No one else will touch this skin, look at this flesh, or hear those soft desperate noises you make. No one but me.”
She swallowed and her eyes darkened, the warm brown turning to molten chocolate as my words met her ears. I was not immune to that look on her face, and my pants tightened as my cock grew hard just thinking of the way she had looked last night, spread eagle, bare, glistening, quivering eagerly for my touch.
“And you? Other women?”
I straightened my shoulders, my obsidian stare raking across her skin as I tilted my head arrogantly. I’d been called good looking before, but I never gave it much thought till then. But I appreciated it as I stared at Zaika Mona and her mutinous expression.
A smile tugged at the corner of my lips, but I refused to give in. She looked like she wanted to stomp her feet or slap me, demanding an answer with a fiery gleam in her eye. I could make an ass of myself, or I could toy with her. But I did neither. I tugged on my lower lip, possessive madness holding me in its grips, and I replied truthfully.
“I told you, Zaika moya. I only want you.”