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"Just say the word,
I'll fucking kill him right now
for you..."

- Sergey
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Chapter 33 - My Dark Knight

▪️N A T A S H A▪️

Standing outside the museum where the gala was held, I shivered with excitement, eager to see Sergey.

After receiving a text message letting me know that he was only a few minutes away, I had told Mr. Braxton goodnight and made my way outside to wait near the gorgeous water feature that was located off to the side of the building just as Sergey had asked me to.

The night air felt nice against my bare shoulders as I walked over to the beautiful stone fountain and looked down at my reflection. A small smile formed on my lips while I admired the upper half of the black dress that Sergey had bought for me.

My fingers reached up to gently trace the choker neckline, the notion behind this particular feature not being lost on me.

To be honest, I had been surprised by the design of the dress.

Not that Sergey had bad taste in clothing. But whenever men picked an outfit for you, you either ended up being almost naked or fully covered.

The black dress I wore tonight was a sleeveless, floor-length, fitted mermaid silhouette and it accentuated my lithe curves effortlessly. It was the perfect mix of elegance and class while also being tastefully sexy.

I could feel my cheeks warming as I thought about Sergey and the texts we had exchanged earlier tonight. As much as he aggravated me sometimes with his possessiveness, I also loved it.

Sergey had a maddening type of confidence that could be neither measured nor controlled, particularly where that mouth of his was concerned, he never minced his words. It did not matter that he could charm your panties off with just a smile, beneath that handsome smirk of his, Sergey was an asshole through and through.

My asshole.

These past eight days had surpassed my wildest fantasy! It was as if I were living in a dream and I did not wish to wake up.

Even though we did not place a label on what we were, there was no denying that Sergey and I were a couple. It was odd to even think about Sergey being mine, but as he had said, for as long as we continued doing whatever this was, we belonged to each other.

To think that I just had him this morning, and upon remembering the thickness of his girth and the way he stretched my walls had me clenching my thighs. Sergey was an amazing lover and I just could not seem to get enough of him; the same could be said for him.

I briefly closed my eyes as I thought about the scene that had greeted me when I woke up this morning.

The sensation of his tongue buried deep within my pussy had slowly pulled me out of my sleep and had me arching my back. He had then proceeded to fuck me, hard, wanting to make sure that I would feel him for the rest of the day.

Then, because Sergey was Sergey, he went back down on me. 

Shit, just remembering the way he ate his cum out of me had me trembling. God, it had been so naughty.

I had been so lost in my thoughts that I did not realise someone was standing behind me.

"Natalya, is that you?"

Swiftly turning around, the man looking back at me had me taking a step back, but the stone of the fountain hit the back of my knees, reminding me that I had nowhere to go.

Damn! Sergey would be so disappointed in me.

I should have been more aware of my surroundings, I knew better!

Taking a deep breath, I did my best not to panic as I stared back at the face of a man whom I had not seen since I was a child.

Yulian Kozov.

It would seem that the years had been kind to him, for he looked almost identical to the way I remembered him. His dark hair was styled neatly as always, and those piercing hazel eyes of his continued to gaze intently at me, waiting for me to acknowledge him.

Yulian was the son of an important Russian businessman who had been friends with my father. Even though he was twelve years older, he had always treated me kindly whenever he came to my parents' house.

So, you could only imagine my surprise to see him inside the mansion where Joseph had been holding me and many others hostage. It had been three months since I had been kidnapped and I could not describe the emotions I felt upon seeing a familiar face.

When I had been offered to Yulian for a night, he had declined, saying that he was not into young girls. But when I looked at him, silently pleading, he relented and took me to a private room, where he promised to come back for me, but he never did.

I had been devasted.

Now, seeing him standing here in front of me all these years later brought some ugly memories to the surface. Feeling my stomach churn, I shook the dark thoughts away and refocused on my surroundings.

Frowning slightly, I moved to walk past him.

"It's really you, Natalya?" Yulian asked, his hand reaching out to touch my wrist.

Pulling away from him, I snapped, "I do not go by that name anymore!"

"I see that you're looking well. How have you been?"

Was he seriously asking me such a thing? I had to stop myself from hitting him with my clutch as the concern in his voice angered me more than I cared to admit.

Firing back, I said, "Why do you care? You abandoned me! Remember?"

"I didn't! I–"

My scream cut him off as I yelled, "Liar! You fucking left me with Joseph and his men! I was eleven, Yulian, eleven! Do you know the things that they made me do?"

Briefly closing my eyes, I swallowed back the sudden wave of nausea that hit me.

Yulian made a pained sound as he grabbed for my hand once more, the look in his eyes gave me pause and were it not for the quiver in his voice I would not have believed the words that came out of his mouth.

"I swear on my life, Natalya–"

"Natasha, my name is Natasha now..."

Gulping, he nodded and continued, "Natasha, I didn't abandon you, I promise! I knew that Joseph was protected by his father, Artyom, so it wasn't like I could just go to the police. But I guess something must have given my intentions away as before I left that night, I made an offer to purchase you, Joseph had told me that you weren't for sale and unfortunately, there was not much that I could have done at the time so I had to leave. I came back a few days later, intending to storm the mansion but he had already moved you. Then five years later, there were rumours that you were found in America and under the protection of Aleksandr Tolstoy, but I didn't believe it."

Scoffing, I shook my head, "Glad that I mattered so much to you that you couldn't even come to check–"

"My father had told me to stay out of it! Aleksandr had sent Joseph's head back in a box and my father feared that me coming forward may have resulted in incurring Aleksandr's wrath and according to him, he was not about to let my conscience get in the way of his business. Not to mention with everything that went down with your father, I figured that you were better off not returning to Russia."

Pulling my hand from his, I hated how my vision began to blur.

The sound of the water rushing from the fountain grew loud in my ears while I exhaled softly, trying to steady my nerves. Needing to leave, I turned away from Yulian and began to walk away. He fumbled and reached out to grab me by the elbow, his voice was soft as he pleaded with me, begging for his forgiveness.

It was too much to deal with right now and I shook my head, telling him to let me go and just pretend that he had not seen me. Yulian refused, dropping to his knees as he continued to beseech me, hoping that I would listen.

"She said to let her go!" Sergey's deep voice unexpectedly reached my ears.

Yulian quickly got to his feet, his hand immediately releasing me. I let out a sigh of relief and I wanted nothing more than to run into Sergey's arms but given that we were in public I forced myself to calmly walk towards him instead.

Sergey seemed to have other ideas though, for as soon as he reached the fountain, he pulled me to his side, wrapping one arm possessively around my waist, while his other hand went to my chin, lifting my face to look up at him.

"Are you alright?"

I nodded, the tenderness in his voice had my vision blurring even more as my earlier tears returned with a vengeance. It was as though he could not bear the sight of me crying for his entire face glowered while his eyes narrowed at Yulian.

"The fuck did you say to her, Kozov?" Sergey fumed.

Of course, within our world, all the rich and powerful knew each other, especially within Russian circles. But the way Sergey was sneering down at Yulian, I felt like he was seconds away from physically attacking the man.

Yulian stammered, his eyes flickering between Sergey and myself.

"Sergey, I swear I didn't mean to upset her! I'd seen her at the gala and I just knew that I needed to get a moment alone with her to apologise for not helping–"

"Help her with what?"

"With Joseph–"

Cutting him off again, Sergey's voice boomed, "You knew?"

The next moments seemed to happen in a blur. From the moment Yulian nodded his head in confirmation, Sergey let go of me and immediately pulled his gun out and pointed it at Yulian's head.

My eyes quickly looked around, scanning the vicinity. Thankfully, there was no one else nearby and I was happy for the large columns that were blocking our view from people who may have been walking to and from the entrance.

"Where are your guards?" Sergey asked.

"I told them to wait inside while I stole a moment to chase after Natal– I mean Natasha."

Sergey scoffed, "Well that was stupid of you."

"I didn't think I'd need protection in Aleksandr's city–"

"You knew what a monster Joseph was and yet you did nothing!" Sergey interjected, closing the distance to press his gun in the middle of the man's forehead.

Yulian's eyes bulged as he stuttered, "I didn't! I swear! At the time, Natasha had been the only minor I saw in the mansion, I thought that it was related to what her father had done! I didn't know there were others, I didn't know he had moved into the trafficking business."

"But he did offer you to her, didn't he?"

Sergey did not need Yulian to answer, for he had already known everything that had happened to me while I had been with Joseph. From the Sunday afternoon when I had been kidnapped after my dance class, to the day that he had come into my cell after I had shot Pasha.

Every single detail of what I had gone through, Sergey knew, for I had told him everything that I had endured. This was after I had woken up from a nightmare a few nights ago and found him holding me, whispering soft words to calm me down.

I had known right there and then that I could share my burdens with Sergey, and I had.

The sound of Yulian's panicked voice pulled my attention back to the present and I shook my head, concentrating on the two men standing in front of me.

"On my life, I swear I did my best to come back for her, I did–"

Sergey shut Yulian up by pistol whipping him at the side of the head before he turned and glanced back at me, his eyes staring into mine.

"Just say the word, I'll fucking kill him right now for you..." Sergey stated, taking the safety off his gun.

Those words should not have made me hot, but they did.

However, now was not the time to be getting aroused and I pushed the feeling away while quickly shaking my head, "You can't, he's an ally, no?"

"He's a fucking disgrace and a coward is what he is!" Sergey spat as he looked back at Yulian.

As much as I wanted to be upset with Yulian, and I was, I tried to put myself in his position over ten years ago. Everyone knew what a tyrant his father–Yuri–was, ruling both his business and his home with an iron fist. I could tell that Yulian had been honest with me, he had come back for me, but what could he have really done after Joseph moved me and hid my location?

Sure, he could have gone behind his father's back but that would have been more trouble than it was worth, especially since Yulian had no idea where to even begin looking.

Taking a deep breath, I said, "Let him go, it's all in the past now."

The side of Yulian's head was bleeding and from the way his face paled, I could tell that staring down the barrel of Sergey's gun was a frightening place to be.

Scowling, Sergey's declared, "I'll be having a word with Yuri..."

Yulian visibly gulped.

Taking a step back, Sergey moved to stand by my side, his gun still in his hand. I knew that he purposefully brushed his shoulder against mine, the subtle touch comforting me more than I cared to admit.

"Take your gun out and shoot yourself in the right foot," Sergey instructed Yulian.

Gaping, he asked, "What?"

"Would you rather it through the knee instead?"

"No!" Yulian said, quickly reaching for his weapon that had been tucked neatly into the side of his jacket.

I watched in fascination as he did as instructed and shot himself in the foot. The sound of his gun echoing drowned out the shriek of pain that escaped Yulian and within moments, I saw two armed men dressed in black rushing towards us.

"Mr. Kozov, are you alright, Sir?"

"I'm fine, just accidentally shot myself in the foot," Yulian grimaced.

The guards looked at Sergey's gun then back down at Yulian who was now sitting at the edge of the fountain, blood pooling around the ground by his right foot. It was interesting how the men did not aim their weapons at Sergey, and my inner muscles quivered, getting turned on by the power he commanded.

Anyone could see that there was more to the story, but the guards did not dare raise any further questions as they helped Yulian to his feet before leading him back towards the venue.

When it was just us standing by the fountain, Sergey holstered his gun and pulled me to him.

Even though we were out in the open, I did not care that his hands were cupping my cheeks, pulling me in for a gentle kiss before pressing the side of my face against his chest while he hugged me. His touch was soothing, calming the inner turmoil that had been threatening to rare its ugly head ever since I had set eyes on Yulian.

Sergey was my dark knight.

Though he may not have been the type of man that were described in fairy tales as the main hero, Sergey was most definitely mine. I could not have chosen a better warrior to defend me even if I tried and I was grateful to have his protection.

My own arms wrapped around Sergey's waist as I leaned into him.

"I will hunt down and kill every person who has ever hurt you, Natasha. Do you hear me? Their screams will belong to you!" Sergey vowed.

The ferocity of his words had my body trembling.

"Are you cold?" Sergey enquired while pulling back so that he could look into my eyes.

Shaking my head, I silently said no.

"What's wrong?"

I bit my bottom lip and whispered, "You're just so hot when you get all protective and possessive..."

His eyebrows raised before a smirk tugged at his lips, "Wait, are you seriously horny right now?"

"Are you complaining?" I teasingly challenged.

Shaking his head, "Fuck no, but can that greedy pussy of yours wait until we get out of here?"

My cheeks warmed even more at his audacious response.

I should really be ashamed at how aroused I got whenever Sergey spoke in such a way. However, I had long since come to the conclusion that this was one of my kinks and it was clear from the dirty things that Sergey would whisper in my ear, that he enjoyed indulging me.

Sergey pulled me from my thoughts when he bent down to whisper in my ear, "I mean, if you can't wait, I have no problem with fucking you right here..."

Feeling myself blush even more, I stammered, "Take me home!"

He let out a deep chuckle that had me biting my inner cheek and I sighed softly as I felt his fingers entwine with mine while he held my hand and proceeded to lead me towards wherever he had parked.

Once back in Sergey's G-Wagon, he got on his mobile phone.

He quickly gave Aleksandr a rundown about what had occurred with Yulian before moving on to discuss how they would plan to handle their alliance with Yuri going forward.

I was surprised to hear Sergey discuss mafia related business in front of me. Not that I would tell anyone, but it unlocked a new level for our relationship, one that had my stomach fluttering, as it became abundantly clear to me that I meant more to Sergey than just a passing fling.

Even though he had already said such, seeing it also reflected in his actions only cemented how serious things were getting between us.

As I stared out the window, I felt my heart squeeze as I realised that we were not heading towards my apartment, but to his penthouse. The fact that I had told Sergey to take me home and he was bringing me to his place spoke volumes to me.

It was clear that even though our little arrangement had started out as something sexual, real and strong emotions had developed on both sides.

Not wanting to take any attention away from the upcoming wedding, I decided that I would come clean after the honeymoon. I knew if I told Jade and Litizia now, their excitement would take away from the time that could be spent going over things for the ceremony and reception.

The amount of energy they exerted over these past few weeks trying to hook Sergey and myself up was a testament to that. Which if I was being honest, made sneaking around easier, specifically when Sergey let Jade think that something was her idea, for example, picking me up from the gala tonight.

I already knew that Sergey was fine with letting people know, which was something that I still could not wrap my head around. Simply because I thought that I would have been the one eager to tell everyone while he would have preferred to hide us.

Turning to look at him, I admired Sergey's side profile.

From the way he was laughing and joking, the conversation with Aleksandr had clearly shifted from business. Wanting to tease Sergey, I moved my hand and placed it on his thigh, giving him a suggestive squeeze before trailing my fingers up to his crotch.

Sergey's grey eyes darkened as he bit the corner of his bottom lip.

Grinning at him, I leaned over and whispered in his free ear, "Hurry up, I want to suck your cock..."

I watched as Sergey quickly finished up his call with Aleksandr before throwing the phone down into the space in the console between us. At the moment, we were by an intersection, waiting for the light to change. When I made no move, I could see the corner of his mouth twitching and from the look on his face I just know that he was going to say something crude.

"I thought you wanted to suck my cock? Go on then..."

Not needing to be told twice, I removed my seat belt and shifted to face him properly. I then quickly lowered his zipper, reached into his trousers and pulled his hardening length out. I took a moment to appreciate the sight of his beautiful shaft before sending him a wink.

Tightening my hand around the base, I wasted no time in lowering my mouth onto him.

My hair had been styled in a low bun for the gala and I was surprised when Sergey did not tangle his fingers into my hair but instead rested his hand on top of my head, allowing me to set the pace, while the other hand remained on the steering wheel.

Having been aroused from earlier, I sucked down hard, excited to hear him grunt and groan out my name. Hollowing my cheeks, I worked him hard and fast, loving the way the thick veins on his shaft felt as he twitched in my mouth.

I let out a whimper when his fingers moved from my head towards my face. The feel of his thumb gently caressing my cheek as I continue to suck him had me clenching my thighs once again. From the way my entire body throbbed, it was as though I could orgasm just from getting him off.

As the minutes slowly passed, the sounds of Sergey's low groans fill the vehicle, coupled with his soft words of praise. I just loved the fact that I had the ability to illicit such a reaction from him; I enjoyed making this strong man unravel before me.

"Oh fuck, baby, that's it!" Sergey rasped.

When his orgasm approached, I revelled in the taste of his release on my tongue and I continued to move my hand, gripping him tighter while my mouth devoured him. The ache in my jaw was a delicious one and even as his hips bucked, causing me to gag on him, I refused to slow my momentum, wanting to extend his climax for as long as possible.

I could feel the vehicle coming to stop and I glanced up to see him throw his head back against the headrest as he enjoyed the pleasure that I was giving him.

After I cleaned Sergey up with my tongue, I tucked him back into his pants before I sheepishly smiled while sitting back up in my seat. Taking a quick look around, I realised that we were parked in the under-ground garage of his penthouse.

The abrupt feel of Sergey's hands around my neck pulled my attention back to him and before I knew what was happening, his mouth was on mine, kissing me passionately. His lips and tongue were ravenous and I returned his kisses with equal desire, my body silently begging him for more.

When we parted, our gasping breaths mingled.

Keeping my eyes locked on his, I said, "Take me upstairs and fuck me."

"I love it when you ask me nicely..." Sergey grinned then gently nipped my bottom lip before leading us out of his vehicle towards the elevator.

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A/N: Can you believe that we've crossed 100k words? 🤯