Page 19 of Crystal Veil

“Renat,” she gasps.

I pull her panties down slowly, savoring every inch of exposed skin, then press my mouth to her center. I inhale her sweet scent as I swirl my tongue over her clit. I moan against her as I dig my fingers deeper into her creamy thighs, pulling her legs apart. Her pussy is dripping wet, her moans making my cock harder. My mouth envelops her clit licking and sucking. I push a finger into her pussy, and her back arches in response. Nibbling my way down her luscious thigh, I push a second finger in. She gasps, a moan caught in her throat.

Her fingers tangle in my hair, gripping tightly as I fuck her hard with my fingers. “Oh my God,” she pants. “Renat…I’m g-going to c-come.”

My mouth ravishes her clit as my fingers work an orgasm out of her. Her face is radiant when she falls apart for me. She tastes like home, like everything I never knew I was searching for.

I rise, eyes locked on hers, and she reaches for me with hands that are shaking. Her fingers work at my belt, my slacks, pushing fabric aside with an urgency that matches the fire burning in my veins.

My slacks drop, then my briefs. She wraps her hand around my cock, stroking once, twice, before guiding me to her. The touch sends lightning through my nervous system, short-circuiting every thought except the need to be inside her, to claim her, to make her mine in every way possible.

I slide into her with a groan that comes from the depths of my soul. Her back arches. Her head tips back, exposing the elegant line of her throat. She's so warm, so perfect, and completely mine.

“You feel like home,” I whisper against her ear, the words surprising me with their honesty.

Her arms tighten around my neck, her lips brushing against my jaw. “Then stay.”

We move as one, finding a rhythm that's chaotic and perfect. The wall supports her weight as I thrust deeper, harder, chasing a connection that goes beyond the physical. This is more than sex, more than desire. This is claiming, marking, a declaration of war against anyone who would try to take her from me.

“Mine,” I growl against her mouth.

I fuck her even faster, cupping her ass in my hands. Her insides are on fire. Throwing her head back, she cries out, sobbing from pleasure. Her inner walls grip me like a vise, until her pussy ripples around my cock as she rides out her orgasm.

I lose myself to her, to everything we've never stated, everything we've fought so hard to hide. The world narrows to just us, just this moment, just the sound of our breathing and the beat of our hearts.

I rock into her, fucking her at a feverish pace, pulling my entire length out of her and back in. I want her to feel all of me with every thrust. She digs her nails into my back, pulling me deep with every stroke. Her taut nipples slide against my chest. Capturing her lips with mine, I explode inside of her, her pussy milking every drop of my cum.

When it's over, I hold her. Her skin slick with sweat, her heart beating against mine in a rhythm I want to memorize. The nursery around us seems different now, charged with possibility and promise. This is where we'll raise our child, where we'll build something that neither my world nor hers could destroy alone.

She buries her face in my neck, her breath warm against my skin. “I love you,” she whispers.

I cup her face in my hands, forcing her to look at me. Her eyes are still bright with unshed tears, but there's something else there now. Hope and trust.

“I love you.”

She smiles through her tears, and the expression transforms her face into something so beautiful it steals my breath. “Then we fight for each other. No more secrets. No more pushing me away.”

I nod, brushing her hair back from her face. The dark strands are damp with sweat, clinging to her skin. “No more.”

But even as I speak the words, as I mean them with every fiber of my being, I know the war isn't over. Bennato still breathes. Bianca still schemes. Sergey's betrayal still cuts fresh. The enemies gathering around us won't simply disappear because we've finally admitted what we feel.

It's only just begun.

9

ELENA

I stare at the glowing screen, fingers hovering over the keys as my heart pounds a slow, steady beat that echoes in my ears. The cursor blinks at me like a warning, demanding I make a choice that will change everything. The draft is raw and unfinished, but it has enough teeth to bite. Enough truth to bleed.

Bianca's name is front and center, tangled in a web of shell companies, fake invoices, and wire transfers that trace back to Bennato's operations. The words and numbers dance across the screen, each one a thread in the tapestry of corruption I've been weaving together.

I don't have everything yet. The final pieces of evidence still elude me, locked away in Bennato's private files or buried in offshore accounts I can't access. But what I have is enough to start the avalanche. Enough to expose the connection between Miami's most respected interior designer and its most dangerous crime lord.

The room suddenly feels smaller. My laptop screen bathes my face in an eerie blue glow, illuminating the tension etched in every line. The baby moves inside me, a gentle flutter that makesme think of all the reasons I should be cautious. All the reasons I should delete this file and pretend I never uncovered the truth.

But I can't. The journalist in me won't let me turn away from a story this important. Too many people have died for Bennato's secrets. Too many families have been destroyed by his greed and violence. If I don't expose him, who will?

I swallow the lump rising in my throat and type the subject line with trembling fingers:Contingency. If found, publish.