Page 89 of Viper’s Reign

All. Night. Long.

35

DIMITRI

The ringing of my phone drags me out of sleep against my will. I try to turn over, only to find myself pinned in place by the most pleasant restraint I’ve ever woken up to—Grace’s red hair spilling across my throat, her head tucked beneath my chin, her arms and legs clinging to me.

She has a hell of a grip, even in her sleep.

My lips tug into a smile as I stare down at her, idly threading my fingers through the tangled silk of her hair. The fiery strands glow in the morning light against my skin, but as my eyes wander over her body, my chest tightens. Her shoulders, hips, and arms are littered with bruises from my touch. I didn’t hold back last night. I couldn’t. Finally having her after weeks of resisting shattered what little control I had left.

I massage her scalp gently, and she murmurs my name before snuggling even closer. For one suspended moment, I can’t breathe around the arrow of tenderness piercing my chest. I’m so fucked when it comes to her.

My phone starts ringing again, snapping me out of it.

“Make it stop,” she grumbles into my chest.

With a reluctant sigh, I ease her off me, earning a sleepy little whine of protest as I reach for my phone on the nightstand and silence it.

“Go back to sleep,” I tell her, but when I glance over, she’s already dozed off.

I huff a quiet laugh and lean over to press a lingering kiss on her chin. She can tell me everything I need to know when she wakes up later. Right now, she needs the rest.

Not only has she endured weeks of sexual torment, but I kept her up all night long with my insatiable need. I brush another kiss along the soft underside of her jaw before rolling off the bed.

My phone vibrates in my hand, reminding me that the call was what woke me. Although I didn’t get much sleep, I feel invigorated as I make my way to the bathroom to answer Noah’s call.

“I found something. I’m waiting in your study,” he says without preamble and hangs up.

I brush my teeth, shower fast, then get dressed, stealing one last look at Grace on my way out. She’s rolled to my side of the bed now, hugging my pillow to her chest. The sight sends a sweet ache through me.

Careful not to wake her, I close the door behind me and head down the hall to my study, where Noah is already waiting on one of the chairs opposite my desk.

“What did you find?” I ask as I take my seat across from him.

He leans forward and slides his phone across the desk toward me. “I found out why Millicent Wilson looked familiar when you saw her picture. You met her a week before you met Grace.”

I frown and press play on the waiting video.

The footage shows me at Zvezda, Vanya’s club, standing at the bar talking to him. I remember that night well. We were discussing his upcoming marriage to Melani and his wish to please her by finding her brother.

A movement off-camera grabs Vanya’s attention, and he gets to his feet. Melani had just walked into the club, and the fucker abandoned me mid-conversation without a second thought. He’s a goner for his wife.

The footage continues after he leaves, and a couple of minutes later, a woman steps into frame and walks toward me with purpose. At the time, I hadn’t noticed her approaching because I was speaking with the bartender about my order. She invades my space, and I stiffen, glancing at her in irritation.

She speaks to me, but the footage doesn’t have audio, and I can’t remember what it was anymore. Something about wanting me, maybe? I do remember she was trying to seduce me, and normally, I might have entertained it. That night, though, I wasn’t interested. For whatever reason, her persistence grated on my nerves.

She refuses to take the hint, so I finally turn toward her and cut her down with a few calculated, caustic words meant to send her away. She goes rigid, glares at me, then storms off. As she leaves, the camera catches her face in full.

Millicent Wilson, Grace’s friend. The same friend I now know, without a doubt, is being held over her head.

“You think it’s a coincidence that exactly a week later, Grace turns up at the Volya for an expo a nurse would’ve never been invited to, armed with a fake identity good enough to clear our security checks?”

No, I don’t think it’s a coincidence at all.

“A few days before this meeting at Zvezda, someone mysteriously paid off all Millicent’s and Grace’s debts. Then Millicent made a down payment on a pretty sizable property. A house a nursing student about to finish her preceptorship shouldn’t have been able to afford.”

I lean back in my chair, my frown deepening as the puzzle pieces begin slotting together.