30
Max
“You fucking fix this, you little bitch!” he screamed, aiming the gun at Ana’s eyes and jerking her roughly away from me. “You fucking fix it now,” he shrieked, his voice rising hysterically. “You get me the fuck in that room!”
“I can’t,” she sobbed, struggling against him as his fingers bit viciously into her arm. “I never had this code… and it won’t open for anyone now.” She looked at me, her face white with fear, and I turned to Savvin… losing control with his gun inches from Ana’s face. His breath was coming in short, ragged pants.
“It’s over, Sav,” I said, as softly as I could. A killing rage was burning inside me, but I knew I had to talk Savvin down, to give him a way out. It was the only chance Ana had.
“Let her go, and take the Blue back home. It was all Uncle Serge ever wanted from the beginning. We can go home, Sav, with the job done right.” I was only an arm’s length away, but his finger was on the trigger and he was shaking hard. “We can leave right now, Savvin. You got our family’s legacy back,” I said soothingly, as I reached out cautiously toward Ana. Savvin was holding her, the diamond dangling from his hand and sparkling darkly against her pale skin.
“NO!!” he screamed, jerking back and pulling Ana with him. He lost his footing in the pile of tools beside the door and they went down hard, Savvin on top. I heard Ana’s lungs empty in a rush, as he landed on her and squirmed to regain control. The diamond had broken loose from its ribbon and lay inches away, among the discarded tools, glittering coldly.
“Ana!” I lunged for her as Savvin rolled, firing off a single shot, deafening as the crack of a thunderbolt in the small space. It hit, burning like fire as it flew by, grazing the side of my neck. I faltered, feeling hot blood running down my chest.
“Get the fuck back!” Savvin screamed, his eyes wild, the last of his reason gone.
I watched as he rolled off Ana, recovering fast and shoving his gun into the soft flesh of her breast. She was pale, so pale… I didn’t know if she’d taken a full breath yet. Her eyes were huge and dark with terror. She watched me, unblinking…
“Get back, Max… or so help me…” Savvin’s eyes were darting madly. He spotted the diamond, and his breath caught harshly. He reached for it, using a wrench to catch at the ribbon and pull it closer. He picked up the diamond, holding it to the light, and smiled as he forced the gun cruelly into Ana’s chest.
“I’ll kill her Max,” he snarled, his teeth showing. “You get me the fuck into that vault or so help me, I’ll open up her chest right here and let you watch the last fucking beat of her heart.”
I put my hands up, where he could see them, and moved slowly. I picked up a screwdriver and nodded at the door. “Let me try, Savvin,” I said gently, my mind racing for a way to buy time, a way to stop him. “Let me get to the door.”
He moved only inches, as I crept closer. “You get the fuck in, Max,” he muttered from where he sat, with Ana pinned to the floor beside him. They both watched as I started in on the keypad. There was nothing I could do, and all three of us knew it. It was only Savvin who was refusing to accept the truth. His eyes shined with a sick, cold light. He was losing his patience…
“DO it!” he screamed, his hands shaking violently, fast reaching his own limits. He dropped the diamond, leaning into Ana with the point of his gun, making her cry out. Then he grabbed the wrench in his free hand and held it over the Strastnyy diamond.
“You get the fucking door open or I smash it, Max. So fucking help me, I’ll crush this goddamn stone into a thousand pieces before I’ll give up all the rest. It’s worth nothing, compared to what’s waiting for me inside that vault.”
“Savvin… it’s over,” I said softly. “But you still have what Sergei sent us for. The Blue is all he wanted, Sav.”
“Fuck you, Max,” he screamed. “Fuck you!” Savvin looked from me to Ana, and then to the diamond. Then he looked back up at me and he smiled, his lips curling back tight against his teeth. He started to laugh, the sound ice cold as it echoed off the walls. His eyes streamed with tears as he laughed, wide open and staring up at me.
“Max… good old Max. Unshakeable Max, who makes all the rules. The only fucking man Sergei ever trusted…” Savvin was suddenly cold sober. “Ok, Max, you decide. You choose.”
My gut tightened sickeningly and a thick drop of my own blood hit the floor.
“Choose, Max. And for once in your life, you don’t get it all your own way. We were sent here to do a job. You were going to seduce her into giving you the stone, but you’d have killed her for it too, if you had to.” I shot a look at Ana, whose eyes were black and enormous. I felt a shiver pass over us both, and saw the gooseflesh rise in evidence on her arms.
“And I don’t think you’ve changed all that much, Max,” Savvin went on. “It’s either the diamond or the girl… And you can’t have it all. Save the girl and I’ll destroy the stone… Save the diamond and Ana dies. Right here, right now. I’m the man telling you now…” He smiled coldly, lucid now, and showing no sign of the hysteria from a moment ago. Now he was only cold… pure… Evil…
“You’re the man Sergei put in charge of this job, Max. So do your fucking job.”
“Choose.”
31
Ana
I watched, hardly able to breathe as Savvin spoke. One minute he’d been a screaming madman, and the next… terrifying in his icy composure.
I looked up at both men for what felt like a lifetime, watching from the floor as they locked eyes. And wills. Savvin didn’t move… didn’t breathe. Max towered above us both, bleeding from the wound in his neck, his eyes hooded in darkness as he looked down.
I watched his eyes shift from mine toward the brilliance of the diamond on the floor, inches beneath the wrench Savvin held poised. His eyes lingered on the stone, reflecting its flashes of dark brilliance and I felt my heart pause inside me. I could see a decision in his eyes and my whole body went cold, as his eyes moved slowly back to me.
“I’m sorry, Ana,” he whispered, and he held his hand out to Savvin. “The stone,” he said coldly.
Savvin shifted his weight to reach out for the diamond and for a split second I felt the gun lift away from my chest. I was frozen in stillness, unable to accept that Max would sacrifice me. That’s when it happened.
Max shot forward, the screwdriver clenched in his huge fist, as Savvin began to rise with the diamond in his hand. A second later, Savvin’s whole weight hit me, a fine spray of blood reddening my chest and neck as he fell.
“Ana!” I heard Max’s voice and felt his hands on me, pulling me from under Savvin’s twitching body, the screwdriver hilted in his temple. The handle hardly moved as Savvin’s legs thrashed, growing weaker by the second. I watched in horror as he stared sightlessly, his mouth open and working as he shook. Max pulled me into his arms, holding me tight. “I’m so sorry…,” he whispered. “Don’t look, sweetheart. Close your eyes…,” he said, as he turned my face to his hard, warm chest.
I don’t know how long we stood there. It could have been seconds… or days…
I listened to the silence, broken only by the steady beat of Max’s heart. I tried to make mine slow down to match it, beat for beat.
“Ana… we need to go,” he said softly, leaning back to look down at me. “We need to get out of here… now.”
I looked down at Savvin’s body and the diamond he still held, clenched tight in his hand. I looked up into Max’s eyes and watched him smile down into mine.
He bent and took the Strastnyy from Savvin’s hand, careful to collect the broken ribbon it had hung from. He threaded the pendant back in place and knotted the ribbon. Then he place it over the handle of the vault door, and took my hand, leading me away and heading back for the elevator. Before we turned the corner, I glanced back...
Savvin’s body was still, unmoving on the cold floor. Only the pendant moved, swaying gently where it hung, the three pear cut diamonds twinkling as they
slowly turned. The Strastnyy above them flashed blue and brilliant violet, brighter and more fiery than ever before… one last time before the lights went out behind us.
“Max…?” I called out sleepily, rolling over and finding the bed empty beside me. “Max?”
I lifted my head and looked around the bedroom. He stood naked in the doorway, watching me, with two steaming mugs in his hands. He smiled and came to me, putting the mugs down and sitting beside me. He was beautiful in the early morning light. His skin glowed bronze, dark against mine as he brushed my hair back, running his fingers through the silky ends. He dropped one thick curl on my bare breast, and then used it, to tease my nipple until it was a hard, pink bud.
We had exhausted ourselves last night, coupling frantically with the need for each other, driven by adrenaline and desire. We’d fallen asleep in each other’s arms, unwilling to let go even then.
“Ana… my Ana…,” he said softly, stroking the curve of my cheek with his fingers. “I’m so sorry.” His face was serious now. “I’ve put you through so much… so much that I want to make right. But there’s no going back now… no way to begin all over again.”
For a single moment, I flashed to poor Stuart, who’d wanted only me. To Savvin, lying dead on the floor. To the Blue, which had driven us all too close to the edge… Then I looked into Max’s brilliant green eyes and pushed it all away. Maybe there was no going back. But, then again, maybe we didn’t have to. Max had saved my sister. And he’d killed Savvin to save my life… leaving the diamond behind for good. In the end, Max had chosen me…
“I love you, Ana. Nothing in this world will ever matter more to me than you.”
“That’s what makes it right,” I said, reaching up to touch his face, knowing there was nothing left to fear. “It’s how I love you too.”
His smile softened the hard angles of his face as he dropped to kiss me. His lips worked mine slowly, tasting me… lingering to explore the fullness of my tender bottom lip. Then he sat up, reaching for the drawer of the bedside table, his eyes shining. He reached inside and pulled out a tiny leather box, with delicate golden patterns embossed along the edges. He put it into the palm of my hand and curled my fingers around it with his own.
“Open it, sweetheart…”
I pushed a tiny button on the front of the box, releasing the catch, and lifted the top. Inside was an enormous violet blue stone, cut into the shape of a heart, set in gold and flanked on each side by a white pear shaped diamond, their points turned outward. I held the box in a shaking hand, as Max reached in to lift the ring out. I looked at him, my eyes huge and my face frozen. For a second, my breath stopped…
“No, Ana…,” he said, laughing as he read my mind. “It’s not stolen.”
He lifted my hand and slipped it onto my finger. Then he turned my hand over and kissed my palm, sending a wave of electricity through my whole body. “It was my mother’s, Ana, a very rare sapphire. If you had waited a little longer, the day you heard me talking to Sergei, you would have heard me ask him to send it.”
He gathered me into his arms, crushing the softness of my naked breasts against his hard chest. “Will you be my wife, Ana?” he asked, his eyes burning with need. “For the rest of our lives?”
“Try to stop me,” I answered in a whisper, my eyes flashing with delight and desire as he moved over me, covering me with the weight and warmth of his body. I wrapped my arms and legs around him, holding him tight, making him laugh again as he kissed me. I felt his huge erection hot against me and I was instantly hungry inside, needing him to fill me, to satisfy the ache… “I want you, Max,” I panted against his lips. “I will always want you…” I tilted my hips to take him as he thrust into me, his long hard cock both creating and easing the same primal desire. I cried out, with the pure pleasure of feeling us joined together.
He smiled into my eyes as he stroked me, watching my face, feeding off my pleasure. “My beautiful, naughty girl…,” he growled low as he moved. With each thrust, he was deeper inside me and I bucked underneath him. He was rock hard… longer and thicker than he had ever been. “Can you take me, Ana?” he teased, “You’re so fucking tight on me, baby.”
“Give me everything, Max,” I moaned, clinging to his shoulders, feeling his muscles tight and working under my hands. “I need this… I need you…”
He moved then, pulling me with him, so he stayed fully buried inside me as he shifted us to the very edge of the bed. He stood on the floor, as I laid back on the bed, and he wrapped my legs high up around his waist. “Hold on to me, baby. Use your legs and lift your hips… like this…”
He lifted me with his hands, holding me up and taking the weight of my body. My shoulders were still on the bed, but he held my hips up high, so he could stand as he fucked me. He gripped my hips and ass and moved my body against his. I felt weightless in his hands, as he stood with his powerful hips forward, his cock deep and rock hard. I watched the thick base of his cock as it disappeared inside me. The muscles stood out in his chest and arms as he moved me, rocking me, pulling me, working me on his cock.
“God, Max… oh god!” I gasped out, as he pushed the head of his rod against the sweet spot… that delicious place inside that turned my whole world inside out. I felt myself gush warm, slick liquid as he held me, concentrating all his thrusts on that one spot, moving faster and faster…
“That’s my beautiful girl,” he crooned, as he worked me. “Juicy and sweet and tight… just for me.” He dipped the big pad of his thumb to the hot nub of my clit and rubbed it in tight little circles. He lifted my ass higher with the hand he had splayed underneath me. “Look down, Ana… watch me as I take you… watch my cock move in you, baby.”
I looked down his powerful chest, to the taper of his hips as he rocked my body back and forth on his shaft. I clenched inside and felt another delicious gush of wetness inside. He thrust in hard and gasped as my pussy swallowed him. “Max,” I could barely get the words out. “I’m going to come…”
In an instant, he was on top of me, pounding his length in deep as I wrapped my arms and legs around him. My teeth found the curve of his neck and I bit down.
“God, Ana… yes,” he growled through clenched teeth. I reached down to take his muscled ass in my hands, pulling him in. I was greedy, wanting every fucking inch. I bit down again and he drove in hard, hilting himself in me, making me cry out. I was frantic now, bucking underneath him as he thrust. “Love me, Max… and fuck me hard,” I begged.
He unwrapped my legs from waist and arched back, lifting my ankles and putting them on his shoulders. I was folded at the hips and tighter inside than ever. I watched as he loomed over me, thrusting in long deep strokes. I ran my hands down his chest to the spot our bodies joined. Then I reached underneath us, and took his tight, heavy balls in my hands. I cupped them and squeezed, watching his face, rewarded by his sharp intake of breath. He smiled darkly, and answered me back by pushing his raging cock in deeper. Then he reached down too, and pressed his fingertips to my clit.
“I can give as good as I get, Ana,” he said as he rubbed me, his voice deep and lusty. “And I will love you always. Remember that.”
He watched me as I strained against him, needing more… needing only him…
He thrust mercilessly as he worked my clit. The faster he thrust, the tighter I clenched. I was gasping then, digging my heels into his shoulders, lifting my pussy to meet him. My climax hit at the moment I felt him burst inside me. He was filling me and I overflowed, his hot liquid pulsing in powerful waves deep inside me. I drank him in, squeezing and clenching his length with everything inside me. We moved together, every stroke, every touch, every breath in perfect union. In that moment, we were timeless.
We were perfect.
Epilogue: Max
One year later
Ana asked me once, if I had any regrets about leaving the Blue behind that day. I kissed her of course, and laughed. Those are both things I do often these days.
As far
as I could tell, the diamond had brought only misfortune, madness and even death to the men who had tried to possess it. They had all wanted to own something that was never theirs, and I have finally learned that no good can ever come of that.
It was right, to leave it at Hillyard. Ana had been able to make her examinations and take the photographs of the inscription that she needed. She proved her theory about the stone after all. That indeed, Catherine the Great had given it to my ancestor, Anton. It took its rightful place among the honored Imperial Collection and Ana took her rightful place, as Hillyard’s new director.
No one ever discovered the truth of Stu’s death, or of Savvin’s. Nor did the police ever understand how the Strastnyy came to be where they found it, hanging over Savvin’s body. Clearly there had been an attempted theft, but in the end, nothing was missing. Hillyard’s security system was redesigned and the jewels are now better protected than ever. One day, Sergei may go through legitimate channels to have the Strastnyy returned home to Russia. But it’s no longer any concern of mine.
I am busy, trying to tie the black bow tie that Ana insisted upon. I smile into the mirror. Its frame around my face and my formal attire make me think of Anton’s portrait. Perhaps I was always more like him, than I had ever realized…
I had offered to build a house for Ana, in the country if she wanted, or closer to the museum. But she only laughed. She said she’d loved this house from the very first. It was where we first made love, she said, and it felt like home. She couldn’t imagine living anywhere else.
I bought it from the couple I had rented it from, that same day. The deed and title will be my wedding gift to her. I slipped on my black jacket and took one last glance in the mirror. Anton’s face looked back at me, well pleased.
I headed downstairs where the last preparations were taking place. Terry had taken over, filling the house with flowers and pink lace. I knew it wasn’t what Ana would have chosen, but I could see how happy it made her, to watch her friend glowing with excitement.
Steal Me Page 13
