Redemption: (Dark Desires Book 3) (9 page)

“Mmm, what about your parents?
What do they have to say about you marrying a black woman? I know the older
generation is not as liberal.”

“I have no parents. I was
dropped off in an orphanage at the age of seven. Even if I did have a family, I
would never allow them to disrespect Valerie or treat her with any less respect
than they would extend to a wife who shared my culture.”

The candid truth of Vlad’s
upbringing halted any line of questioning Thembi had planned. Why had Valerie
not said anything before? The
lobola
negotiations were meant primarily
to bind families, but he had none. There were a lot of things that had worried
her about her daughter over the past few months, but she was relieved to find
that Vladimir genuinely cared about Valerie.

An interracial marriage
wouldn't be easy and bringing children into the world was a tough enough job
without the cruelty of prejudiced minds. She could only hope that whatever
issues they did have when she'd first asked about the twin's father, had been
resolved. If they were happy, if he made her daughter happy, then he was
welcomed into her family.

Thembi had put a face to the
man that Valerie had chosen to marry. He adored her by the looks of things and
even entertained her lazy home keeping skills. She would have to think of other
customs she could find from both the Xhosa side of her family and the Zulu side
of Valerie’s father. If he survived that, then she would drop the hard act and
allow him to call her mama as well.

The conversation that followed
was far more relaxed than it had been earlier. Thembi asked Vlad about his
upbringing, which schools he attended and what he did for a living. Valerie
noted that he didn't exactly lie, his answers were simply too superficial to
reveal the more nefarious parts of his life.

By the time they left, Val was
sure her mother had come around and was just feigning being difficult so that
she didn’t appear too accepting of their union in the event they chose to forgo
lobola
. Vlad was a charming man, and
he seemed to have gotten through to Thembi. Thank God for small miracles, she
thought as they said their goodbyes. Things were looking up. She just hoped that
something new didn't crop up.

The following evening Val, Vlad
and Thembi had dinner together before leaving for Romania. Val’s mother was
warming up to Vlad even though she occasionally switched to speaking in Zulu or
Xhosa mid-conversation. Valerie would translate what had been said to keep him
engaged. A niggling feeling told her that her mother was doing this on purpose,
a crash course of sorts for him to learn her mother tongue. They left the UAE
the next morning and flew into Bucharest.

The same platinum-blonde haired
man she had met on the plane greeted them at the airport.

 "Frate, ce mei
faci?”
asked Raven.
Brother, how are you?

“
Sunt bine frate
,”
replied Vlad.
I’m fine brother.
“You remember my wife, Valerie.”

Raven raised his left eyebrow
in surprise. He remembered Valerie very well. Vlad had come to see him about
this woman who he wanted to become a better man for, and a few months later
they had embarked on a risky mission to rescue her from the acting king of
Saudi. The only detail that was missing from his memory was when the status of
their relationship had changed. 

“It’s a pleasure to see you
again
soră,”
said Raven giving her a kiss on both cheeks. He had
referred to her as his sister. If Vlad had married her, then she could be
trusted, and was now a part of their close-knit family.

All Valerie could do was smile
at Razvan's warm greeting. There was a hard edge to him that reminded her of
Vladimir. Vlad opened the back seat of the car for Valerie and got into the
passenger side next to Raz. They both spoke in Romanian, effectively leaving
her out of their tête-á-tête. She felt a bit slighted that he had not been as
accommodating in this regard as she had been with her mother.

They arrived at his family home
and were greeted by a dark haired woman with startling grey eyes. “Mihaela,
this is Valerie – Vlad’s wife. Valerie, this is my wife Mihaela,” said Raven.
Again she was kissed on both cheeks by the beautiful woman who excused them
from their husbands and led her into the kitchen by the hand.

“I am happy you are here. I’ve
heard a lot about you,” she noted the worried look on Valerie’s face and
clarified. "Vladimir came to see Raven a while back. He needed advice on a
special woman he'd met. My husband told me this is the first time he's showed a
romantic interest in anyone. He also told me about the kidnapping – I'm sorry.
Are you okay?"

"I'm doing much better
now," replied Valerie. She had no idea that Vlad thought of her after
their first weekend encounter, much less talked to his brother about it.

“Tea or coffee?” asked Mihaela.

“Tea please,” Valerie replied
once her mind registered the question. She was now wondering whether Mihaela
knew about the rape and her subsequent pregnancy. Her thoughts were interrupted
by the little boy who rolled into the kitchen on his toy bike.

“
Dorin. Bicicletă.
Dormitor. Acum
,” Mihaela said without looking up.
Dorin. Bicycle.
Bedroom. Now
. She was at the end of her rope with that toy, and she would
put it in the trash were she not sure that Raven would replace it. The little
boy got off the toy to do as his mother had asked. “That’s my son. Raven named
him after Vlad,” she explained.

Valerie was now confused. She
had gotten a chance to look at Vladimir’s documentation when they got married.
He had signed Vladimir Branza on every form, and the name matched the passport
he carried. Were they fakes?

*****

Raven sat in his office and
listened to Vlad’s troubles; everything from finding out about Valerie’s rape,
the pregnancy and the uncertain paternity, to their quick marriage and finally
meeting her mother a few days ago. He poured himself another glass of
tuică
.
Vladimir had still not touched his. For the first time, he didn't have any
advice to give to his little brother, and he hated himself for it. Even though Raven
was older by two years, Vlad was his rock. He had helped him through so much
when they were growing up and he doubted he would be the man he was today were
it not for him.

This whole mess with Keyaan was
the reason why he had insisted that they finish school, get a qualification and
leave the dangerous life they led behind. David and Christi were dead because
of their illegal dealings, and Valerie had suffered because of Vladimir’s line
of work. Their brothers’ quick deaths looked merciful in comparison to what
Valerie had to endure. He couldn't even begin to empathise with the couple. If
Mihaela was ever- No, he couldn’t even go down that path without rousing his
own temper.

"How are you holding up in
all of this?" he asked. If he knew his brother, then Vlad was shouldering
the blame and that kind of guilt, mixed in with his short fuse when provoked,
was a disaster waiting to happen.

“In all honesty, I want to kill
everyone involved in this. Nothing could ever take away the pain that I brought
into her life, but it’s a start. I would be cleansing the world of these vermin
who even dared to touch her,” he replied. Vladimir had been putting on a brave
face since he had found out about the pregnancy. The truth was that he was
barely concealing the festering rage that engulfed him when she brought up the
twins. He had to remain level headed in front of her and his plans for revenge
were moved to the back of his mind so that he could be there for her. She
needed him now more than ever.

“Yes, you would be doing the
world a favour. But how much would be enough? How much blood do you have to
spill for you to stop blaming yourself?"

“I will know when it’s enough.”

There was a knock on the door
that interrupted Razvan’s response to Vlad’s heated words. “Come eat,” beckoned
Mihaela.

“Where is Valerie?” asked Vlad.

“She’s already at the table.”

He got up and walked out of the
office. He needed to check on her. That was what his sole purpose had become –
ensuring her safety and happiness. He wasn’t interested in what Raven had to
say about how he should be coping. No one would be able to convince him to let
this go.

When he got to the dining room,
he saw Valerie holding Dorin on her lap. The little boy was showing her one of
his gadgets while she looked on with sincere interest. He had no doubts that
Val would be an amazing mother. Even though he had never factored in children,
he would have gladly given her as many as she wanted if she'd asked. His mind
darkened when he remembered that she was pregnant. She didn’t deserve to have
her life so irrevocably changed in that way. No, he would make everyone who'd
had a hand in his angel’s violation pay. They would all pay dearly.

*****

After dinner, they retired to
the guest bedroom. Valerie felt more relaxed being around Mihaela and her
family than she had with hers lately.

“Dorin.”

Vlad stopped unbuttoning his
shirt for a second at the sound of his name coming from her mouth. “What about
him?” he asked continuing to change out of his clothes.

“That’s your name too right?”
she asked.

“A long time ago it was,” he
answered and climbed into bed in his boxers.

“I don’t want any secrets
between us Vlad,” she said sitting up to face him in her white, silk slip gown.

Vlad pulled her closer to him
and positioned her on his lap. “There are many things in my past that I'm not
proud of, and I don't feel that they are necessary to share with you. Dorin was
the name I grew up with, the name given to me by my adoptive parents. Raven was
the first person to call me Vlad because of the book I always carried around
when we first met. It was the only item of value I had from my mother after she
left me.

I used the name Dorin until the
age of sixteen that is when we moved to Ukraine. There I chose to reinvent
myself. We got new identities, and I changed my name. That's all there is to it
scumpo
. If you need to know anything, just ask me. The only time I won’t
answer is if I feel that it’s irrelevant.”

“Why do they call you The
Impaler?”

“That is under the irrelevant category.”
He kissed her after that in the hopes of changing the subject.

Valerie was still intent on
finding out everything regarding his past. She was glad that he had been honest
about his name without hesitation. There was so much she didn't know about him,
and now that they were married, it didn't sit well with her. The kiss had been
meant to silence her for a few sweet moments. Val was about to pull back when
she felt his erection springing to life beneath her. She had missed being with
him in this way. Other than that one time in the office, they hadn’t been
intimate since the doctor’s appointment. They hadn’t even consummated their
marriage yet.

She reached down between them
and squeezed his cock. Vladimir groaned in pleasure. Valerie was giving him the
go ahead, but he had to be sure that they were on the same page. "Tell me
what you want Valerie," he said as he kissed down her neck.

“I want you inside me.”

“Be very precise angel. What
part of me do you want inside which part of you?” he asked as he lifted the
thin gown over her head.

“I want your cock in my cunt.”

Fuck, he had missed those dirty
words coming out of her mouth. He flipped her onto her back, slid her underwear
down her legs and spread her thighs to settle himself in between.

“How do you want it
soţie
mea?
”
my wife.

Valerie squirmed underneath
him. She felt like she had a fever and the only cure was a high dose of Vlad.
“Hard and fast. Please,” she begged.

He took his dick in his hand
and stroked her slit. She was wet but not wet enough to accommodate his girth
comfortably. He leant down to kiss her and inserted two fingers into her tight
channel. He pumped the digits into her core for a few minutes until her pussy
wept for him. He pulled his lips away from her mouth and licked his drenched
fingers.

“So delicious,” he said before
he aligned himself with her passage and slammed home.

Valerie moaned loudly. She
hoped that it was always this way between them, even when they were old and
grey. She smiled at the thought. There was no other man she would rather grow
old with. He started to move, pulling her back into the present, slowly at first
and then faster as if building up momentum. It felt like he was trying to bury them
into the mattress with the relentless pace he set.

Her walls pulsed around his
cock, gripping his shaft as he withdrew; it was as if her pussy was begging him
not to go. Vlad slowed down, and instead of quick, shallow thrusts of before,
he delivered them hard and deep. Valerie wrapped her legs around his lower back
trying to hold onto him and her sanity. The sound of his balls slapping against
her ass echoed in the room adding to the heated atmosphere.

“Vlad, I’m coming, I’m coming,
I’m coming,” she chanted as she felt the heat radiating from her core and
spreading throughout her entire body.

Vladimir continued, revelling
in his wife’s wet heat, loving the pleasure filled faces she made. Her pussy
walls gripped onto his cock, and when he finally managed to pull his dick out
of its tight clutches, she squirted onto his lower abdomen and the bed. Wanting
her to ride the orgasm she was having and not ready to come himself, Vlad moved
down the bed and devoured her quivering mound. He lapped up her juices and
sucked on her clit, basking in the soft groans of pleasure that rumbled in her
throat and poured out of her lips.

He kissed his way up her
stomach and sucked on one dark tipped breast then gave the same attention to
the other. He continued his journey back up, kissing the column of her throat,
her chin, her nose and finally settled at her lips allowing her to taste
herself.

“So delicious,” he said again
into her open mouth. “Do you want more?”

Valerie’s mind was putty. She
wasn’t sure she possessed the skill of language yet, so she nodded her head in
assent. Vlad moved to lie down behind her and placed her small thigh over his
larger one. He slowly pushed into her from behind and worked her body into a
slow climax this time. He wanted to draw out their mutual pleasure in this
round. His dick, however, had a mind of its own. He was going to come, soon and
he wanted Valerie to finish with him.

Reached between her thighs, he
rubbed at her clit, coaxing another orgasm out of her. This time, when her
walls sucked his cock in, he let go as well, coming long and hard inside her. “
Te
iubesc soţie mea
,”
I love you my wife
he said. He kissed her
cheek and noted that her eyes were closed. She was already asleep.

The soft glow of the bedside
lamp highlighted shone across her naked, brown skin. She was the most beautiful
woman he'd ever seen, and she belonged to him. He turned off the light and
wrapped his arms around her. His mind returned to the earlier conversation he'd
had with Raven. He would make everyone pay. They would atone for their crimes
in blood.