Alex walked into the house and immediately found Chaos smoking a cigar.
Chaos sat calmly in one of the armchairs, one ankle resting over his knee, a thin trail of smoke curling lazily above him.
Alex frowned. "The senator is fucking with us."
Chaos exhaled smoke. "Mm."
Alex stopped. "I need those drugs and the weed. Club X can't function without them, and if this keeps up, I might have to shut down a club I just fucking opened."
Chaos took another slow drag. "Ah."
Alex glared at him. "Are you even listening? We can't sell anything to our clients. My phone has been ringing nonstop, there are delays everywhere, everyone is worked up, and Vross is sitting in that ridiculous house acting like he owns the fucking continent."
Chaos removed the cigar from his mouth and held it towards him. "Care for a smoke?"
Alex looked at the cigar, then at Chaos. "I don't want a fucking smoke."
Chaos withdrew it.
"He wants sixty-eight million." Alex threw one hand out. "That's twice what he receives annually."
That finally earned him a glance.
For several seconds, nothing moved except the smoke drifting between them. Chaos put the cigar back between his lips.
Alex walked past him. "Sigara tebya zadushit, ublyudok"
[I hope the cigar chokes you, you fucker.]
Chaos did not stop him nor did he say a word.
Alex took the stairs two at a time, crossed the upper corridor and entered his room. The door slammed hard enough to rattle the frame.
He stood there for a moment.
The Underworld thrived on many things.
Red Dragon House.
Influence.
Every dirty little deed respectable society publicly condemned and privately paid very good money to participate in.
Drugs. Weed. Secrets. Violence. Name it. The Underworld probably had a hand somewhere in it.
But none of those things were its greatest weapon.
Alex reached behind his head, caught the collar of his shirt and pulled it off. He tossed it somewhere vaguely in the direction of a chair. Then stretched. Muscle shifted beneath his skin.
Down his back, following the hard line of his spine, black ink trailed across flesh in Russian.
Grekh zhadnosti.
Sin of Greed.
The Sins. That was the Underworld's greatest weapon. Not drugs. Not politicians.
Not money. Not even the countless people indebted to it.
Alex climbed onto the bed and dropped onto his back. The mattress sank beneath him. Work had been hectic. Everything had been fucking hectic.
Club X had barely opened. His phone would not stop ringing. People wanted answers. Shipments had disappeared into government hands and now, just when he was supposed to be having a fucking break, someone had decided to fuck him over.
Him.
Alex Sergeyev, of all people.
Alex understood greed better than anyone. He understood the hunger beneath it. The first taste. The little voice that whispered more after a man had already been given enough.
More money. More influence. More houses. More respect. More power.
More.
Always fucking more.
He understood wanting something simply because somebody else possessed it. Understood the particular irritation of being told no.
Perhaps that was why the look in Senator Vross's eyes had amused him so much. The man thought he had discovered greed.
Simpleton.
Alex stared at the ceiling. Humans were always like that. Give them enough and gratitude eventually became expectation. Expectation became entitlement.
Then one day, they looked at the hand feeding them and wondered whether biting it might get them the whole arm.
The Sergeyevs understood that impulse too.
Alex came from a family where violence was less an emergency and more a communication style. Old blood. Old money.
Older grudges.
Bloodthirsty mafia maniacs with expensive tastes, terrible tempers and a deeply concerning interpretation of family loyalty.
They loved loudly.
Fought louder.
Held grudges with generational commitment.
A Sergeyev could turn Christmas dinner into a diplomatic incident and still be genuinely confused about why everyone else was upset.
Alex had grown up around men who discussed broken bones over breakfast and women who could threaten someone's entire bloodline without putting down their wine.
They were excessive. Possessive. Violent. Loyal to the point of insanity and greedy in ways money alone could never satisfy.
Alex had simply perfected it. Which was why being cheated irritated him. He was good at this game.
The best, actually. If somebody wanted more, Alex understood. If somebody wanted everything, Alex understood that too.
But trying to take it from him?
Rude.
He rolled onto his side. Then the other.
Nothing.
Alex groaned and dragged a pillow over his head. He had not slept in two days.
Two fucking days.
His body was exhausted. His mind refused to shut up.
Vross. The shipment.
Club X.
Chaos sitting downstairs smoking like the bastard had achieved enlightenment.
Alex pressed the pillow harder against his face and muffled beneath it. "Fuck. I miss Zarri."
That was even more irritating.
💜~~~~~~
Zarri climbed out of the car, heels clicking unsteadily on the pavement. The night air was cool against her flushed skin. Alex rounded the vehicle and offered his arm without a word, steadying her as they walked the short path to her front door.
"I don't get it," she muttered, leaning into him more than necessary. "Every single time we play drinking games I lose. It's not fair."
Alex laughed, low and warm. "I'm just a better drinker, Princesa."
Zarri shot him a look that was equal parts annoyed and fond, then dug her keys card out of her bag. She unlocked the door, pushed it open, and stopped halfway across the threshold.
Turning back, she rested one shoulder against the frame and looked up at him through her lashes.
"Wanna come in?"
Alex's gaze flicked over her face— cheeks pink from the alcohol, lips slightly parted, eyes dark and inviting. He hesitated, jaw tightening. "You're drunk, Zarri. It's not a good idea."
Zarri smirked and stepped backward into the apartment without closing the door.
Five minutes later, they were on the couch, hands frantic, mouths locked together like they were starving.
Clothes came off in messy, impatient layers—her blouse half-unbuttoned and shoved down her arms, Alex shirt yanked open so hard a button skittered across the floor.
Zarri's soft, needy moans spilled into every kiss anx Alex swallowed them greedily, tongue sliding against hers as he dragged her panties down her legs and tossed them aside.
He kissed a wet path up the inside of her thighs, higher, higher, until his mouth finally closed over her. She was already soaked, hot and slick against his tongue.
Zarri's hands flew to his hair, fingers twisting tight, holding him right there. "Ah—Alex—fuck—"
Her hips jerked. Alex licked into her slowly at first, then harder, sucking on her clit until her thighs trembled around his head. The sounds she made grew louder, breaking apart.
"Mmm—ah, dios—please—"
[My god]
Broken sobs mixed with pleas, Spanish tumbling out between gasps.
"Ay, por favor… no pares… ah—joder—"
[Oh, please… don't stop… ah—fuck]
Alex lifted his head just enough to look up at her, mouth glistening, eyes dark with heat. "You cussing me out, Princesa?"
Zarri's laugh was breathless, almost desperate. "Yes. Now hurry the fuck up with the teasing."
He laughed against her skin, the sound low and wicked, then shoved his trousers and boxers down in one rough motion. His cock sprang free, thick and already leaking. He didn't give her time to breathe—just hooked her legs over his arms, lined up, and thrust in to the hilt in one deep stroke.
Zarri's cry tore through the room. "Aah—! Fuck—Alex—"
He fucked her hard from the start, wild and relentless, the couch creaking under them. Every snap of his hips punched another moan out of her.
"Haa— yes— harder—"
Alex pulled out suddenly, flipped her onto her stomach with easy strength, and yanked her hips up. One hand planted between her shoulder blades, pressing her chest into the cushions, the other gripping her hip hard enough to bruise as he slammed back into her from behind.
Zarri gasped loudly "Oh my god—wait... Not like this baby—!"
He rutted into her like he couldn't get deep enough, the wet slap of skins filling the apartment. Zarri's moans turned into a continuous stream of broken, high sounds.
"Hngh— fuck, yes—right there—joder, así—don't stop—"
[Fuck, yes]
Alex's free hand slid under her, fingers finding her clit and rubbing fast, matching the brutal pace of his thrusts. "You're so fucking wet princessa" he growled against the back of her neck. "Listen to yourself."
Zarri's reply dissolved into another loud, shattered moan. "Alex... please— I'm gonna—ah, dios mío—"
[Ah, my god]
Alex didn't slow down. If anything he fucked her harder, holding her exactly where he wanted her as she came apart beneath him, moaning his name like a prayer and a curse all at once.
Zarri's body locked up beneath him. "Sergeyev — ngh, fuck— I'm coming!"
The orgasm tore through her hard. Her pussy clenched around his cock in tight, rhythmic pulses, soaking him further as she cried out, voice cracking into a high, broken sob of pleasure.
Alex groaned against the back of her neck, hips never slowing. He fucked her straight through it, dragging the climax out until her arms gave out and she collapsed fully onto the couch cushions, still moaning, still twitching around him.
He pulled out only long enough to flip her onto her back again. Zarri's eyes were tore wild, lips swollen, chest heaving. He hooked her knees over his elbows, spreading her wide, and drove back in with one deep, punishing thrust.
"We're not done little princess" Alex smirked
"Que?" Zarri hands flew up to clutch at his shoulders, nails digging in. "Too much, S-slow down... it's too much—"
[What?]
He leaned down, mouth brushing her ear as he set a relentless pace again. "You can still take it, Princesa. Look at you… still so fucking wet for me."
Every snap of his hips punched another moan out of her. Louder. Needier.
"Aah— Alex, i can't think. fuck yes, right there—oh my god—"
He shifted the angle, grinding deep on every inward thrust so the head of his cock dragged over the spot that made her see stars. Zarri's back arched clean off the couch.
"Alex por favor, don't stop, don't you fucking stop—"
[Please]
Her second orgasm built faster than the first. He could feel it in the way she started shaking, in the desperate little sounds that kept spilling from her mouth between gasps.
"I'm going to —ah, shit... I'm going to come again—"
"Then come," he growled, voice rough with restraint. "Come on my cock like a good girl."
Zarri shattered with a loud, broken cry, thighs clamping around his waist as pleasure ripped through her a second time. Her pussy fluttered and squeezed around him so tightly it nearly dragged him over the edge with her.
Alex gritted his teeth and kept moving, fucking her through the aftershocks until she was trembling and oversensitive, soft broken moans falling from her lips with every thrust.
"Fuck princesa"
He finally slowed, just a little, enough to let her catch her breath— but he didn't pull out. He stayed buried deep inside her, hips rolling in slow, heavy circles while she whimpered beneath him.
"Still with me, Princesa?" he asked, voice low and dark with heat.
Zarri's answer was a shaky, breathless laugh that turned into another soft moan when he ground against her. "Mmm… barely. But if you stop now I might actually kill you."
Alex grinned against her mouth and kissed her hard, already starting to move again.
💜~~~~~~~
Zarri lay beneath the sheets, one arm tucked beneath her pillow, her hair spread messily across it.
Alex lay beside her. Awake. He stared at the ceiling.
His body felt heavy enough to sleep, and for the first time in two days, his mind had stopped running through work.
Beside him, Zarri shifted. Her hand moved lazily across the mattress until it found his chest.
Alex glanced down. She was asleep. A strand of hair had fallen across her face. He reached over and carefully brushed it aside.
Zarri made a small sound and moved closer. Her forehead settled against his shoulder.
Alex went still, then relaxed.
Greed liked possessing things. Money. Land. Access.
Beautiful things and rare things. Things other people wanted.
Things people said he couldn't have.
More.
Always more.
But lying there in the dark, with Zarri asleep against him and absolutely nothing being demanded of him—
Alex wanted nothing else. His eyes closed and minutes later, he was asleep.