Chapter 19: Setting ourselves free

Fleur's POV:

There's been a sense of serenity in the air lately, ever since Fillip got shot. You'd think that after such an incident, all their time would be spent planning war, but instead, Fillip has been taking it slow while healing. especially after last week when he tried to leave. He's been spending even more time with Mia at my and Nina's request.

Nina and I aren't spending each minute together like we used to, but we're slowly growing closer again, and honestly, it's making me feel much better. It seems like my chest feels lighter every time I speak with her, and I appreciate that.

While washing the lunch dishes, I had my back to the maids as they were talking. Suddenly, their talking turned into whispered hushes and then died completely.

"Why did you stop talking?" I turned around to ask when I saw Fillip leaning on the kitchen's entrance and staring deeply into my eyes.

"Come with me." He simply orders me, turns back around, and starts to leave.

"Why does he always do that?" I mutter and understand my breath.

"Do what?" Sarah asked.

"Act mysterious." They all laughed at my answer, and, to our luck, Agnes was walking in.

"What the hell are you all laughing about? And where do you think you're going? Get back to the dishes."

Before I had my chance to answer, Fillip was back in view, doing just that: "She's coming with me."

Agnes shuts up, but not before bidding me goodbye with a death glare that says I will pay for procrastination when I'm back. As if I were the one who asked to leave.

"Where are we going?" I ask him, but obviously, he doesn't answer. Why did I even expect him to

In his stance, there's a bit of pain visible as we go up the velvet-lined stairs. Every few seconds or so, his fingers would twitch towards the golden stair railings as if needing to use them for help, but they never quite made it there. The stubbornness of this man

After reaching the second floor, instead of walking straight forward and down the carpeted corridor and to his office, we actually take the side stairs, the ones that lead to the east side of his house.

We were going to Mia's room.

My heart flutters a bit, and a smile plays between my lips involuntarily; however, I don't show it just yet. in case I was wrong.

But I was not. Fillip knocked on a foreign door, which Leo stood next to, and when he opened the door, it was as if someone had set off a pink bomb in my face.

Everything was pink in here—the bed, the curtains, the wardrobe—even her clothes lacked other colours significantly. Before I could continue taking in her room, Mia jumped between my arms, calling my name loudly in her high-pitched voice, making me do just the same.

"Mia! I quite missed you."

"I missed you more."

"I'm sure you did; I won't even compete with you about the fact," I reply simply as I kiss her cheeks and put her down.

When she sits back down on the plush baby-pink carpet, I notice that her attire isn't entirely pink. Rather, it was my peach-coloured shirt, which she took that day when she was sleeping with me, and white shorts. I couldn't help but smile widely this time.

"Mia wanted you to come and play Monopoly, with us; she said she would refuse to talk to me if I didn't come back with you." Fillip broke the silence, making me laugh loudly now.

"I guess you couldn't bear it. Well, I'm here now. Will we play or not?"

**********

"YOU CHEAT!" I yelled at Fillip angrily. "YOU'RE A CHEATER FILLIP."

"Call me a cheater one more time, Fleur. I dare you." He shifts his gaze from the board laying in front of us, with various coloured houses on different blocks, and looks at me threateningly.

"I don't care. Put back the money you took from the bank right now."

"You don't give orders to the Don of New York Fleur," he said, having a lopsided smirk on his face, indicating his pride in what he had just said.

"Being the Don of New York doesn't give you a cheating pass. Don't you think, Mia?"

"Give me back the money you stole, Daddy," the girl said with all the confidence in the world while flipping her amber-brown shoulder length over her shoulder.

"You are making my daughter call me a thief, Fleur."

"You did it yourself by cheating; don't blame it on me." It was my turn to grin at him, but my grin faded a few seconds later when I saw him moving over and across the board, just for his face to be right in front of mine. Softly hitting my face, his warm breath caused a small shiver to run up my spine.

His own smell invaded my personal space immediately. His strong masculine cologne scent flew into my nose, making me feel a bit dizzy. I was in a haze as my vision continued to blur and his grey eyes started to become my reality.

"I dared you to call me a cheater one more time, Fleur. You did it twice." His voice shattered this reality. I gulped back the anxiety forming in my chest and bubbling up my throat as I blasted back the first stupid remark that came to mind. I don't think it would be helpful in this situation.

"What do you think we will be doing with Fleur, Mia?" Fillip asked out loud, his eyes leaving my line of sight, making me want them back there again as he looked at his daughter. Goodness gracious, I forgot the girl was in the room with us.

"Hmph... OH, I KNOW. THE TICKLING PUNISHMENT." She said it, giggling like the evil little witch she was, as her father smiled at her knowingly and as my own heart sank.

"Hell no," I told Fillip, and his only response was to raise his eyebrows questioningly. I start to get up and move as far away from this man as humanly possible. "Don't you even think of it?" I added that my pitch got higher with every word that came out of my mouth. "You know you were the one that was cheating; it shouldn't be me being tickled in this situation." I tried one last time when he got up and started approaching me.

The plushy carpet hugged my toes, tickling them as I rushed sprinting from beside him, but I was not fast enough. I was pulled to his chest roughly, and no matter how much I tried to push his hands off my torso or how much I kicked, I couldn't get out of his hold.

"NO. Stop. Put me down, Fillip. Put me the hell back down."

"Can't do Fleur." He replied in my ears as he set me on the floor. My hands were hanging above my head, my whole body was exposed, and his knees were just beside my legs, trapping me. That's when Mia came in. She started tickling me everywhere, and my yells for Fillip to let me go and my laughs only got louder.

"I think that's enough, princess, don't you?" Fillip finally said. I probably turned as red as a damn tomato. When Mia nodded, he did let go of my hand, and one knee moved above and across my legs, and he was settling above me now. Both knees were on my sides, not giving me any space to move; despite just saying he was done tickling me.

"I hate you."

"You don't"

"Unfortunately."

After a while of catching my breath, I finally got up, and I was a MESS. My hair was all dishevelled, and my clothes were a bit sweaty. "Damn you, both of you, really."

"Now, Fleur, you shouldn't say such words in front of a little girl."

"I am not a little girl anymore, Daddy."

"Sure, you are, princess, and it's little girl's bedtime right now too," Fillip said, carefully picking up Mia and taking her to the bathroom as she groaned in protest. Just as I was about to leave, Fillip's voice halted my steps. "Can you wait for me in the office?" he asked, a bit of desperateness showing in his eyes. I only nodded, leaving him to put his daughter to bed, and walked to his office.

When I walked down the stairs and into his room through the corridor, I kind of missed the lively room in which Mia settled in. The lights that were brightly illuminating her wing and her room, were now significantly contrasted by the dim lights, which barely had enough light to light the whole corridor. When I walked in, I ignored the black leather chairs that sat in front of his fine oak desk. Instead, I went and sat on the couch, sticking to the wall. They felt the closest to normal, and then I waited.

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Fillip's POV:

While walking to my office, I kept rethinking what I had decided to tell Fleur. It was important; it was hard, but I just had to do it.

The closer I got to my office, my steps became shorter, my pace slowed down, and my breath barely made it to my lungs. It is crazy how I have never felt this anxious about a decision in almost a decade. But with Fleur, everything was different. This has already been established.

I walked in, and I saw her eyes fluttering, trying hard to stay awake, and when they saw me come in, they became fully alert. Awaiting what I was about to tell her. I make it halfway through the room and keep my distance from her seat on the couch because I couldn't trust myself if I got any closer.

I stand there staring at her, words begging me to be let out, but I can only study her. Every curve and every line were perfectly drawn. She sat there, staring back at me, waiting for what I had to say.

"Fillip?" She asked quietly, and when I heard my own name from her mouth, I let go. I walked quickly towards her, where she was seated on the couch, getting down on my knees for this woman. I kiss her hard, and I won't stop. I can't stop. I was right not to trust myself because there was no going back from this.

"Fleur, I can't. I can't keep going like this anymore." Stunned, her mouth remained gaping, and when I let go of her lips, the only thing she could do was nod and nod again, kissing me just as hard. Pulling her up with me, I make her stand up. If we were going to go through with this, it's not going to be here in this grim office.

"Come on." I say, allowing myself to stop for just a moment as we walk to my room and close the door, locking it.

I press Fleur into my bedroom door and continue what we started that night in LA. I go down, kissing her neck and leaving a hot, wet stream as I go down. I wanted nothing more than to rip off that dress when it became a barrier between me and her hypnotising body.

"Take this off, Fleur. Take it off before I rip it off you myself." She really liked the idea, judging by the look on her face, but then she pushed me backward until she was straddling me on the bed. And it's her turn to start kissing me.

I surrendered to her enticing kisses as they went down my chest and stopped just above my pants on my torso after she'd opened the buttons of my black shirt, almost ripping them off in the process too. Her hair covering half her face, she looked me in the eye, her blue eyes electric as she panted, her breath hitting my skin. Instantly, I turned her over; I couldn't be under her any longer.

Fleur's POV:

He flipped me over, so now he was on top of me, his weight heavily pressing against my lower stomach as he actually proceeded to rip away the threads—that were barely holding on from how much my breasts swelled in need of him—of my dress, leaving my black bra to be exposed to his eyes, which seemed to feast on the sight.

"Fuck Fleur, we didn't even start yet."

Quick hands worked on getting the dress off of me as I stayed in my bra and underwear while he kept on his shirt that I opened earlier and his pants. Not fair. I try to take off his clothes as well, but he stops me. "Not yet," he said, pinning my hands above my head.

I could tell he was going slow on me. And it was frustrating me. Building up whatever was in the pit of my stomach, and no matter how much he kissed the same spot, it had the same effect. That enthrallingly arousing feeling from the spot up to my spine. Everything seemed to be in bold right now because of the electricity coursing through me as his kisses continued to undo me. He kissed me everywhere, as if he wanted to taste every part of me. He kissed me like there was no tomorrow, and it somehow blurred my senses just as much as it heightened them.

The yellow lights of the room made me look away from how brighter they seemed, and I was thankful because then I was met with his grey, stormy eyes that seemed just as wild as my own. The heat inside me was intensifying, and my muscles were tightening. I needed him right now. That need only ignited something inside me more and more as his hands tightened around my own, still trapped above my head. It got worse as he kept torturing me with those trailing, burning kisses.

He finally decided to take mercy on me, and his hands were pulling my panties to the side. His hand touched me where many men had once touched me, but only he had that effect. It was only his hands that I rocked and arched onto as he groaned. His voice was rippling inside of me, echoing in every inch of my body, causing goosebumps to fight their way onto my skin.

Just when I was about to become undone, just when my muscles tightened around his fingers and black starts started to cloud my vision, he pulled his fingers. "Not yet," he rasped, getting off of me, and I groaned in almost-pain. The chilly air in the room made me aware of how in need of him I was.

"I've wanted you for too long. If you're going to come with me, Fleur, it won't be around my fingers." He opened a drawer next to his bed and got out a condom. Those words caused more heat to jump to my cheeks, if that was even possible anymore. I got up on shaky legs as if I were walking on rubble and walked to him. My hands rested on his pants, and he smirked at me, allowing me to take off his pants while he took off his shirt.

After putting his condom on, he pulled me onto him, but not before removing the last pieces of undergarments that I had on. For some reason I'd felt embarrassed, looking away as he took me in, his eyes brightening, his touch tender on my torso as he pulled my body closer to his, saying, "You're even more beautiful than I'd imagined you to be, Fleur." He said and even if he hadn't; his eyes spoke louder than his words, so I kissed him.

We sat on the bed. I was strangling his hips as his tip pushed against my entrance. My hands splayed over his now-bare chest as his mouth roamed over my breast. His first thrust into me was achingly slow, but then we picked up a rhythm that filled me. Not just physically, but I was filled with so much emotion. I was safe. I trusted myself to be in his arms. My chest fluttered, and my heart beat for him, only for him. In those moments when stars started to appear in my vision again, I had to keep my eyes open. I had to keep looking at him as we carried on making love.

After our words completely died out and our moans got louder after we both went faster, we both came undone together. Shaking into each other, gasping for breath for each other. For more. It was sensual the fact that I felt this much pleasure with him while being safe, while wanting to go on further, but at the same time wanting nothing more than to lay in his arms like I was right now.

It was intoxicating that I finally found someone to hold me, to light up my way with his always angry eyes, to stop me from falling and from being lost. The irony of that person being none other than the Don of New York. My head was resting on his beating heart and chest, his breathing rhythm almost putting me to sleep.

In a sky with no ceiling, we were floating right now, my head caught up in the mess we got tangled up in after what we'd done and the boundaries we both crossed. Who's at fault here? I kept asking myself. Who's to blame? Him because he started? Me because regardless of how bad this situation was, I regretted nothing? My thoughts kept getting filled with moments that I had already missed. My heart ached, with a flame growing in my chest, because I wanted more and I didn't know if he did as well. I didn't even know if I should have wanted more...with a man like him. What was going to happen now? How do we go on from here?

While his hands continued to gently trace the various scars addling my back—most of the days tying me down—now as his hand moved along the lines, it felt as if they weighed nothing, like they were wings. "Go to sleep, Fleur. Think about it in the morning." He spoke as if he read my mind, and I allowed myself to listen to him, going to sleep.